Our VisaRequest Review takes a look at this visa application assistance company based in Pretoria, South Africa. The company has the motto of “honesty, professionalism, Ubuntu, and efficiency”. They offer passport and visa application services in Pretoria to South African citizens who want to travel to their choice of over 40 different countries. They also claim to offer travel insurance to Schengen states and certain African countries. The company collects your documents to submit to embassies around the world for either a business or tourist visas. VisaRequest.co.za claims to have assisted more than 24,000 people in the past 10 years to acquire over 60,000 visas, although we cannot find when the company first began. The company also seems to be a visa agent in South Africa that states that they have the ability, knowledge, and experience to successfully handle your application.
 

The website is pretty simple and easy to navigate as a user. On their homepage, there is an easy drop-down option to get a quote about visa expenses. Most of the links work on the site, which is quite refreshing. Unfortunately, there is not much more information on their website than that. They do give instructions on how to apply for certain visas with a list of requirements. The site does not have additional information about visas and does not go into specifics about how long it will last, who cannot apply or other important details. The website also does not have a frequently asked questions section, which is a bit disappointing. Although, they do have a T&Cs, Disclaimer and Privacy Statement, which does make them appear more professional than most. The fact that they only assist South Africans could be made more clear as we only found this out when we scrolled to the bottom of the home page just above the footer and clicked on the “Who We Serve” tab and it was only through the “We will find a way to assist regardless of location in South Africa.” that we were able to discern this. In terms of consultants, Visarequest.co.za makes no mention of whether or not any of their employees are either Canadian immigration lawyers or RCICs (Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants). We could not find the three employees, who are responsible for visas in the company, under the ICCRC Registry. Neither Madelein De Jager, Nomfanelo Zondi or Mfundo Mnguni are on the ICCRC system. In one of their twitter posts, they do mention that Madelein is a consultant who can “generate forms, schedule appointments and charge visa fee payments.” This means that she should be an authorized representative who can legally charge you for immigration fees and applications. However, we could not find her on the Canadian system which is worrying. They do have a news update section which seems to be last updated in June 2019. We could not confirm this as it is sadly on rotation and doesn’t allow you to click on the section to find relevant embassy news.  Under social media, there are links to their blog, Facebook and Twitter Blog.

As we continue our VisaRequest Review, we look at the services they claim to offer to over 40 different countries from Burkina Faso to the U.K. and Canada. VisaRequest seems to process most Canadian visas as either:

• Tourist;
• Business; and

The company does provide a large number of visas to different countries but does not branch out to anything besides temporary visas. Information about visas, their requirements or any additional information is available when using the “Get Country Specific Visa Info” tool on Visarequest’s site. We also like the fact that you can check on your visa progress.

When you try to find the right visa application assistance for your needs, customer reviews are a good way to go. The site also has several customer testimonials like the one below to say how they felt about the service. Of course, most websites will not include negative reviews on their homepage. Which is why we took a look at their social media platforms in our Visarequest Review. The company’s Facebook page has around 776 likes, which is a very modest following. They do post fairly regularly with the latest post being on September 3, 2019. Their reviews page is only recommended by 15 people, which is not very impressive in comparison to the number of likes or followers that they have nor is it comforting that most of them are negative with regards to service. Some of the negative comments have to do with rushed or incomplete paperwork. Several of their reviews on Facebook mentioned trouble with paperwork. It does help that they do reply to complaints from their customers, which adds to their appeal. The information on their blog is fairly useful but mostly has to do with deadlines and whether or not certain visa offices are open. The last blog was posted over a year ago onJune 21, 2018. This does not speak to their social media presence, which in the digital age we are living in, has become an important factor in determining a company’s credibility. Visarequest also has a small following of 293 on Twitter, since their account was created in 2010. The posts mostly have to do with delays to programs and regulation changes for different immigration policies. Their Twitter has very low social engagement and little to no comments or communication between users and the company. The post could also be more regular if they plan to grow their online following.
 

To finish off our VisaRequest review it seems that more customers are happy with the services offered than customers who have problems with the company. It is unfortunate; however, that for Canadian immigration services there is no mention of an RCIC or authorized representative, who are legally able to help Canadian immigration cases. The fact that the site does have legal documents like a T&Cs, Disclaimer and Privacy Agreement does stand in the company’s favor. As these documents are used to protect both the business and the customer. Please be careful about using their services, as we cannot confirm whether they are a legal immigration company, who can sell their services. If you have had any experiences with Visarequest, please leave a review below. We want to know your story!