Visa experts commented on the situation using bots

Moscow, February 13 – Visa experts for the News Agency commented on the situation with bots that help reserve time for submitting documents.

“No bots have occupied the entire visa space, as they say. Anyone can get permission to enter, but sometimes you have to wait,” explains Daniil Sergeyev, CEO of Visakhod.

He continues, “We don’t quite agree that people who have bots are called ‘scammers’. These bots have appeared in response to the artificial shortage of some consulates. For example, you need to register to submit documents in France and places appear there once Every week or two at 4, 5, or 6 a.m. You sit and wait and go make tea and it’s sorted right away.

According to Sergeyev, there is no excitement in other visa centers. The expert explains that if it is not possible to submit documents to France, you can register without queuing up with Spain and Italy.

Sergeyev explains that the bots appeared in August 2017, when the US Consulate began issuing a limited number of places for registration. Then the software started to improve.

Now, the expert believes, this is the “market reality”. “The same thing happens before, for example, The Nutcracker show during the New Year holidays, iconic matches that everyone wants to attend. They are fighting this, they are better protecting the sites,” says Sergeev.

Other experts confirm his words. At the same time, they state that now the average visa processing time is 15 days, not 45. “Of course, we are against bots. It is very expensive to develop them, prices start at 400 thousand rubles, so individual companies and programmers are involved,” says Julia Wald, author of the Juliya channel. Visa telegram.

According to her, for example, it was unrealistic to register to apply for a visa to the United States even before the pandemic. “It has been impossible to do without a robot for seven years already,” Wald explains. “There is a limit to entering your personal account: three times a day. A day and then the date repeats itself. The maximum consular fee is one year.”

Wald claims that there have been cases when the cost of an appointment for applying for a visa to the United States started from 50 thousand rubles.

Problems with time slots in European consulates are explained, among other things, by the high season, which is approaching summer. As a result, the number of visa applicants increases, but the number of places does not. “Of course, there is a shortage, the bots are activated. Accordingly, they enter faster and rank up the slots. If there were more places, the bots would not be needed,” says the expert.

Recall that earlier, Vice President of the Russian Federation of the Travel Industry (PCT) Dmitry Gorin told the News Agency that bots, developed by unofficial companies for automatic registration at visa centers, began to actively intercept periods for applying for visas to Europe and the United States, Then artificially resold resulting in scarcity.