Google announced late last year that it would add a label that reads “Not a government website” on ads for unofficial websites that sell government documents like driver’s licenses, passports, and visas. This tightened a policy that already restricted ads for the direct purchase of these types of documents to governments and authorized providers.
And yet an Indicator audit found that only 8% of Google Search ads for sites selling visas at inflated prices were labeled as unofficial. The unlabeled ads, all of which were captured after Google updated its policy, appeared on queries for short-term visas for Australia, Canada, Egypt, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Thailand, the UK, and the US.
The ads typically led to sites that charged a significant markup, described variously as the cost of “processing,” “clerical services,” and “independent private application-assistance service.” The price charged by 16 websites reviewed by Indicator ranged from 2x to 30x the official cost of a visa.
For example, Canada’s official site charges a C$7 fee (roughly US$5) for an electronic travel authorization. But one of the sites advertised on Google for “eta Canada” charges US$130, or 26 times the actual price. The website notes in small gray print that the service fee “includes application review, document verification, and customer support.” This support is apparently underappreciated by the website’s 143 Trustpilot reviewers, who have given the service an average rating of 1.2 stars.
“Travellers should be cautious when using third-party websites that offer immigration or eTA-related services,” said Anahita Beladi of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. “These companies are not affiliated with or authorized by the Government of Canada, and may charge additional service fees.”
Online reviews suggest that many overcharged travelers were led to the sites by Google. “My mother used this website to apply for a UK ETA, thinking it was the official government website, as it comes up first on google,” wrote a reviewer for visafi[.]com. “They did show a surcharge of £40, but ended up charging around $150 for the £20 visa. No receipt was sent, no confirmation, nothing.”
Another Trustpilot reviewer called usaestaportal[.]info, a service promoted in Google ads, a “total scam site - said $40.27 then took $240."
Overpaying isn’t the only risk facing people who click on ads for such sites.
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