HOW WE
VERIFY EVERY
LINK.
Every portal in this registry has been manually reviewed by a human before it goes live. This page explains exactly what we check, what automatically disqualifies a link, and who is accountable for every entry.
136
Links Verified
5
Point Checklist
$0
Service Fees Tolerated
Scope
What we verify
We verify
- ✓ Official government eVisa application portals
- ✓ Official eTA and Electronic Travel Authority portals
- ✓ Government-issued digital arrival cards
- ✓ Official visa status check / application tracking tools
We do not list
- ✕ Third-party visa agents or processing services
- ✕ Any portal that charges a service or convenience fee
- ✕ Travel insurance or ancillary services
- ✕ Embassy appointment booking portals
Process
The 5-point verification checklist
Source Identification
We identify the official government immigration authority responsible for issuing the travel document: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, or equivalent. This is our baseline for what "official" means for that country.
Domain Authentication
We prioritise official government domain extensions: .gov, .gouv, .gob, .go. Where a government operates on a private TLD (common in some regions), we cross-reference the domain against official press releases, Ministry websites, and embassy resource pages before accepting it.
HTTPS & Security Check
The portal must have a valid, unexpired SSL certificate and serve exclusively over HTTPS. Any redirect to an unencrypted HTTP page is an automatic disqualifier. We also check that the portal's visual identity (branding, language, government seals) is consistent with the claimed authority.
Zero-Fee Check
We navigate the portal to the point of application. If any step introduces a service fee, processing fee, or "convenience charge" beyond the stated government fee, the link is rejected. The government fee itself (e.g., USD 100 for an eVisa) is expected and noted; only third-party additions disqualify.
Cross-Reference & Publish
Before marking a link Live, we cross-reference it against at least one independent official source: typically the destination country's embassy website in a third country, an IATA Travel Centre entry, or an official government press release. Only after this final check does the entry go live with a "Verified" status.
Rejection Criteria
What disqualifies a link
-
Charges a service fee
Any third-party surcharge beyond the government fee. Automatic rejection.
-
Unofficial domain
Domains like visa-[country].com, evisa-[country].net with no government affiliation.
-
Expired or invalid SSL
Browser security warning present. No exceptions.
-
Redirects through a third party
The final destination URL must be the government portal. No intermediary redirects.
-
Link is broken or unreachable
4xx or 5xx response. Moved to Unverified status until a working replacement is found.
// 5-point gate. All must pass.
const verifyLink = (portal) => {
if (portal.hasServiceFee)
return 'REJECTED';
if (!portal.isGovDomain)
return 'REJECTED';
if (!portal.hasValidSSL)
return 'REJECTED';
if (portal.redirectsThrough3P)
return 'REJECTED';
// All checks passed.
return 'VERIFIED_LIVE';
}
Cadence
How often we re-check
New Links
Before going live
Every new link passes the full 5-point checklist before it is published. No link is made Live without a human review.
Existing Links
Quarterly + on report
Live links are re-checked on a rolling quarterly cycle. Any user report triggers an immediate out-of-cycle re-verification.
Critical Changes
As a priority
Government portal replacements, policy changes and scam alerts are treated as the highest priority and actioned as quickly as possible once flagged, whether by users or discovered internally.
Accountability
Who is responsible
Registry Maintainer
The EntryCheck Team
Independent Verification Registry
Every entry is reviewed by a person before it goes live, and each link is then monitored automatically for changes. We are directly reachable for any concerns about a specific entry.
support@entrycheck.orgRegistry Status
Community Verification
Spotted Something Wrong?
If a link is broken, redirects somewhere unexpected, or you believe a portal has changed, report it. Every report is read by a person and acted on as quickly as we can.
Go to Country & Reportor email support@entrycheck.org directly
Accountability
Corrections
Anyone can claim a link is verified. What separates a registry you can rely on from a list is what happens when something turns out to be wrong.
What counts as a correction
A correction is a change to something we published as fact and got wrong: a figure in The Digital Borders Report, or a factual error in an EntryWire article. Ordinary registry maintenance is not a correction. A portal that moves, a status that changes, or a verification date that advances after a recheck is the system working, and each entry already carries the date it was last confirmed.
How we handle one
Every report is read by a person. Where it concerns a portal we have marked verified, we recheck the entry against the full standard above before changing anything. If we cannot confirm the portal, the entry moves to unverified while we look into it rather than staying live on the strength of an old check. If we were wrong, we say so on the entry and record it here. If the entry stands, we will tell you what we checked and why.
What we will not do
We will not remove an accurate entry because an operator objects to it, and we will not mark a portal as verified because its owner asks. Every verified entry earns that status through the same checks, whoever is asking.
Corrections log
No corrections have been issued to a published report or article to date. Any that are will be listed here with the date, what was wrong, and what changed. Report one to support@entrycheck.org.