In case you have plans to tour abroad for a prolonged period, you should be making the necessary efforts to obtain a visa. It is essential to know that every country has its regulations that govern visa applicants. That said, you will be expected to comply with the guidelines, timelines, and processes as demanded by the state you are visiting. Before the birth of technology, everything used to be done on paper. These manual processes have not been overtaken since technology became popular.
Today, you can apply for your visa online. Such systems help in cutting down paperwork as well as saving on time spend in applying for a visa. But applicants have to be on the lookout as fake visa websites have been on the rise. Many people have already been conned a considerable amount of money and issued with fake visas. Can you imagine these sites will even persuade you to pay for services that are not necessary? Services that you obtain at no charge through the government.
The question lingering your mind may be, the exact source of these copycat sites. Note, duplicating a website and claiming to be the prime service provider is simple for the impostors. It is ridiculous how these websites appear so convincing to a level that experts fall for them. In research done in the past, 29% of professionals were unable to tell the difference between a real and a fake website.
But how can you, as an applicant, avoid a copycat visa site? Avoid revealing your personal details on a visa website is you are uncertain of the site. Do not make any payments either. Always check to be sure that the website has a safe address at the start. A great approach to evaluating the safety of a website is by examining the authenticity of the web address.
Remember, a safe website should start with https://; in this case, S stands for secure. Any that does not have an s is bogus. And you should never make a mistake of keying in your personal information on such sites. Note, the designers of these fake sites, as I mentioned, are experts and will crack the website to look very official. Others will even incorporate images like the flag of the specific state to convince expectant travelers into believing they are legitimate government sites.
Other than the start, confirm to be sure the end of the website is also official. For the mention, other sites to avoid are those that lack addresses that end like “org”, or “.gov”. Thus, if you are making an application on a site that is purported to be an official governmental website, check the end address, and you will be able to detect those that are unofficial.
Unfortunately, most visa applicants never take time to check the sites on the search engine. Note, many of the copycat sites will make payment to be able to attain the top display on the search engine results. Avoid rushing to using the sites on the top display and scroll down. Many of the official websites are usually further down on the search results. Avoid being conned by remaining vigilant during the visa application.