Real Government Visa Site vs Fake Visa Service
How to tell an official government visa portal from a lookalike site that charges inflated fees or steals your personal data.
Last reviewed: 1 June 2026
Official visa applications are routine and mostly dull. You start on a government domain, pay the published fee straight to the authority, and get a reference number you can track. Fake visa services survive in the gap between that process and how people actually search. You are travelling soon, you type the visa name into a search engine, and the first results are polished pages with flags, forms and reassuring language, sometimes paid advertisements sitting above the real portal. They take your passport scan and a fee several times the official one, and some file nothing at all, which you discover at check-in or at the border. The distinction that matters is the domain: the genuine portal is government owned and linked from the embassy or immigration authority's own site.
Side-by-side comparison
| Official visa portal | Fake visa service | |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | Government-owned domain (e.g. .gov, .gov.uk, .gc.ca); listed on the embassy's official site | Looks official but uses a commercial domain; not linked from any government source |
| Fees | Exact official fee listed on the government portal; paid to the government directly | Higher fee plus unexplained 'service' or 'processing' charges |
| Data security | Secure government system; data not sold to third parties | Collects passport scans, photos, and payment details with no privacy policy |
| Application outcome | Application is submitted to the relevant authority and tracked officially | May submit nothing; you discover the fraud only at the border |
| Contact | Dedicated embassy or immigration authority contact; real address | Only a webform or email; no verifiable physical address |
Common red flags
- Domain not listed on the embassy's official website
- Fee significantly higher than the government's published rate
- Requests passport scans and card details on a non-government site
- No refund policy or customer-service telephone number
- Unsolicited email with a 'fast-track' visa link
Verification steps
- Start at the relevant country's official embassy or consulate website
- Compare the exact fee shown with the government's published schedule
- Check the domain ownership if in doubt using a WHOIS tool
- Use only the payment method listed on the official government portal
What not to do
- Don't use a visa site found through a paid search advertisement without verifying the domain
- Don't pay via wire transfer or crypto to any visa processing service
- Don't submit passport copies to an unverified third-party site
A safe response
Close the tab rather than finishing the form, and start again from the destination country's embassy or immigration authority site, typing the address yourself or reaching it through your own government's travel advice pages. Compare the fee shown against the published official fee before paying anything, and bookmark the correct page for next time. If you have already paid, contact your card issuer promptly and ask about raising a dispute, keep the confirmation emails and receipts, then apply again through the official portal so your travel is not left to chance. Report the site to the embassy and to your national consumer or fraud reporting body.
Frequently asked questions
I paid a site that turned out to be fake. Will my visa still be issued?
Assume nothing was submitted and apply again through the official portal, leaving as much time as you can before travel. Then deal with the money separately: contact your card issuer, explain what happened, and ask about a dispute, keeping every receipt and email. Your card issuer decides whether a refund is possible. Also assume your passport scan and personal details are now in unknown hands, so watch for follow-up approaches referencing your trip.
Why does the fake site appear above the real government one in search results?
Search rankings reflect advertising budgets and search optimisation, not legitimacy. Commercial operators can bid on the same terms travellers use and often outspend government departments, which rarely advertise at all. That is why the safest route is never the search box: go through the embassy or your own government's travel pages, or type the official address directly. If you do use search, scroll past adverts and check the domain before entering anything.
Are third-party visa agencies ever legitimate?
Some licensed travel agents and visa agencies provide a genuine service for a fee on top of the government charge. The key difference is transparency: a legitimate agency discloses both the government fee and its own fee separately, and can be traced to a registered business.