Complaints
This profile includes complaints for CIBT Visas's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Complaints Summary
- 28 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 16 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.
Initial Complaint
Date:05/16/2025
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
As of this morning 05/16/2025, my **** application has remained in a deferred state with the Brazil Embassy. I find CIBT**** unable to deliver on their business. They blame the Brazil Embassy, or now potentially me for CIBT shortcomings. I ask that they own their mistake and do whats right here. Below is a breakdown of the key events related to my **** application: 21st February: ** order was created.27th February: I uploaded my initial set of docs.28th February: CIBT team reviewed docs and requested a new photograph. 3rd March: I re-uploaded your documents. On the same day, they were reviewed again and rejected due to the photograph still not meeting the required specifications.7th April: A new professional taken photograph was submitted, and finally my application was submitted to the embassy on the same day.15th April: The application status was updated to deferred by the embassy, requesting a re-upload of the Passport Bio Page.16th April: CIBT now emailed me asking to updated the Passport Bio Page. I submitted the document the same day, and CIBT reuploaded it immediately, informing me that they would keep my order under close monitoring due to the current instability of the embassys system. Again, this is not my problem, but I find CIBT to blame for this. 18th April: ** application again went into deferred status. 21st April: ******* my flights were missed, and my trip was now needing to be cancelled as no **** was issued, I requested to cancel the application. At that point, CIBT informed me that your documents had already been submitted and that cancellation was no longer possible for their team. I find this to be false as a **** was never issued still to this date. 16th May: I have formally asked to cancel my application. ** reason why, a few others planned the same travel dates to ******, and most were successful in obtaining a **** directly through the Brazil Embassy. Only CIBT customers were unsuccessful.
Business Response
Date: 05/21/2025
We apologize for any inconvenience. A full refund was issued on 5/20/25Initial Complaint
Date:04/24/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
******* ***
verage for $43, a standard service fee for $307, and a consular process fee of 6.9%. Only the consular fee of $140 was advertised, and the rest was not properly disclosed. I'd like to get my money back and choose a different company. Even if this is the going rate, I don't want to support this type of predatory and dishonest business.Business Response
Date: 05/21/2025
this client received a full refund on April 28th.Initial Complaint
Date:02/13/2025
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I paid this service to help facilitate getting a ********** for traveling. They are supposed to review all my documents for accuracy and deal with the *************** to get this done. I had the wrong date on one of the many forms required, which they should have caught as part of their service. They sent it all to the embassy, who sent it back to CIBT due to the wrong date. CIBT never notified me that this was returned. I only found out when I contacted them to find out when they were going to mail it back to me since my travel time is approaching. They informed me what happened and said it would take another 3 weeks for them to fix it. I had to have them send my passports back to me and told me they couldn't help expedite for me. I now had to cancel my original flights and hotels and re-book, and will be driving to *********** tomorrow to do this on my own. CIBT gave me a partial refund after more than a dozen phone calls to them but will not refund me $170 they said they are keeping for *** Ex service which is not ok as it is their fault this didn't happen. Every time I call them now they hang up on me.Business Response
Date: 06/03/2025
***, we need your order number. We do not action by name and email only.Initial Complaint
Date:02/09/2025
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I am satisfy with the business response to refund the money to me.
Thanks
Hong Yu
Business Response
Date: 05/21/2025
all CIBT service fees have been refundedInitial Complaint
Date:01/07/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** ******
tus is virtually non existent. In addition to my challenge, this business should be investigated for the fraudulent practice of failing to disclose the price of a $600 service, and then charging a $300 fee to get refunded. Half of this $600 fee goes to the Chinese consulate to submit paperwork anyways, so CIBT's revenue is about $300 (the same price as the cancelation fee) which means it is impossible to get refunded for the service after you submit the form where they don't disclose the price of the service.Business Response
Date: 05/21/2025
customer was refunded in full in Jan 2025Initial Complaint
Date:12/20/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I purchased a **** for ******* and Cambodia thru CIBT. I then realized that they charged a $197.00 service fee. So, they refunded the cost of 2 visas, in amount of $500.90 and $497.90.I was also told I would not be charged for the Cambodian ****, because "no work had been performed on the application. However, there is still a $500.90 charge on my ****. I need a refund of this application fee.Business Response
Date: 06/03/2025
*******, we need your valid Order number to be sure we action the proper response. RRXXXX is not a valid order for CIBTInitial Complaint
Date:11/08/2024
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.you can disregard my original dispute
Regards,
******** *********
being told that is incorrect and we they no longer hand pick up passports from the passport office and they have to wait for the office to ship the passport back to them so that's why the turnaround time has changed to the 11/18. My flight and trip is 11/17. I would have to pay ***** for a 1 day turnaround time. This is not ok. I called and spoke to a ***resentative on Monday, and they stated I would be fine . Spoke to another *** on 11/7 who stated the same. Now I am expected to pay an additional 1k to get my passport on time. So now I either have to pay 1k or cancel the trip and lose moneys. This is a tactic to get customers to pay more money how didn't anyone know this on 11/07 when I called to confirm the shipping and everything was on schedule. I need a fast turnaround, or the *** as promised. If you can magically get my passport to me in 1 business day for an additional 1k, why can't I receive the passport on the original date of the 15th as promised?Business Response
Date: 06/03/2025
Fees and service provided were as agreed
We have these notes from the customer:
1/******** (EST) ****** Kenzhebayeva:Hello,
Thank you so much for your fast follow up and quick turnaround . Your level of professionalism exceeded my expectations. I did write a BBB review but I will go and update it now based on our conversation and your professionalism.
Thank you for resolving my issue quickly !
Sent from my iPhone
11/13 11:53 (EST) ****** Kenzhebayeva:Good morning ********,
Good news! We have your passport in hands and are about to ship it to:
******** ST *******
**********************************************************************
Tracking **** 779929617811
Have a safe travel!
Best regards,
***** KenzhebayevaInitial Complaint
Date:09/05/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I placed an order for expedited premium services which cost extra on 9/4. I was supposed to be contacted by a dedicated premium agent within 4 business hours, no contact was made. I called their customer support on 9/5 at around 10:00 AM who transferred me to another line that disconnected, I called back they transferred me to another line that didn't answer. Each time the hold time was 10 minutes, I have spent close to 1 hour on hold with various lines and have received no support. I paid for a **** service, I haven't received a checklist of what's needed, I haven't received any documents I need to fill out, I haven't received any service. They have provided no service to me at all and this is supposed to be premium expedited rush service.Business Response
Date: 11/07/2024
The order was cancelled; no charges were incurred; individual holds a valid *****Initial Complaint
Date:06/21/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I paid a lot of money because they told me I needed the 'executive service' for my **** to ***********. However, they have me emailing the embassy about information they should already know about. I am not satistifed because I did not pay $753 just to be told "Oh I don't know that information, could you ask the embassy?" That is not my job. Also the information I've been given is completely inaccurate. She told me I could not make an appointment for my D-2 **** even though the *** consulate clearly states that I can.She also stated I would need to mail in my original passport when it clearly says "DO NOT MAIL IN ORIGINAL PASSPORT" on their website. I am thoroughly unhappy with this service. What does CIBT even do? They cannot expidite my **** either. Unless I am told directly what they are doing for me in terms of my **** application, correct the information that I have been given so far, I want a refund. This whole process has been time consuming, money consuming, and clearly the person helping me has no clue what they are doing.Business Response
Date: 11/07/2024
This order was cancelled and fully refunded
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