According to EU Helpers, ISD made it clear through a statement that only the official AVATS website can be used to submit applications for Irish visas.

All applicants were urged by the Immigration Service Delivery to contact AVATS with any queries or issues.

There are many instances where people wanting to apply for a visa are the victims of fraud, and visa embassies and centers warn people to be on the lookout for fraudsters.

A representative from the visa application provider VFS Global claimed earlier this year that scammers offering phony Schengen visa appointments were doing so under the guise of being company employees.

The representative claimed that there was an upsurge in the quantity of scammers providing these services.

In addition, at VFS Global, the Visa Application Center (VAC), in Delhi, the capital of India, seven applicants who were carrying fraudulent documents to apply for visas to Italy were discovered by two security officers in June of this year.

According to local media reports, the applicants received these documents from two Delhi-based middlemen in exchange for INR 30,000 to 55,000.

Every year, a sizable number of visa applications are submitted to Irish authorities.

The Immigration Service of Ireland reports that the country received a total of 64,302 visa applications in just the first half of the year, with citizens of India and Nigeria submitting the most applications.

According to data from the same source, citizens of India submitted the most visa requests (24,277 in total), followed by Turks (4,785 applications), Nigerians (4,112 applications), and citizens of Turkey (4,785 applications).

Authorities in Ireland are constantly looking for a practical way to stop fraudsters from taking part in phony visa applications, despite the rise in the number of visa applications.