Travelers applying for a U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) or a Canadian Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) should verify that they are on an official government website, as consumers keep paying fees of up to 250,000 won ($180) to private agency sites that appear at the top of portal search results.
Mistaken for Official Sites: 7,500 Won Becomes Up to 230,000 Won
The Korea Consumer Agency said on the 3rd that its 1372 Consumer Counseling Center received 51 complaints related to electronic travel authorizations between 2024 and July of this year. Of those, 35 cases, or 68.6%, involved private agency sites.
Excessive fees were the most common complaint at 30 cases, or 58.8%. In three cases, consumers paid but never received the authorization. By country, the United States accounted for the most complaints at 29 cases, or 56.9%, followed by Canada with 10 cases, or 19.6%.
Travelers must obtain electronic travel authorization before departure to enter certain visa-waiver countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia. The problem is that searching portals for terms such as "electronic travel authorization," "ETA" or "ESTA" surfaces advertisements from private agencies at the top of results, where they are easily mistaken for official sites.
The agency reviewed 29 agency sites found through portal searches and found that eight, or 27.6%, did not separately disclose that they were not official government websites. Sixteen sites, or 55.2%, either did not list their service fees at all or made them difficult to find on the main page.
Price gaps were wide. Official government fees for electronic travel authorization range from free to a maximum of $40.27, or about 57,000 won, while private operators charged between $21, or about 30,000 won, and as much as $176, or about 250,000 won.
Canada's official eTA fee is just 7 Canadian dollars, or about 7,500 won, but some agencies demanded as much as $159, or about 230,000 won — roughly 30 times the official charge.
Apply Directly With a Passport, Card and Email, and Check the Address Bar Before Paying
Travelers can apply on their own without going through an agency, using a passport, a credit or debit card and an email address on each government's official website.
The Korea Consumer Agency urged travelers to confirm that a site is the official government website of the country they plan to visit rather than relying on portal search results. Checking the domain in the address bar and the final fee charged before paying is especially important.
Applying at the last minute before departure should also be avoided. Travelers should apply with enough time to spare and then check that the information issued matches their passport.
If an authorization is not issued within the period promised after payment, travelers can request a chargeback, a payment dispute service, from their card issuer.
"Electronic travel authorization can be applied for easily on each government's official website with only a passport, a credit or debit card and an email address," the Korea Consumer Agency said, urging travelers to use official government sites rather than private agencies whenever possible.
