Is a website charging fees to help me apply for a passport a government scam?
Many unofficial websites charge facilitation fees to process applications you could submit directly to the government for free or at the official fee. Always use your national government's official passport portal.
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
Explanation
Passport and document application facilitator sites appear at the top of search results — sometimes as paid ads — and charge additional service fees above the official government fee to 'process' your application. While not always outright fraudulent, many collect personal documents, payment, and fees for a service you could perform yourself on the official government website. In the most harmful versions, the site is fake: your payment disappears, your identity documents are harvested for fraud, and no application is ever submitted.
The design of these sites is calculated ambiguity. Official-looking crests, flag colours, and names built from words like 'portal', 'official', and the document type create a government impression, while a disclaimer in small print — 'not affiliated with any government agency' — provides legal cover. The identity harvest can be worse than the wasted fee: a passport application contains everything needed to impersonate you, and documents uploaded to an unknown operator cannot be taken back.
When applying for any government document — passport, visa, driving licence, birth certificate — navigate directly to the official government domain, found through your national government's main portal rather than through search ads. Official domains follow recognisable government patterns for your country, and official fees are published there. If you have already used a facilitator, check with the genuine issuing authority whether an application exists in your name, dispute the payment if nothing was submitted, and watch for identity misuse in the months that follow.
Common red flags
- Website charges a service fee on top of the official government fee
- Site does not clearly state it is not the government's official portal
- Website appeared as a sponsored search result for 'passport application'
- You are asked to upload identity documents to a non-government domain
What to do now
- Navigate directly to your national government's official portal to apply
- Do not upload identity documents to any unofficial third-party site
- If you already paid, check whether your application was ever submitted and dispute if not
- Report the misleading site to your national advertising standards body
Frequently asked questions
Are all facilitator sites fraudulent?
No — some legitimate expediting services exist for travellers needing urgent processing. But these are clearly distinguished businesses, do not hide their non-government status, and charge transparent fees on top of the official one.
How do I recognise my government's official application website?
Start from your national government's main portal and follow its links, rather than searching for the document type. Official domains follow your country's government naming pattern, and the fee shown will match the officially published one.
I uploaded my documents to one of these sites. What is the risk?
A passport-grade document set is enough for identity fraud, so monitor your credit file and accounts for unfamiliar activity, and consider your country's identity-theft protections. Also confirm with the real authority whether any application was actually filed.