eVisitor Australia fake website? Why a free visa should never cost you a penny

Tips · 2026-11-01 · 9 min read

A woman frowns slightly at her laptop at a kitchen table, with a passport and mug beside her.

If you are in the UK and a website asks you to pay for an eVisitor visa, treat it as a warning sign. The Australian eVisitor visa (subclass 651) is free for British Citizen passport holders, and the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) carries no visa application charge, only a possible service fee in the app. Neither one lets you work, so a site that sells either as a way into a job is selling you the wrong thing.

What the official routes cost

The FCDO's travel advice for British citizens is the best starting point, because it names the real routes and what they cost. Here is how they compare.

Route	Official charge	Can you work on it?
Australia: eVisitor (subclass 651)	No visa application charge and no service fee	No. Home Affairs may cancel it if you work or intend to work for an Australian employer
Australia: Electronic Travel Authority through the app	No visa application charge, but there may be a service fee	No. You cannot work in Australia on an ETA or a visitor visa
New Zealand: NZeTA for a visit	The NZeTA itself, plus the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy	No. You must have a visa to work or study in New Zealand

The eVisitor is valid for travel for 12 months from grant, with stays of up to 3 months after each entry. A British citizen can visit New Zealand without a visa for up to 6 months but needs an NZeTA first, which can take up to 72 hours and lasts up to 2 years. Look up current fees on the official pages rather than trusting a figure on a search ad.

How copycat sites catch people out

GOV.UK warns that some websites, emails and phone numbers look like official government services when they are not, and that they make you pay for things that would be free or cheaper through the official service. Visa and travel-permit sites are an obvious target, because many people search in a hurry the week before a flight.

The look of a site proves nothing. A copycat can use a flag, a crest, the word "official" and a clean checkout page. What it cannot copy is the real address. That is why every check below starts with the web address, not the design.

Five checks before you pay anyone

Check the address. Australian government sites end in gov.au, and New Zealand's immigration websites sit on immigration.govt.nz. Type the address yourself or follow a link from a government page.
Ask what the official price is. If the official route is free, any charge for "processing" or "assistance" is a sign you are on a copycat. An ETA with a small app service fee is different from a site charging a large fee for the same thing.
Look for the right application route. For a full Australian visa, ImmiAccount is the only official place to apply. Be wary of anyone who says they will apply "on your behalf" without telling you which account the application sits in.
Read the email sender. Emails claiming to be from the Department of Home Affairs whose address does not end in .gov.au are scams. For New Zealand, official Immigration New Zealand (INZ) email addresses end with immigration.govt.nz or mbie.govt.nz.
Stop at any request for private details by link. GOV.UK's advice is not to give out bank details or passwords, reply to text messages, download attachments or click links in emails if you are not sure they are genuine.

Australia: where the real pages are

For the eVisitor, the page to use is the Home Affairs eVisitor (651) page. It states that the visa is free and open to United Kingdom British Citizen passport holders. If a search result takes you somewhere else first and asks for a card payment, close it.

For everything else, Home Affairs says ImmiAccount is the only official website for applying for an Australian visa. It also says a visa grant that cannot be found in VEVO, the online visa checking service, is probably fake. If someone sends you a "grant letter" you cannot find in VEVO, do not pay or travel on it.

Home Affairs sets out how these scams work on its visa scams page. It also notes that Australia does not issue "work permits", visa labels or Labour Market Impact Assessments, so anyone offering one is running a scam.

New Zealand: the domain and payment test

Immigration New Zealand sets out its own tests on its page on protecting yourself from immigration scams. Two are easy to apply at home. First, INZ websites include ".immigration.govt.nz" exactly, so a lookalike with "visa" or "nz" bolted onto a different name is not the real thing. Second, INZ never asks for visa fees to be paid into a bank account; it accepts debit or credit card payment on its forms, or payment at an approved Visa Application Centre.

If you have been sent a New Zealand visa and want to confirm it, INZ's Visa Verification service can check whether it is real. Before you act on a job offer, read our five checks for an AEWV job offer from New Zealand, which covers the employer side of the same problem.

A travel permit is not a work visa

This is where copycat sites and job scams overlap. Someone may tell you to "get your ETA and start work", or to enter on a visitor permit and sort the paperwork out later. Home Affairs is clear that you cannot work in Australia on an ETA or a visitor visa, and the eVisitor can be cancelled if you work or plan to.

The same warning applies in New Zealand: a British visitor needs a visa to work, not just an NZeTA. People who do this properly usually start with a sponsoring employer. Our guide to sponsored jobs in Australia for UK citizens and the Skills in Demand (482) visa guide explain routes that do allow work. For New Zealand, see the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) guide.

Scamwatch lists the warning signs of job scams: unexpected contact on WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram, a quick hiring process with no interview, and being asked to pay a "recruitment fee" or for training materials before starting. It also advises never sending your passport or identity documents to an employer or recruitment firm unless you are certain they are genuine. In New Zealand, employers cannot charge you fees for a job or make you pay any of their recruitment costs, even indirectly through a third party.

When you have confirmed that an employer is real, a tidy CV helps you move quickly. You can build one with Build AI CV. You can also browse a live role such as a Head Chef vacancy in Sydney to see what a proper advert looks like.

If you have already paid

Do not feel embarrassed. These sites are built to look convincing. GOV.UK says that if you are in England or Wales and think you have lost money or been hacked because of an online scam or fraud, you should contact Report Fraud online or on 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, report it to Police Scotland. The steps are on the GOV.UK page on reporting suspicious emails and websites.

Contact your bank as soon as you can, keep screenshots of the site and any emails, and change any password you entered. Stop replying to anyone who contacted you after the payment, because a second approach offering to "recover" your money is a common follow-up.

Common mistakes

Clicking the first sponsored result for "Australia visa" without checking the web address.
Paying for an eVisitor, which is free, because a site showed a "fast-track" tier.
Assuming that a site with a UK flag or a government-style logo is part of the government.
Treating an ETA or NZeTA as permission to start work. Our guide to the working holiday visa for Australia from the UK covers a route that does allow work.
Sending a passport scan to someone who found you on a messaging app.
Trusting a visa grant letter without checking VEVO.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Australian eVisitor visa really free for UK citizens?

Yes. Home Affairs says the eVisitor (subclass 651) is free and open to United Kingdom British Citizen passport holders. The FCDO also says there is no visa application charge or service fee. Any site that charges you for it is not the official service.

Does an Australian ETA cost anything?

The FCDO says an ETA applied for through the app has no visa application charge, but there may be a service fee. Check the current figure in the official app listing or on the Home Affairs site before you pay.

How do I know an email from Immigration New Zealand is genuine?

Official INZ email addresses end with immigration.govt.nz or mbie.govt.nz. A message from any other domain claiming to be INZ should be treated as suspect, and INZ never asks for visa fees to be paid into a bank account.

Can I work in Australia while on an eVisitor or ETA?

No. Home Affairs says you cannot work on an ETA or visitor visa, and it may cancel an eVisitor if you work or intend to work for an Australian employer. Work needs a visa that allows it.

What should I do if I paid a copycat site?

Contact your bank, keep all evidence and report it. In England and Wales, GOV.UK points you to Report Fraud online or on 0300 123 2040, and in Scotland to Police Scotland.

Key takeaways

The eVisitor is free for British Citizen passport holders, and the ETA has no visa application charge.
Check the web address first: gov.au for Australia, immigration.govt.nz for New Zealand.
ImmiAccount is the only official place to apply for an Australian visa, and VEVO can confirm a grant.
No travel permit lets you work; sponsored work visas do.
If you paid a copycat, contact your bank and report it straight away.

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