Many consumers report dubious websites to us, that offer overpriced or invalid travel documents. The following artice explains how to find the actual authority and which websites to avoid.
This article will be steadily updated whenever consumers tell us about new scams.
Tips from your ECC
- Before traveling, always check on the website of the Austrian Foreign Ministry (BMEIA) which forms and documents you need.
- Don't google the websites of the authority in charge. You will find all official links in the travel information of the BMEIA!
- Only order the travel documents on those official websites. Be aware of redirections and the costs.
Official authorities
You will find the links to the official authorities on the website of the BMEIA. Unfortunately, the respective information is only available in German:
- "Reise & Aufenthalt" > "Reiseinformation" > "Länder A-Z" > Ihr Reiseziel > "Einreise & Ausreise"
The most searched for links are the following:
List of dubious websites:
- turkeyetravelling.com
- official-canada-eta.com
- evisacanadaeta.com
- estavisum.at
- usestavisa.org
- estaapplication.us/de
- traveling-us.com/de
- visum-us.com
- canadatravel.online
- esta.us/deutsch.html
- evisaonline.com/de/usa/esta.html
- egyptetravelling.com
- global-immivisas.com
You already paid too much?
A consumer told us that she sent a complaint to the trader, where she indicated that the ESTA application normally costs only 14 dollar. The trader then refunded the difference of 74 dollar to her credit card. We therefore recommend to contact the company via e-mail - with reading confirmation - and to request the full or partial refund of the paid price. If the trader refuses, you can ask your credit card company for a chargeback.
We want to thank all the helpful consumers that report such websites to and share their experiences with us!
