Choosing an immigration firm in Douala: seven checks before you pay
People often write to us after they have paid. The agent has stopped answering, the office never existed, and nothing was ever put in writing. It is rarely bad luck: in almost every one of those cases, a single check before the first payment would have been enough. Here are seven. They single nobody out, and they apply to us as much as to anyone else.
1. An office you can walk into
An address on a Facebook page is not an office. Go there. A serious firm has premises, opening hours, and someone who will see you before you have sent any money. If the first meeting is held in an internet cafe, in a car, or only on WhatsApp, find out why before going further. And if you live far from Douala, ask for a video call from the office. That request is not refused.
2. A business registration, with a matching name
Ask for the company registration number and its taxpayer number. Check that the name on them is the name of the outfit you are dealing with, and the name that will appear on your receipt. Working under one's own name, as a middleman, is not unlawful in itself. But you should know it before you pay, rather than discover it on the day you need to claim something.
3. A written quote, before any payment
Ask in writing for what is included, what is not, the total, the payment schedule, and what happens if you stop halfway. A quote does not only protect the firm: it protects you from a price that grows at every step. Be wary of round figures that mix professional fees and official government fees into one lump sum, because you can no longer tell what you are paying for, or what you could dispute.
4. A payment that leaves a trace
Pay in a way that leaves a trace: a receipt in the company's name, with the date, the amount, what it covers, and a signature. If you pay by mobile money, the number must belong to the company, not to an employee personally. Keep the confirmation message. Cash handed over with no receipt proves nothing, and on the day there is an argument you have only your word against theirs.
5. Nobody can promise you the visa
The decision belongs to IRCC and to no one else. A firm can build a solid application, check that the documents agree with one another, fix what is wrong, and explain the delays and the grounds for refusal. It does not decide. When someone announces a certain outcome, a contact at the embassy, or a file that is already approved, what is being sold is not a service. Careful preparation improves your chances; it does not replace the officer who will read your application.
6. Official fees are paid to IRCC
IRCC fees are paid online, by card, and they produce a receipt in your own name. Nobody needs to collect them on your behalf. If you are asked to send Canadian government fees to a private account or by money transfer, stop there and ask the question. The official amounts and what they cover can be read without any middleman, in the costs section: /check-list.html#couts
7. Have anything doubtful checked
A job offer that arrived on WhatsApp, a contract you are pushed to sign quickly, a visa website you have never heard of: have it examined before you pay anything at all. We give that opinion for 10,000 FCFA, employment contracts included, and the details are on /services.html . To spot the signs yourself, our eight warning signals are gathered here: /article/arnaque-immigration-cameroun-reconnaitre
Asking these questions out loud
These seven points do not remove the risk, they reduce it. Put them at the first meeting, plainly and without hostility. An honest person answers them without taking offence, because they are the questions he would ask in your position. The one whom these questions irritate has just given you your answer.