How to spot a fake visa website

Lookalike sites copy government templates, buy search ads and charge a large fee for a form the government gives you directly. Embassies in several countries have published warnings about them. These checks take a minute and catch most of them.

Check the address, not the design

Logos and layouts are easy to copy, so the address is the thing to verify. Government domains follow different patterns by country, such as gov.uk, canada.ca, go.ke or gov.in. Compare the address with the link on the official embassy or immigration page for that country. Our link checker compares a site with portals that governments and embassies have named.

Look at the price

Embassies describe unofficial sites charging anywhere from a modest markup to many times the official fee. Korea's authorities, for example, said some sites charged up to 20 times the K-ETA price. If the total is far above the fee the government publishes, stop.

Watch for pressure

Indian embassies reported fake sites warning that an application would be cancelled unless the traveller paid quickly. Real portals do not need you to hurry through payment.

Be careful with search ads

The top result is often a paid ad. Scam sites bid on phrases such as "official visa website". Scroll past the ads, or type the address you found on an embassy page straight into your browser.

Know whether the thing is free

Some processes cost nothing, such as Thailand's Digital Arrival Card. A site charging for a free form is not the government's.

Some intermediaries are legal, but not official

Certain agencies openly say they are paid helpers rather than government sites. That is different from a site pretending to be the government. Either way, you can apply yourself on the official portal for the government fee.

What next?

Browse the list of official portals or read what to do if you already paid.

Last updated 28 September 2026. General information only. See our disclaimer.