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I came across these guys: Canadian Visa Expert, who claim to be able to process visas to Canada, for work or study, for a fee of $467 (four hundred and sixty-seven dollars), and to carry out some assessment tests too. They claim to be legit (which is what most scammers would say), and to be recognised by he Canadian government.

I'm not sure if these guys are scammers, or if they are genuine. Please, has anyone used their service successfully before? Or do you know of anyone who has fallen victim to their scam? I just want to be sure.

A message in their terms of use saying they're not affiliated to the Canadian government:

By visiting or using any of CanadianVisaExpert's Websites or Offered Products you acknowledge and are aware that CanadianVisaExpert is a private corporation and is not and does not pretend to be, an official organ of the Canadian Government or otherwise connected to the Canadian Government in any way whatsoever. CanadianVisaExpert is not part of the Canadian Government or immigration authorities, or a law firm. In this respect CanadianVisaExpert neither intends nor claim to provide Legal advice or solutions to an individual's specific problems."

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    Yes they are scam, check scambook and also check scamadviser
    – Nean Der Thal
    Apr 23, 2014 at 15:11
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    Also: wiki.answers.com/Q/…
    – Nean Der Thal
    Apr 23, 2014 at 15:12
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    @MeNoTalk that seems like a pretty low bar to be a fraud - many perfectly legitimate companies (say, the phone company or a theatre when I'm buying tickets) ask for my cc # over the phone.
    – Kate Gregory
    Apr 23, 2014 at 15:50
  • @Kate Gregory, if it were a telephone company, you would definitely know the physical location of their office, as such, you would be able to walk into their office, for any complaint whatsoever, as they would have been existing for a couple of years, but these guys don't have any office whatsoever.
    – samceena
    Apr 24, 2014 at 22:40
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    @samsonade I'm not saying they're legit - I'm pretty sure they're not - but the wiki.answers link says basically "they're totally scammers because they asked for my credit card number" which I don't find convincing.
    – Kate Gregory
    Apr 24, 2014 at 22:47

7 Answers 7

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Scam or not, what do you get for paying them $467? You can apply for study permits yourself online, there's an official eligibility check page, and the cost of the visa is C$150.

Even if it's not a scam, all the company will do is fill out these same forms, they cannot guarantee that you will actually get the visa.

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  • I am not sure for this particular service, but I experience of a colleague of mine (eastern European country), who filled in everything himself, but for some reason the application got delayed. After hiring a company, the passport with visa was retrieved in one day.
    – Bernhard
    Apr 24, 2014 at 5:37
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    Yes, that kind of thing happens in countries where the visa agents have... personal connections to Immigration, and I've had my visas "expedited" in eg. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia as well. But this is Canada we're talking about.
    – lambshaanxy
    Apr 24, 2014 at 9:42
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    I was talking about Canada.
    – Bernhard
    Apr 24, 2014 at 9:45
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    I've seen it in Europe too. Corruption is a worldwide phenomenon. And of course sometimes the paperwork is so involved that you're certain to make mistakes unless you get an expert to help (much like your taxes).
    – jwenting
    Apr 24, 2014 at 9:48
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    From what i have read in other forums, the fee they charge is only an "assessment fee". The fees for the official application are not even included.
    – iHaveacomputer
    May 11, 2014 at 9:20
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Lots of complaints about this private company. Charges for no work. At least one person lodged a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and received a full refund.

http://www.bbb.org/kitchener/business-reviews/immigration-and-naturalization-consultants/canadian-visa-expert-in-richmond-hill-on-1297897/complaints

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YES these guys are scammers. The following is directly copied from this link - http://www.scambook.com/company/view/98638/Canadian-Visa-Expert - there is also lots of peoples reviews on that site as well.

Under the copied quotations, I have written a safe and easy way to get you're visa, if you are interested.

  • "Information about Canadian Visa Expert was first submitted to Scambook on Dec 09, 2012. Since then the page has accumulated 49 consumer complaints. On average users reported $858.38 of damages. Scambook's investigation team reached out to this company a total of 2 times, Scambook Investigators last contacted them on Feb 05, 2013."

If you would like to obtain a Visa for Canada, first complete an IEC application and then follow the steps after that. It may seem a little confusing, but just read everything and it will pay off. My girlfriend is from Sweden and completed all the steps for a working visa. After completing everything, the visa was accepted within 24 hours.

Then just follow the steps and it's easy as that. :)

Should be around CAN$ 150

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    This does not seem to answer the question. As the question is whether that company is legit, not how to apply.
    – Bernhard
    Apr 24, 2014 at 5:39
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    @Bernhard I have edited, and answered the question.
    – Jake
    May 11, 2014 at 1:47
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    seeing scambook, that site itself looks like a scam, or certainly less than professional. While a nice starting point for an investigation, I'd not base my conclusion about a company solely on them.
    – jwenting
    May 12, 2014 at 7:29
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I'm from Nicaragua, I have a Nicaraguan passport, which means that I have to apply for many visas around the world, and let me tell you something, there is not any private company that can guarantee you will get any visa for any country, this is a governmental process, you can not simply pay some guys 500USD or 1000 USD and expect a visa to be on the way to your mailbox.

Some companies try to sell themselves as a service that will get you a visa no matter what and once you pay all they'll do is give you a list of steps to follow to apply for the visa, they can not do anything you can not do by simply going to the immigration website of any country you want to go to and apply for the visa right there following the steps you will find there.

I have a 10-year Canadian tourist visa and I applied for it on my own, I was an online process, and 1 physical interview.

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It's interesting that the company only attempts to criticise scambook. Perhaps they can comment on the following links also:

It's interesting that their address is 7030 Woodbine Ave #500, Markham which appears to be a virtual office:

RESERVE YOUR VIRTUAL ADDRESS AT 7030 WOODBINE AVE. MARKHAM, ON L3R 6G2 Just $115.00 Per Month

Rather a minimal footprint for their "legal team".

According to whois, the underlying company is PRONET Online Marketing GmbH based in Austria with management in Israel...

The company is also associated with the following domains:

  • usafis.org - American Green Card DV Lottery Program Services
  • usafis.email - can't reach. Presumably as above.
  • natively.com - Language learning. Presumably the original domain of the company.
  • ausfis.org - seems to be down. A link is available on britishexpats with 15 pages of complaints:

I thought I should share with you that a friend of mine in the UK who has recently received multiple phone calls claimed to be from AusFis. From their website, it states AUSFIS is an organization offers you the opportunity to participate in the Australian skill migration program where you may be eligible for a permanent visa to live and work in Australia (see http://www.ausfis.org/Home.aspx)

He said that the people who called him sounds like American and Indian. They called him a few times on Sunday morning which I found abit odd and said to him that he has enough points and they will get him a temp Working visa easily even though he is 42, not highly skilled and they wanted him to pay USD219 immediately to process his application.

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It's definitely a scam. Check out the following review. They also expose this scam's owners:

Scaminator.com Canada Visa Expert Scam Review

"When you go through the Canadian Visa Expert website, everything seems to be in order and professional. However, when you dig deeper, you realize that there is a number of warning signs that indicate this company could actually scam you."

"As a result, this acquisition actually made MEMO Global the core of the CanadianVisaExpert scam, as it operates a huge call center with hundreds of Israeli agents that speak many different languages. The role of these agents, of course, is to convince customers to pay this scam more and more money."

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This post is made by the company discussed and is only left because they have been given the option to defend themselves. TSE does not back this statements.

Canadian Visa Expert is a private company that helps thousands of people around the world who are interested in immigrating to Canada. Our website clearly states that we are not affiliated with the Canadian government; however, our legal team is registered with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC). This means that our certified immigration consultants are authorized by Canada’s government to provide immigration advice and related services for a fee.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), “Only some people can charge a fee or receive any other type of payment to represent or advise you on a Canadian immigration proceeding or application. These are: lawyers and paralegals who are members in good standing of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society; notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec and; immigration consultants who are members in good standing of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council. These people are called ‘authorized’ representatives.”

Thus, our valued clients benefit from our professional immigration-related services which include: a professional evaluation by our authorized ICCRC-registered immigration consultants of their potential eligibility to apply for a Permanent Resident Visa to Canada as well as personalized professional assistance to simplify the application process and make sure everything is done correctly.

As you may know, people write all sorts of things (positive and negative) on the Internet and it is almost impossible to prevent them from doing so. In the case of online postings by ScamBook which you recently brought to our attention, it should be noted that there are news reports and numerous other postings criticizing ScamBook for engaging in questionable practices and even referring to it as being a “scam” itself. For example, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Chicago gave ScamBook an “F” (i.e., “failing”) grade and has placed a “red alert” message on the BBB website about ScamBook:

http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/internet-services/scambook-in-los-angeles-ca-88489947

Another example of where the legitimacy of ScamBook has been called into question was posted online by NBC News – Chicago on July 23, 2013, and titled, “Is Scambook.com a Scam Itself?” You may watch the recorded NBC news report exposing ScamBook’s questionable practices at the following link:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/video/#!/investigations/series/target-5/Is-Scambook-com-a-Scam-Itself-/170291966

These are simply two of the many online postings raising issues about ScamBook and they should suffice to raise doubts in your own mind about the “credibility” of ScamBook and any postings they may publish.

Canadian Visa Expert takes great pride in providing its thousands of clients with high-quality immigration-related services and products.

It is our goal at Canadian Visa Expert to provide the highest level of service to our valued customers. Therefore, I kindly request that you send me your contact details at [email protected] (including your nine-digit customer account number) so I may look into your particular case and do my best to resolve it.

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