Online vs in-person visa consultation
When a video consultation is enough, when you should visit the office, and how availability differs across the consultants listed on VisaMarket.
What availability actually looks like
2793 of the 3178 consultancies listed offer an online consultation, and 2991 take weekend appointments. Both filters are available on the search page, so you can narrow to the format you can realistically attend before comparing anything else.
Choose online for assessment and review
A video call is well suited to eligibility assessment, route selection, reviewing scanned documents and interview preparation. It removes travel time, makes it easy to compare two consultants in one week, and works when you are applying from a city where your preferred consultant has no office.
Choose in-person for originals and attestation
Visit the office when original documents need to be handled, when attestation or notarisation is part of the service, or when a family application means several applicants coordinating at once. Seeing the office is also, in practice, a useful check on whether the business is what its listing says it is.
Either way, get the scope in writing
The format of the meeting does not change what you should leave with: a written scope of work, a fee breakdown separating professional fees from government and third-party charges, and a named point of contact.
Frequently asked questions
- Are online consultations cheaper?
- Not automatically. Fees are set per consultancy and per scope, and the listed starting fee on each profile applies regardless of format unless the profile states otherwise.
- Can the whole application be handled remotely?
- Largely, but biometric enrolment must be done in person at a visa application centre, and some destinations require original documents to be submitted physically.