How ConsultancyCheck works
Choosing an education or migration consultant is a big, expensive decision. We built ConsultancyCheck to give students an honest, independent way to check a consultant before they pay — here's exactly how it works.
Independent
We are a review platform, not an education agent. We don’t place students, and we’re not owned by any consultancy. That means we have no reason to favour one agency over another.
No paid rankings
Consultancies cannot pay to rank higher, remove bad reviews, or buy a better rating. Placement is driven by verified student feedback, not by who pays us.
Verified reviews
Reviews come from real students and are verified by email before they count towards a rating. We don’t filter for positive reviews — the good and the bad both stay up.
Sourced profiles
The editorial information on a consultancy’s profile is written from real, checkable sources. We never invent reviews, ratings, statistics or testimonials.
Safety-checked
We maintain a watchlist of sanctioned and barred agents built from official regulator records, and flag any listed consultancy that matches one.
Free for students
Everything a student needs — reviews, comparisons, the visa tracker, calculators and guides — is free. We never sell your personal data.
How our reviews work
Reviews are written by students who have actually used a consultancy. Before a review counts towards a rating, we ask the student to confirm it by email — a simple step that helps keep out fake or bulk-submitted reviews. We publish the verified reviews as they are, positive and negative alike; we do not remove a review because a consultancy dislikes it, and consultancies cannot pay to have reviews taken down.
We ask consultancies never to incentivise reviews or push students to leave only positive feedback — doing so breaks our review-integrity policy. Where a profile shows a Google rating, it is clearly attributed to Google, not presented as a ConsultancyCheck score.
How we research consultancies and write our guides
The editorial details on a profile — what a consultancy does, where its offices are, which destinations it covers — are written from real, checkable sources, such as the company's own website and public records. Our study guides, cost figures and visa information are based on official and government sources for the relevant year, and we add a "confirm with the official authority" note because rules and fees change.
We never invent reviews, ratings, statistics or testimonials. If we can't verify something, we leave it out rather than guess.
How we help students stay safe
Beyond reviews, we publish scam alerts and maintain a watchlist of sanctioned or barred agents, built from official regulator records. If a consultancy listed on our site matches a sanctioned entry by its registration number, we flag it directly on the profile so students see the warning before they commit.
Frequently asked questions
Is ConsultancyCheck independent?+
Yes. We are a review and discovery platform, not an education or migration agent. We don’t place students with universities and we’re not owned by any consultancy, so we have no financial reason to promote one agency over another. Consultancies cannot pay to rank higher or to hide negative reviews.
How do you verify reviews?+
When a student submits a review, we ask them to confirm it by email before it counts towards a consultancy’s rating. This helps keep out fake or bulk-submitted reviews. We publish both positive and negative verified reviews — we do not filter for good ones.
Where does the information on consultancy profiles come from?+
Editorial details — services, offices, what a consultancy specialises in — are written from real, checkable sources such as the company’s own website and public records. We never fabricate reviews, ratings, statistics or testimonials. Where we show a Google rating, it is attributed to Google rather than presented as our own score.
How do you help students avoid scams?+
We publish scam alerts and maintain a watchlist of sanctioned or barred agents, built from official regulator records (such as the migration-agent registers). If a consultancy on our site matches a sanctioned entry by its registration number, we flag it on the profile.
How does ConsultancyCheck make money if it’s free for students?+
Students never pay. Over time we plan to offer consultancies optional paid features — but these never affect reviews, ratings or ranking, which stay driven by verified student feedback. Our independence is the whole point of the platform.
Used a consultancy? Help the next student
Your honest, verified review keeps the community independent and trustworthy.