A Briggs

I’ve worked with A Briggs twice on China visas. This second time, I was quite unhappy. While they are very organized, and I appreciate that, they also sneak a lot of fees in that they do not tell you about upfront. I originally authorized around $ 260 for the visa; in the end, after they did everything and charged my card, I got a receipt for $ 347 – almost 50% more than I was told upfront. I had to haggle with them to get them to remove a couple charges, and they wouldn’t remove one of them (a fee for uploading them my passport photo, which in the instructions they emailed me sounded as if it was included in the agency fee I was already paying). So, I would look for someone else that was more upfront about costs next time I got a visa. Not happy.

I considered myself lucky enough to be able to go to Brazil for the World Cup, but had to get a Brazilian Visa within 90 days of heading down there. I was cutting it a little too close for comfort, and I was referred to an another agency; after 1 conversation with, I decided that I wasn’t going to work with them. After a quick search on Unilocal,I found A Briggs.
They were easy to work with, made the process pretty simple and straightforward, and delivered as they said they would. When any snafus would pop up, they were all over it. For example, the Brazilian embassy sent my passport back with the visa, but put someone else’s picture on my passport. Definitely not A Briggs’ fault. Nevertheless, they were able to get the problem corrected right away, and I had my passport in hand with the Brazilian Visa a few days before I was scheduled to fly out.
Professional, easy to work with, results oriented. I’ve never used another service like this before so I can’t say whether they’re expensive or not. But for the peace of mind and when you CANNOT afford for someone to screw this up, I was very happy with the service provided by A Briggs. I would definitely work with them again in the future.

I was very concerned getting India Visas for my family to attend my daughter’s wedding especially with the new India consulate contractor. With so many horror stories of lost passports and delays at the SF CKGS office, I decided I needed help. My first meeting with Brian Cunningham set my mind at ease. He immediately found application errors which could have caused massive delays. I sent back the applications thru prepaid FedEx and received my 4 visas in less than a week. WOW! I strongly recommend Brian and his amazing team!!!

After reading hundreds of horror stories on Unilocal,I was having a panic attack. I came across a Unilocal reviewer who suggested A Briggs to expedite/​handle getting a visa for India. I am not a prolific Unilocal reviewer but I promised myself that once I go through A Briggs’ visa process (whether good or bad) I would write a review to help the prospective traveller who wants to go to India. Bottom line: Paying A Briggs to get my visa was honestly one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. Money well spent because it takes ALL the stress away to let someone else handle it for you.
I am a super BUDGET traveller and I never want to pay for anything extra BUT the thought of losing my passport in the crazy CKGS process scared the crap out of me, The total cost I spent on the visa was $ 228 (consulate fee $ 80; Abriggs non-​rush visa process fee $ 80; Abriggs check writing fee $ 5; FedEx roundtrip mail fee: $ 63). I FedEx my passport from LA to their San Francisco office on Sunday, ⁹⁄₂₈ and received my passport back on Thursday ¹⁰⁄₉. That’s AMAZING because the Indian embassy in SF was closed on 10÷2−10÷6 and I received my passport and visa back within a week! I still had another solid month before I leave on my trip!
Some tips to consider:
There are other visa expeditors out there but I chose with A Briggs because the Unilocal reviews were generally positive and they have an online chat on their website! It was really helpful because I had a lot of questions for them and was able to do it while I was at work (hope boss is not reading this) AND over the weekend!
Make sure you read and print out all the necessary visa forms. I think my visa process went smoothly because I followed the tips on the sample online form provided by CKGS and from A Briggs. Please note that on the sample form, it tells you to provide your social security number; however, Abriggs suggested to leave it as N/​A. I did that and obviously, I had no issues.
If you submitted your online application but realize you made a mistake, it’s okay. Just create a new one again and re-​submit. Just make sure to mail out final version to CKGS or the expeditor.
If you plan to go with A Briggs, note that your application needs to be sent to their SF office. From there they will walk/​hand submit your application to the embassy. A Briggs gives you the option to ship FedEx inbound and outbound on their account for $ 29 each way (note… this could be the price set for only LA to SF). I decided to ship my docs via FedEx to their office thinking it would be cheaper because I’m doing it on my own. Inbound, it cost me $ 34 and outbound was $ 29. It cost a little more to do it on my own and it was much more of a hassle for to me create a FedEx account so that I can print a return label. If I were to do it all over again, I would have just let A Briggs handle the shipping.
One last note– I’m also traveling to China and needed a visa; however, I went with a different expeditor since it was much cheaper ($ 25 processing fee vs. A Brigg’s $ 80) and it’s located in my hometown of Monterey Park so I saved on shipping fees by just dropping/​picking up my passport at the office.
Good luck!!!

I had a good experience here. Brian was helpful and responsive. Navigating the Indian visa process is no joke (definitely NOT intuitive!) and A Briggs made it much more doable. Skip Cox & Kings and do this.

A briggs was professional and straight forward, they helped my husband and i get a 10 year Multiple entry visa to India in about 10 days time. Now we are free to travel to India anytime we like staying as long as 180 days!
thank you A Briggs so much. :)

If you plan your trip one year in advanced and you have time to waste I recommend A Briggs… otherwise look for other options. I have to use them because of my company corporate requirements and it’s very painful every time.
It takes longer that other providers, no follow-​up, no updates… you have to call them everyday to figure out where you passport is.
In the past 2 years, I had to delay 1 trip because of them and cancel a visa request because they were running behind on submitting my request.
For my Indian visa my request as been pending for 4 weeks now!

Extremely professional, fast, and easy. Highly recommended.

Longer wait here than at the Chinese embassy!
My husband and I went by to get visas for China and were told that we should wait in the lounge until he was free to see us. After 25 mins of waiting, we asked if there was an ETA, and the man said it would be at least another 30 mins before he was free and couldn’t we just wait for him to come get us.
If he knew that it would be at least one hour before he was free, he should’ve told us that up front (we were both missing work to be there and wouldn’t have stuck around if we’d known how long he expected us to wait).
When I went to the Chinese embassy last year, I only waited 30 mins, and they had a number system so I knew where I was in line. A. Briggs wanted us to wait an hour, but didn’t tell us up front so we had no idea they were planning to make us wait so long.

After doing a lot of research on the best visa expeditors, we choose A Briggs for our India visas. It was only marginally more expensive than the other hellish services, and the experience was 1000% better. We were contacted right away when we had to submit additional information, and the visa came back 3 weeks later. No other complications. For the India visa, this is a near miracle. Save yourself a lot of headaches and go for A Briggs, especially for the notoriously difficult India visa.

Easily deserving of five stars. I needed an multi-​entry six-​month tourist Indian visa, and in two weeks.
I went down in person to the office, and Bojan literally stopped what he was doing and helped me with my paperwork. He quoted me at 8 business days later, and it came through 5 days later. Hot damn!
I was also able to check on the website the status of my visa application.
Bojan then called me the minute my visa was in and I was able to pick it up the very next day.
The customer service was excellent, and sure beat having to go to the consulate and stand in line.
Thanks, Bojan! You guys are great.
The good: awesome service, so fast.
The bad: tried calling their local office, but got routed to HQ, who tried to give me the local office’s number… which was the one I called that connected me to HQ. Weird.
Protip: if you’re local at all to their office, drop of your materials and pick up. Will s ave you $ 60 on shipping. Believe it.

Needed a Brazilian visa in under a week, and A Briggs made it happen.
To quote Bojan, «No problem! Don’t even worry.»
These guys know that in addition to expediting, they sell reassurance, which they delivered on. Visa arrived in 4 days including cross-​country shipping both ways.
Thanks Bojan!

I was in a crunch to get my Brazilian Visa (I was leaving in less than a month and during the height of their travel season) and A Briggs provided the fastest turnaround through their expedited service. I even received my visa faster than expected and had no issues with the visa when I arrived in Brazil. It’s pricey but worth it for the peace of mind!!!

I worked with Bojan on a couple, not so easy applications for a duplicate passport and a work permit in a foreign country. Plenty of paperwork, plenty of discussions, plenty of back and forth. In the end, it all worked out and both were granted.
Bojan was patient. I never felt rushed. He asked a lot of questions and at times requested a few more things than I had not initially provided — frustrating for me at times. But, in the absence of thee items, I recognize my applications may have been turned down by the government.
He was always accessible — during normal business hours, Does he ever take lunch? But Brian (owner?) was also around a lot, and he was familiar with my applications as well. So I felt like I was in good hands.
Overall, good experience. I’ll return.

I needed a quick (ish) Visa to India and the knowledge that it won’t come back to me if i myself had to send it.
So searching for a place that can put my worries at rest (I’m a green card holder — which means a longer wait for a visa), and also after hearing about the new Visa company creating a lot of stress on the process I turned to Unilocal to find a solution.
A Briggs came highly recommended by Unilocalers.
So I called them twice to see what I need to bring — they were very nice on the phone — and answered all my questions, remarking that I shouldn’t hesitate to call them any time.
I collected all my needed documents and just headed down to their office without an appointment.
Brian who helped me was extremely helpful, courteous and really saw that I dotted all the I’s and crossed the T’s.
Literally 2 weeks to the day — he called me back to let me know I can pick up my passport (I work close to their office).
Really highly recommended — especially with complicated visa requirements.

Super fast and easy.

Briggs came highly recommended, but this process was a bit disappointing (though I did get my visa in time, so all’s well…).
The first issue was that when I first spoke with them by phone, they gave me a date by which I would need to have my materials in the office in order to have things processed in time (2 week window, non-​expedited). But when I got there on day before the cut-​off, they told me that they would not have an appointment at the embassy until the following week, which meant that the order had to be rushed for an extra $ 300 (approx). That would have been very valuable info to have when I first called, as I could have gotten there earlier. It also goes against the timeline listed on their website.
The second issue was that I wanted to make sure I could pick up my visa at their office. It’s along my commute, and no one would be available to accept the delivery at my home, which is in a not so nice area. There was some ambiguity in the order form so I made this request *in writing* on the order form and also confirmed this in person when I was in the office. The person who helped me said he would call when it was ready for pick-​up.
Instead I received a message from Brian saying that my passport/​visa had been dropped of by Fed Ex and left on the porch of my house, which has been broken into numerous times and is at the end of a dead-​end across from Section 8 housing. Fed Ex packages do not last long on people’s porches. I was really worried, so I immediately called back and was told that he was on the phone and he would call me back. I never received a response, but fortunately the package was still there when I got home.
Happy to have my visa, but that’s some pretty lousy service, cost much more than I was led to believe, and it could have ended up much worse. Maybe ask for Salem if yo go here. He was the one who was specifically recommended from a friend’s past experience.
Eric

I had to get pages added to my passport, I needed a duplicate passport and Visa from Brazil. They handled everything and did it with amazing speed! Thanks Salem!
Go here. GREAT service!

Rejection.
No matter how emotionally tough you are (or think you are), it still hurts. Really.
After not one, but TWO rejections at the Chinese Consulate because of «inadequate» paperwork, I was ready to throw in the towel and swear off ANY and all trips to China in my lifetime. It’s not worth the frustration and aggravation of the hours wasted each time waiting at the Chinese Consulate only to be told that the paperwork I have can’t prove why my Mom’s last name changed from her birth last name to her currently married last name.
Enter passport and visa expeditor A. Briggs.
Spoke with Katy over the phone first who freely gave me information on dealing with the Chinese Consulate. Stopped by their office the next day and worked with Salem who patiently took the time to answer my remaining questions and to start processing my visa application.
Third time’s the charm!
A Briggs’ processing fee covers as many visits to the consulate as necessary to get it processed. You can also check the status (from A. Briggs’ side) of your passport or visa application online on their website as well.
I highly recommend A. Briggs to handle your passport/​visa application process if you have better things to do with your time than waiting in line!

I’m 100% satisfied with Salem Eways’ passport expediting service at the San Francisco office of A Briggs. But that’s not the big news here. You can read the other reviews below to see that this fellow knows how to get a job done right, and quickly.
It’s the other stuff that puts him over the top. Here’s a short list.
1) He didn’t give me any grief when, reaching me on my cell while driving (a new phone not yet connected to my car) I told him «Ack, can’t talk or read you my credit card number while driving so can you call my husband at his office. 650. etc. and have him complete the payment?» He says good naturedly sure, happy to do that. He did, they connected — I continued down the freeway to my big meeting.
2. I’d been unable to call him on a Friday afternoon due to a parent in the hospital (not related to my travel, just life being life). So on Saturday I left him a message apologizing for not getting back to him with a cc: #, figuring we’d talk on Monday. His office is closed on the weekends, but he calls later with a «Not to worry, we’ll finish our business on Monday — it’s all fine» message. Nice.
3. Piece de la resistance… I’m so busy between business, sick parents and a kiddo out of school and under foot, I totally forgot to ask Salem to give me the 10% new customer discount. So I asked politely, this evening, by email if he would do that. ELEVEN MINUTES LATER he replies «Happy to do that — it’s done. You’ll see the credit tomorrow.»
The man is good. I can’t promise you he’s the lowest cost option. But he’s certainly what I’d call «full value» service. He earns it. My life is crazy — I love professionals who make it less so. Salem will make your travel experience un-​crazy. :) This is a rare and beautiful skill. I suggest you trust your time, travel and hard earned funds to Salem at A Briggs.