At least in recent years, except for china where an agent can take your passport with passport pictures and return your passport with a genuine visa sticker, it is not safe to give your passport to an agent for him to return with a visa sticker. You could get a fake visa sticker. IF AN OFFER IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS. With the world economy becoming difficult and unpredictable day in and day out and people struggling to make ends meet, more and more people are becoming desperate and the only way out seems to be to travel out of their home country. As people become more desperate, greedy ones are on the loose to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. Do not fall, victim…!!!THINGS TO NOTE:
1. Do not hand your passport over to any agent especially if you have the slightest doubt. Hand your passport over only to the embassy or the visa application center.
2. If the embassy you wish to apply to takes fingerprint as part of the process, insist it is done at the right center if an agent is assisting you. Wherever you enter, read the inscriptions and be sure you are where “your agent” claims you are: either the embassy or the visa application center.
3. Do not accept any visa sticker from anyone who does not call you from the embassy or visa application center with a recognizable number that your passport is ready for pick up.
4. You should make sure you are either interviewed at an embassy or submit your documents with your passport at a visa application center.
5. Visit the embassy’s website or use the visa application center’s website to track your application.6. Last but not least: If an offer is too good to be true, it probably is. Do not be deceived by ridiculously low amounts of money to get you a visa, and neither should you be ripped off by anyone who proposes to get you a genuine visa. Ask around and compare how much the price range is. BE VIGILANT…!!!
Writer: Andy Pratt
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