My friend, who is currently based in Dubai, stumbled upon the website of Visa Governor, a company that promises easy entry to the UK through student visas. At first, we tried to verify the authenticiy of the company. Their website looked “authentic”. They have business addresses in London and supposedly legitimate phone numbers. I tried calling their office from Luton, Bedfordshire but there was no one answering the phone.
I told my friend about it but it did not raise alarm bells in our silly heads. So, she went ahead and sent the money they required for them to mail her all the sponsorship documents that my friend needed like a sponsorship letter, their bank statement, school and work documents, etc – to which I agreed. Their way of doing business, according to how we understood their instructions is like this: they screen each online applicant based on the details the latter gives. Once they are satisfied, they inform the applicant that they are qualified to apply for a student visa.
Then, they ask the applicant to send them 48 sterling pounds for the mailing expenses of the documents the applicant allegedly needs to submit to the British Embassy wherever they are in the world, for visa processing. My friend and I were very excited. Alas! it was not to be that way for long.
When a letter came from Visa Governor, all that my friend saw inside the envelope was a 3-page incomplete bank account statement and nothing else. How in the world will my friend apply for a student visa with that document? She was supposed to apply as a student, with an assured school placement and job placement arranged by this fraudster of a company!
My friend has joined some social networking sites where she exchanged notes with other Visa Governor applicants. So far, none among the Filipinos who applied that she “met” in these sites have been successful with Visa Governor. There are at least two who said they were successful but they did not share how they did it. I think they were just planted there to contradict the complaints, but in reality are not successful applicants.
My dearest friends and kababayans, please be very careful. Even if we say that coming here to the UK through a student visa is very common nowadays, look for the right agency. If you have money, you can even apply by yourself, just look for the right school for you. You will save a lot on agency fees.
By the way, I checked Visa Governor with two business verification sites to check if the addresses in their website (two London addresses were cited there) are actually legitimate. In both instances, the addresses are true and correct but VisaGovernor did not come up as one of the businesses in any of these two addresses.
If Visa Governor turns out to be a legitimate company, then I am prepared to apologize. I would be very happy if they can prove me wrong – by actually making good on their promise to their clients, that they will help and sponsor them to come here.
You are right, as per my research even other applicants got the same papers so i believe they are fraud. I didn’t receive any documents yet but i don’t have any hope because now i am confirmed they are fraud.. thanks buddy
hi, i didnt only receive an email from them about my application. I also receive a text and the # is +447624803777 stating CONGRATULATIONS on your successful application. A sponsorship of GBP 1200 has been approved for you. Please sign in your http://www.VisaGovernor.com account. Then indeed i got the same congratulation and a position is waiting for me as a secretary.
I didnt react to it rightaway since i learned from my friend she saw some articles at google about it. Am asking my brother to check it out in UK too.
Another strange thing is I checked the emails they send me..if you are legitimate company, you will have a legitimate IP address. The first email last March has a UK IP address but the lastest as of Aug 2 has a US address…that cant be for a legitimate company.
Am so sad. how could they do this?
Elamie, you are wise not to jump into something immediately, no matter how tempting it may be. my regret is that I was not wise enough to caution my friend against them. in fact, I myself believed that they were legitimate. maybe I was just so desperate for her to come here as well and threw caution and good sense to the wind.
thanks for visiting my blog and if you were helped in any way by this post, then, I did not write it in vain.
Oh my gosh! Good thing I searched on google things about this Visa Governor.It was too good to be true.I was so excited knowing I passed the sponsorship.I was planning to send money this coming week but my good conscience whisper to me that I should do some checking on this agency.And thank God I read this.Thank for the info.I had encountered many scammers but good thing no one tempt me to act impulsively,I always checked before I make a decision.it’s better to be careful than be sorry.Thanks!!
victim and krizz, thanks for visiting my blog. i posted about this mainly to warn my fellow countrymen against such scams. victim, too bad you sent money already. just be more careful next time.
as for you krizz, am glad you researched first and that this post did not come too late for you. just continue looking for an opportunity to realize your dream, just be very careful.
thanks!
Thank you for posting this. This is such a good warning. I am about to pay the 68 sterling pounds I was asked to wire transfer but it’s a good thing I checked out first. Thanks a lot.
Bert, you are most welcome. If it was only you that was warned by this, then I did not write it in vain. I am glad, really that you had the good sense to check first.
I hope and pray that you will be able to come here through means that are legal and legitimate. God bless you.
I hate Visa Governor!! they make me the same thing. I pay for the documents and they never came.
Marcela, you are justified in being pissed off by these people who operate only to defraud innocent people of their hard-earned money, only because they can’t think of anything better to feed themselves and their families. May this post and the experiences of all those who have fallen victim to visagovernor not go to waste – may these serve as warnings to the others who might have been in touch with these scammers already.
Thank you, Marcela for visiting this blog. It is not in the best of circumstances that we have “met” but I still am thankful that you were able to vent your anger here.
Be careful next time, ok?
Hi,
This is Amit from Mumbai,India and i also received the offer from Visagovernor for sponsorship and job placement.Some time back i called their office on the no.on their website ,and could speak only once or twice with a person ,but somehow i was not satisfied with the answer what he gave me. Then i wrote to them via email ,but again they were giving me the vaig answers. But anyway i was prepared to pay their postage and the money for other documents but after reading somany people’s view & experience , I have decided not to send them any money and they seem cheaters.
Amit, thank God you had the sense not to send the money to them. Just be very careful about all these ways and means being offered in order to be able to come here to the UK.
Your care and astuteness should be emulated by others so that no one will be victimized again.
Dear modernmariaclara,
I would also like to thank you for your thoughtful warnings here. The same story happened with me here in Russia. Visa Governor does look serious and true and even me despite my age and experience I almoast believed in such luck 🙂 But I came across your blog just in good time and now – no more doubts and false hopes. Thanks to all those who shared their bad experience.
Irina, you are welcome. Yes, at least you were saved from being victimized. I hope more people will read this blog so that they too will be warned against these evil people.
Anyone out there who have had a positive experience (if there are) with visagovernor, please speak out so that it cannot be said that I am being biased. But I doubt it. By the way things are going, we will hear more woes from victims and gratefulness from those who have been spared.
This blog is open to anyone who wants to vent.
Well, i have already launched a big complain against them. Next time when they plan such things they must think twice.. i am wondering who was that person? As per amit he spoke with someone from visagovernors. I wish i could speak with that man, i would definately punch that bastard. I don’t care i am a girl, i would definately like to punch that jerk. I wish i meet him someday to make him one eye man huh
Victim, I understand how you feel. In this world, there really are people who are selfish and only think of themselves. They only think about how to gratify their own wants and unfortunately, they even go to the extent of hurting and defrauding others just to do this.
Just be more careful next time. I hope your complaint will prosper so that it will stop visagovernor from stealing from more people.
Thank you, modernmariaclara!
I was almoust ready to send them a money. Don’t understand how could I be such naive(
Anyaway, do you know any legitimate company’s in the UK wich can help out with the work & study in the UK?
Hi! Sol. You are most welcome. Thank you as well for dropping by Pinoy Around the World.
I’m afraid I don’t know of any legitimate company that can help those who want to come here on student visa. I do know, though, that Golders Green College in London accepts student visa holders, as one of my close friends here go to school there and she is here on student visa. She came here through an agent and she spent half a million pesos (I’m not sure if that included her show money).
You can try surfing for that college if you want and go direct to them. Hope this will help.
God bless you.
I also apply for VisaGovernor and my application was successful. My application was successful for only 13 days, it’s stated that it would be on “GREEN” on your member area and that was happen to my account. But, I haven’t paid the postage fee of 48.25UK pound. I’m having a second thought not to pay right away because I was then a victim of a scam from a hotel named Kutuma Hotel. So, it serves as a lesson learned for me not to give/send money to the latter if ever I’d discovered something like this which is too good to be true opportunity. We’ll see, but for me to be sure not to be victimized again, I’m not gonna send money to them (VISAGOVERNOR).
thanks…they almost had me…
now..that explains why is wasn’t excited at all….i thought somethin’ was really fishy…i was about to send the “postage” fee a few minutes ago…luckily, i was too late when i arrived at the bank…
thanks kababayans 😀
Aww..i should have searched about this before we paid!!
By mid-July, I received the same confirmation that my application was successful and that the next step to do was to pay the 48.25 UK pounds postal fee.
It took me a while before deciding to pay the fee. At first I had apprehensions regarding the website, thinking it might just be another scam/fraud site. So I asked my sister who is already working in UK if the site was legit. Naive enough, I immediately believed my sister that it was a legit site. I was even more convinced when I received a reply from visagovernor team regarding my inquiry on accommodation. Since they are replying to inquiries I naively thought they were legit (tooo bad…)
So after almost a month, just 2 weeks ago, my sister deposited the 48.25 UK pounds fee at the Barclay’s account number stated in their website. It is stated in the website that it will take 3-4 days before payments are cleared. So since last week, I have been constantly checking for the status in my visagovernor account. However, up until today, the document status remains ‘Awaiting Payment.’ It is already more than 10 working days since we paid the fee but the status remains the same. It is by this time that I began to doubt. Fearing the worst, i typed ‘visagovernor legit?’ keyword in google. And alas! I came to this blog…and couldn’t believe what I find out — I could just well be a victim of fraudulent website.
Darn…how could I have not investigated first on the legitimacy of the said website. I should have not given it the benefit of the doubt, when at first I was already apprehensive about it. I shouldve really googled it before letting my sister pay the fee..Hay..this is going to be my first sad lesson on website fraudulence. So guys, especially my kababayans, let’s be careful about sites such as this.
thanks GOD I managed to check first before sending the money to my niece, I thought it is really a genuine because the way they are asking money is very affordable so people think that visa governor is genuine,,,no way
Halo. Am so glad to read about this latest information regarding visagovernor because I am suppose to refer 6 of my friends wishing to go to UK.
I applied online on March 2009 but was not able to push continue because of personal circumstances. I did receive email that i was fortunate to avail of sponsorship loan
May you please help us locate legitimate school in UK where we could be able to enroll online?
Thank you and MABUHAY KA PINOY!
juicezip and dian, am glad you did not fall prey to this scam. as for you, thug, consider it a lesson learned in life. the money you lost can be earned again, but the lesson will always stay with you.
ligaya giles, good on you as well, for not being victimized. Kadji, thank God your friends were spared from paying unnecessarily and you, spared from being guilty about referring them to a scam business. You asked whether I know of any school that can help you. I know only Golders Green in London. If you can surf that, I know they ar operating legitimately because one of my close friends is going to school there.
I hope more readers will be saved from falling victim to scams. research very well first before releasing any money.
God bless you all, my dear friends.
halo thanks for the info,I am so thankful that my ate margie not one of the victim of visagovernor. that site was a big scam.. I try to apply on that site for my ate margie and then whe they ask for the payment of the document my ate have doubt so she didn’t continue.So she lucky ,,,
hi everyone,
also in addition, when it comes to payment, if they’re a legit company, they’ll probably use a much more trusted payment gateway like paypal, etc. and not by using a wire transfer.