Visa Services for Travel Agents
Refer your client's visa to a specialist and it is off your desk. For the UK, Schengen and the USA nobody may attend the appointment for them — what decides the trip is the file and the slot, and we handle both.
Visa admin is the least profitable hour of your day
It is unbillable, it is fiddly, the rules change without notice, and when something goes wrong it is your client on the phone and your reputation on the line. For most agencies it is the part of a booking that quietly eats the margin.
Handing it to a specialist is not just about saving the time. It is about not being the one who has to explain a refusal.
Nobody can submit a UK, Schengen or US application for your client
It is worth being clear about this, because the trade is often sold the opposite. For the UK, for the USA, and for a Schengen application where the traveller has never given biometrics or last gave them more than 59 months ago, the applicant has to attend in person. No courier service, no visa agency and no consultant can stand in for them. That is the consulate's rule, not a limitation of any provider.
So the question is not who carries the passport. On these destinations, the two things that actually delay a trip are the appointment and the file.
The appointment
In peak season, slots at VFS, TLScontact, Capago and BLS go weeks out, and Italy runs the busiest Schengen consulate in the country. A trip usually slips because there was no appointment in time, not because the visa was refused. Finding and holding the earliest workable slot is most of the job.
The file
Refusals are rarely close calls. They are missing documents, bank statements that do not show what the consulate needs, an itinerary that contradicts the form, or nothing that demonstrates a reason to come home. Every one of those is fixable before submission, if somebody catches it.
The group
A delegation or a tour moving on one itinerary against a fixed departure is a different problem to twelve separate applications. One incomplete file holds up the whole party, and it needs to be run as a batch with one person tracking every traveller in it.
Refer it and it is off your desk
You introduce the traveller to us and we take the visa from there, dealing with them directly. You are not in the middle relaying documents, chasing appointments or explaining a consulate rule you did not write.
You keep the booking
We handle the visa, not the trip. We are not a travel agency, we do not sell flights, accommodation or tours, and we have no interest in your client beyond the application you referred.
One consultant, not a queue
A named person handles your referrals and knows your agency, reachable directly by email. No ticket numbers and no explaining the file again to whoever answers.
How it works
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1
Refer the traveller
Send us their details with the destination, travel dates and purpose. An email or the form below, whichever is quickest. For a group, send the passenger list.
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2
We take it from there
A consultant contacts your traveller directly, assesses the case and gives them a written quote before any work starts. Nothing happens without them agreeing to it.
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3
We prepare and book
A document checklist for that destination and that traveller, every document reviewed before submission, forms completed and checked, and the biometrics or interview appointment booked.
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4
You stay in the loop
We tell you where the application stands, so you are never caught out by a client asking. If something is wrong with the file, you hear about it early enough that the trip can still be moved.
How referrals reach us
By email, and that is deliberate. Send us the traveller's details and we take it from there — nothing to install, nothing for your IT to approve, and no new system for your consultants to learn. For a group, one passenger list is enough to start.
We would rather do this properly by email than promise you a portal we have not built. If you send enough volume that something more structured would genuinely help, tell us and we will have that conversation honestly.
Who we work with
Independent travel consultants
No in-house visa desk, and visa admin eats the margin on a booking. This is the work most worth handing over.
Umrah and Hajj operators
Large parties, fixed departures and a deadline that cannot move. Group visa work where the date is set by the calendar and not by the traveller is exactly the kind we are built for.
Corporate travel and TMCs
Repeat volume from the same accounts, usually with less notice than anyone would like. Business visas, renewals and urgent turnarounds.
Tour operators and DMCs
Whole groups moving on the same itinerary, where one missed document holds up a departure.
Conference and incentive organisers
Delegations applying together against a fixed date, where the deadline is the whole problem.
What we take off your desk
- A document checklist specific to the destination, the purpose and the traveller
- Review of every document before anything is submitted
- Application forms completed and checked
- Biometrics, appointment and interview slots booked
- Group and delegation applications handled as one batch
- The back-and-forth with the traveller about documents, which is the part that eats the hours
What we are straight with you about
- We deal with your traveller directly once you refer them, so this is a referral rather than a white-label service.
- Embassy and visa-centre fees are separate and are paid by the traveller.
- Your client attends their own appointment and gives their own biometrics. No agency can do that for them.
- No outcome is guaranteed. The decision belongs to the consulate, and anyone promising otherwise is not being straight with you or your client.
- If a case is not realistic in the time available, we will say so before you promise anything to your traveller.
Questions agencies ask
We do. You refer the traveller, we contact them directly and handle the visa with them from there. We are not a travel agency — we do not sell flights, accommodation or tours, and we have no interest in your client beyond the application you sent us. The booking stays yours.
The traveller gets a written quote before any work begins, and it is free and without obligation. The fee depends on the destination, the visa type and how complicated the case is, so we quote per application rather than publishing one number. Embassy and visa-centre fees are always separate and are paid by the traveller directly. If you are referring regularly, talk to us about how that works for your agency.
No, and for the destinations most agencies send us, neither can anyone else. The UK, the USA and a first Schengen application all require the traveller to attend in person and give their own biometrics — that is the consulate’s rule and it applies to every provider equally. What we do instead is the part that actually decides the outcome: getting the file right before it is seen, and securing the earliest appointment your client can make. If a booking genuinely needs a passport couriered, tell us and we will say plainly whether it is possible for that destination.
Yes, and group work is where we save you the most time. Tours, incentives, conference delegations and corporate teams travelling together can be submitted in one batch rather than one enquiry at a time. Send us the passenger list and we will come back with what is needed for the whole party.
We tell you first, with the stated grounds, so you are never hearing it from your client. We will advise whether to appeal or reapply and what needs to change. No agency, including ours, can guarantee an outcome — the decision belongs to the consulate.
Send them anyway. Half-finished forms, a booked appointment at the wrong centre or a refusal already on record are all workable, and they are usually the cases where a second pair of eyes matters most. We will tell you honestly if there is nothing useful we can add.
Any destination a South African passport holder needs a visa for. Most agency volume is the UK, Schengen, the USA, Canada, Australia, China and India, and those are the ones we handle most often. We also do a lot of Saudi Arabia work for Umrah and Hajj parties.
As early as you have the traveller’s details. Most Schengen consulates accept applications up to six months before departure and want at least fifteen days, but in peak season the binding constraint is appointment availability rather than processing, and slots can be weeks out. Send it when you book the flights, not when the client asks about the visa.
No. We work with ASATA members, independent travel consultants, corporate travel departments and tour operators alike. Tell us how you are set up and we will work with it.
Get in touch
Tell us how your agency works and what you usually send, and a consultant will come back to you. No commitment, and no minimum volume to have the conversation.
Prefer to write to us directly? Email help@getvisa.co.za and tell us a bit about your agency — a consultant will reply to you.
Not an agency? Our visa services for individual travellers covers the same work for people applying on their own.