UK ETA - watch out for profit-making visa mills!

[Okaygoahead]

Just had to deal with a situation - a not-very-computer-savvy older relative in the EU, who will be travelling to the UK in June, decided "not to bother me" and to apply for their ETA themselves. The problem is that the first results to appear when you Google "UK ETA" are sponsored links from for-profit visa factories, NOT the actual official UK website. The relative fell into the trap, clicked on the sponsored link thinking it was the proper channel, and finally called for help after getting stuck most of the way through the process, by which time they'd already paid over 100 euros via credit card (ETA costs around 20 euros on the official website!).

We've sorted the ETA now through the official website, and they are trying to cancel the credit card payment through their provider, but still, I'm irate that the sponsored links can push the official link so far down you have to scroll to see it. AIBU in thinking that official links should ALWAYS take precedence over for-profit charlatans services?

[whether I am BU or not, beware if you are applying or if you know anyone who will be applying, and be sure to avoid the trap! Only use the official gov.uk app or website!]

This was discussed on BBC breakfast travel bit the other day. Also that you really need one if you go abroad for free/cheap health care. Lots of people are apparently not bothering not realising the potential costs of not having one.

OOPs maybe that was something slightly different, but same scam! And whatever it was you should have one!

This applies when you apply for a visa or ETA for any country, not just the U.K.

These scams also operate for ESTAs for the USA.

It's always cheaper and more reliable to apply through the country's own government website.

Yes it IS cheaper and more reliable, which is why it's really regrettable that the scam sites come up first (and push the legitimate site off the initial screen)! Not everyone (clearly) knows enough to be careful about that.

Although… it’s not quite a scam, as I think they do actually sort the visa for you.

They just charge you a huge sum for the privilege, when you can do it perfectly easily through the government site.

A friend did this and was worried about their data having been put on this other website - but, apparently they aren’t interested in using your data illegally, they operate as legal companies just doing something that doesn’t really need to be done.

Heard a lot of stories about this, I wonder how much money they’re making!

Agree, it's not quite a scam, but it's definitely abusive. They charge roughly six times what it costs to do it yourself.

This reminds me of when I applied for my British citizenship. The application form (was only on papper at the time and you had to send it by post) was extremely complicated for me at the time (or at least how I perceived it) with some complex jump between the sections drpending on your answer. So i started googling for some company to do it for me. They were not only charging up to £500 but also giving information that was scary (if you fill the form in wrong you might lose your money and have the application rejected kind of threats) but I refused to pay this kind of money. So I did it myself taking time to focus with an empty desk and a big mug of coffee. Took me ages but I did it to the best I could and sent it in. I did make a mistake but HMRC just sent me an email and the blank page of the form that I had to refill with the correct information. 2 months later it was accepted with no further issues. I think these companies are thriving on people' s fear that they might do something wrong and get in trouble or get the forms wrong. If someone (maybe someone older) who is not that beaurocracy-savy (like me-I hate paperwork) I kind of understand why they would pay someone to take the pressure off. I am just too cheap. And I don't think they are scammers, they do the service just at a high cost.

The official site is this one:

Apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) - GOV.UK

The process is straightforward, but if applying online applicants need to have a scanned copy of the details page of their passport, and a passport-type photo ready that they can upload to the site. They also need an email address for the confirmation.

Applications can also be made using the app, but of course not everyone is comfortable doing this, and not everyone has a smart phone.

I live in the EU and recently helped a neighbour make his online application. It took less than 15 minutes to complete, and the approval email came through in less than an hour.

Yes, I realise what the proper procedure is, and thank you for posting the direct link. My objection wasn’t that I didn’t know what the easy, cheap, official format was - it’s that this isn’t the first option offered to googlers, nor even a visible one, until they scroll down.

When I google "ETA UK" from where I live (in the EU) the official site is the second option offered.

The first option is a site offering to "assist" with the application and out of interest I clicked on it to see where it led. The landing site implied that they offered an express service for a visa (ETA is not a visa) and that they would assist with the application for just €79. This of course is a total rip-off - the official fee is £16 (about €20) - and they have no way of offering an express service.

I agree that the google search should bring up the official site as the default option, for this and for many other searches, but as these scammers are paying fees to google ads in order to appear as the first option, don't expect google to do anything to rectify this any day soon. Over 20 million people visit the UK from the EU each year. If the scammers only catch 1% of applications, that's a profit of €59 per application on around 200,000 applications - or about €12,000,000 😠

DH had this with drivers license or passport renewal, I forgot which. He was able to cancel it and get the money back, but it was a pain.