Method
How our list works
Best Visa Agencies is a directory: our list of visa agencies in each country, kept honest. It is not a ranking of quality and not an endorsement.
How an agency gets on the list
- We find agencies
Through search, readers' tips and requests from agencies themselves. We start with the biggest cities of each country.
- We open the agency's own website
We take its name, address, phone numbers and the visas it lists from there, and keep the link and the date for every fact.
- We check it is a real business that helps with visas
It must say how to reach it. We leave out embassies and visa application centres, sites without contact details, and offers that promise guaranteed visas or jobs abroad.
- We keep it current
We re-check listings regularly, and sooner when an agency or a reader asks for a change.
How the order works
On country and city pages, agencies are listed most verified first. For each agency we count the things we could confirm ourselves, on its own website and in official registers. Ties are broken A–Z, and agencies stay grouped by city.
The count shows how much we could verify, not how good an agency is. An agency with fewer checks may be excellent: it may publish less on its website, or we may not have reached its licence in the register yet.
A check that can't apply drops out. We check licences in official registers in the UAE (where the registers need UAE Pass, so no agency has passed that check yet), the UK and Canada. In the UK and Canada we don't look up solicitors, lawyers or agencies that list only visas for trips abroad, so they are counted out of five checks, not six, and so is every agency in the other countries.
- Website is live and names the business We open its website and find the business name on it.
- Address on its own website A street address the agency publishes itself.
- Phone on its own website A phone number the agency publishes itself.
- Licence checked in the official register We look licences up in official registers in the UK (the Immigration Advice Authority's register of advisers, in the list it publishes), in Canada (the CICC's public register of licensed immigration consultants) and in the UAE (the trade licence in the emirate's register: Dubai DET's for mainland Dubai companies, a free zone's own for free-zone companies). A match passes, with the register, the number shown and the date we looked; anything we can't confirm reads “not yet confirmed in the register”, which is not a finding about the agency. The UAE registers need UAE Pass, so no UAE agency has passed yet. Solicitors, lawyers and agencies that list only visas for trips abroad aren't looked up, and nor are agencies in other countries: for them this check doesn't count.
- Prices published, with a date The agency publishes prices on its website; we record the date we read them.
- Checked in the last 90 days We re-open its website at least every 90 days.
Readers can re-sort a list A–Z, by the date we last checked, or by price where agencies publish one, and filter by visa and area. Partner placements and online services sit in their own labelled boxes above the list and don't change its order. Ratings, once agencies have enough reviews from our users, will be an extra sort, never the default.
How the Global list is ordered
Online services that work worldwide are listed by how many of five steps of a visa application their own software does, as each service says on its own website, help centre or docs, or as our editors verified by hand:
- Guided form Its own guided online questionnaire replaces filling in the government form yourself.
- Autofill from documents Its software reads your documents, a passport scan for example, and fills in the form.
- Automated document check Software or AI checks your photo and documents against the rules before submission.
- Submission by software Its software files the application on the government portal, not a person and not you.
- Automated status tracking Its software follows the application and keeps you informed, automatically or live.
A step counts where the service's own pages say its software does it; we quote those words and link the page, with the date we read it. Our editors can also verify a step by hand: it then reads “Verified by our editors” with the date and what we checked, and carries no quote. Where its pages say a person or the traveller does the step, or say nothing and we haven't verified it, the step doesn't count. Marketing words alone, such as “AI-powered”, don't count, and nor do reviews or articles by others.
Services with the same number of steps go by the number of destinations each covers, counted from its own website or from a list it provides (those that only state a figure come after those we counted), then A–Z. Every step and its source is on the comparison page. A country page can also show a short Global block: Visarun, where it covers that country, plus up to two other services that do, the first two in this order, and the block keeps the same order.
Scores come from what each service states on its own website or what our editors verified by hand. A service that disagrees with its score can ask for a manual review.
How reviews work
Anyone who used an agency can review it. Every review waits for an editor before it appears.
- We publish reviews from people who used the agency themselves.
- We don't publish reviews written by an agency about itself or a competitor, paid or swapped reviews, adverts, personal data, or abuse.
- We don't edit what you wrote, except to remove personal data such as phone numbers or passport details.
- Agencies can't pay to remove a review. They can ask us to correct a factual mistake in their listing.
- An agency's average rating uses only reviews approved on this site and appears once it has 3 of them. We never show ratings copied from other websites.
Why it isn't a ranking
We don't test agencies, and a handful of reviews can't tell you which one is the right choice for you. So country lists go by city, then by how much we could verify about each agency (see How the order works), not by quality. The Global list goes by how many application steps each service's own software does, as the service states it or our editors verified it, not by how well it does them (see How the Global list is ordered). Use the list to find agencies that handle your visa, read their reviews, and compare written quotes before you pay.
What we never do
- Hide a paid place. Listing is free. A partner placement is labelled “Partner” and sits outside the list; nobody can pay to move up in it or to be removed.
- Buy or write reviews. Every review comes from a reader and passes moderation.
- Copy ratings. No stars or reviews from any other website.
- Guess facts. If the agency's website doesn't say it, we don't publish it.
Corrections and contact
Agencies: add your agency or change a listing. Everyone else: “Request a change” on any agency page, report a change, or write to hello@bestvisaagencies.com.