Travisa

I visited the Travisa.com website and decided to use the service. One of the reasons is that a link takes the viewer to "consular fees".

These seem reasonable. However, I didn't do some deep down research about ALL the fees. While the service did work, I got my Visa as advertised, I also got a bill for $717! That's right!

A HUGE gouge; numerous unadvertised and bogus fees all added up at the end to produce a ridiculous bill. I would NEVER have used this service if these fees were forthright in the website and marketing. Thinking back over my experience with this service, I remember seeing some 'fees' but certainly not $717 worth of fees.

The website is EXTREMELY misleading! Mark LeRoy

I made reservations to visit my son and family in China and immediately made attempts to secure my Visa through Travisa. It was a nightmare from the very beginning.

After securing all the information, photos, sending my passport (a huge mistake), etc., I received notification that I had to have an official invitation from China to visit my family there. When this was done, my son had to become involved with information on why he was there, who was paying for my visit and on and on. They promised my visa before I was scheduled to leave but never got it here in time. This was after several weeks, even months of trying to satisfy all the information they said they needed.

Everything was so confusing. They would ask for either/or and you'd send in one then they would decide they wanted both! This didn't stop until I had to cancel my original flight and reschedule ($680) I finally had my passport and Visa. When I got to China, I discovered that the Visa was only for 30 days and my visit was for 45 days.

I had to pay more money to go to the Chinese Embassy in the next city to extend my Visa ($140).

I am 77 years old, traveled, alone and this was a headache I didn't need. ecpegram

My daughter needed a single entry visa for India. They sent us a 10 year multiple entry that was not requested.

We were told it was $120. They charged excessive shipping fees back and forth totaling $85 for a simple UPS envelope. In the end, they charged us $357 for services we did not request, and still don't understand. They tried to charge us for a Passport Replacement service of $40, when my daughter's passport had 10 years left on it and we didn't request it.

We are still fighting to get that back. They added a $103 Consular fee, that they never mentioned up front.

I would never use Travisa again. Travisa for Visa's is a scam!

I want my refund! The documents I submitted to Travisa for my son's' Indian visa was not sufficient and you guys charged me 198.50!!!

I used the same documents and submitted to CKGS AND THEY GRANTED MY SON's visa without any issues!!! I am angry and furious on your lack of knowledge about the Atlanta office !!!! I demand my refund. You guys are thieves!!!!

Taking vulnerable peoples' money!!!! Travisa wanted additional paperwork which made no sense. Those paperwork were not mentioned on the website and was not required for the visa!!!

They also assumed the Atlanta office would not accept my documents. I provided the same documents to CKGS AND THEY SENT THEM RIGHT OVER TO THE ATLANTA INDIAN EMBASSY AND THE VISA WAS GRANTED.

Travisa is a money grab! Like many travelers, my wife and I are well aware that countries like China, India & Russia have unusually complicated and restrictive visa requirements and require in-person applications. This is a serious inconvenience for tourists (and is intended to be). Naturally, this situation presents a very profitable business opportunity for firms like Travisa. My remarks here simply reflect the reality customers will likely encounter when using this online travel document service.

We needed to apply for 2 ordinary tourist visas for China and Vietnam. Unfortunately, at Travisa, each and every service transaction is an opportunity charge. If one applies directly to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, the visa fee is $140 per person. This fee is magically increased to $150 going through Travisa. This upcharge appears to be consistent throughout Travisa’s fee structure. Travisa also charges $10 above the normal $80 visa fee for the Vietnamese Consulate. After our regrettable experience using Travisa, we applied directly for our Vietnam visas without a problem.

Travisa also charges $31.95 for their document return service. Getting your passport & visa documents returned is normally $8 for a FedEx prepaid envelope... at the most an $18 maximum sent anywhere in the USA. In addition, our payment to Travisa using a credit card was greeted with a $8.40 “processing fee.” Apparently, the customer is expected to pay for Travisa’s operating costs in addition to the basic service fee of $79 (up from $72 in December). What’s next, a 5% add-on fee for Travis’s facility lighting & heating costs?

Wait, there's more. Our professionally produced standard passport-size photos presumably had issues, even though these same photos were successfully used for our US passports and several visas for other countries. Curiously, these photo “issues” disappeared as soon as I agreed to pay a $14.95 for each photo as a processing fee. I transmitted electronically the exact same photos I attached to the visa applications we originally submitted, so Travisa could deliver these “improved” photos to the Chinese Consulate.

In summary, the total expense for our 2 tourist visas to simply enter China came to $518.25. The total fees would have been $280.00 had we driven to San Francisco to apply in person. Clearly, a $238.25 opportunity charge virtually doubled the Chinese Consulate visa fees -- this is excessive by any reasonable standard. Shame on Travisa!

Certainly, any firm has an obligation to operate profitably. Sadly, Travisa has pushed their fee structure completely over the cliff. Frankly, I find the fees charged for the services I received to be excessive, exploitive, opportunistic and predatory. Calling this a “travel document management service” is disingenuous by any measure. It’s a money grab, plain and simple.

My wife and I are veteran world travelers and have seen our share of scams during our lifetime of travels – most of which we've avoided. Whenever I encounter situations that are over-the-top unreasonable, I make a point to push back and provide maximum exposure about the conduct of the wrongdoer. I trust that in this case, the considerable online viewership of Pissed Consumer will have a negative impact that far exceeds the $238.25 gotcha fees we were charged by Travisa.