Travel Document Systems

They were very helpful, nice, and professional. They got my visa from the Saudia Embassy very quick, and that’s not always easy. I would definitely recommend them.

We used TDS to help us get visas for a two-​person week-​long trip to Saint Petersburg. We are not going as part of a tour, and visas to Russia can be particularly problematic. Alexander and Emily warned us that the process could be trying and a potentially frustrating for those who want things done far in advance. They were right as Russia changed their forms and format soon after we started the process, but they helped guide us through making the appropriate changes. But they also reassured us as time passed that we were going to get our visas in plenty of time and they were right. They were very professional and patient. They’ve helped friends of ours who are actual world travelers (unlike us, who just wish we were) and they too were very happy.

Don’t know what the negative reviews are all about. Would most definitely recommend TDS. I’ve used them multiple times over last few years to add pages to my passport then to renew my passport and to get a visa to Russia. Impressed with customer service. Dean’s and Myrsa’s replies to emails were almost instant and I always got my documents when I was told I would.

My travel company recommended them for a visa and I am sorry they did.
While they have been pleasant over the phone (reason for two stars instead of one), they did not stay on top of things and nearly screwed up my trip. I shouldn’t have had to manage the situation the way I did.
Do not depend on them!

Note: I think my review got filtered because it is my only review to date. My experience with this company was so horrible that I started a Unilocal account purely to warn others to stay away.
Travel Document Systems is very likely to ruin your trip. Do not use them unless you yourself are an expert in the process of applying for a visa, passport, etc., because these guys have absolutely no idea what they are doing! If you are considering TDS, you need to hear this first — the president of the company, Dean Orbell, told me that the average visa application submitted by TDS gets rejected by the relevant embassy 3 to 4 times before being granted. This is a clear indication that this company has absolutely no idea how to actually handle travel documents (especially for hard-​to-​visit nations like China or Russia), and if you need something in a hurry, TDS will definitely ruin your plans.
TDS is nothing more than a very slow, very expensive courier service. I mailed in my paperwork for a Russian tourist visa, and the agent simply sat on it for 2 weeks, at which point he did nothing more than deliver it to the embassy. When the embassy rejected it, my TDS agent could not tell me why it rejected. This happened 3 times (!), and everyone I spoke to at TDS was clueless as to the reason every time. I first applied 3 months before my trip, and I did not get my passport back with a visa until one week before leaving the country. I only got it back then because a friend (who actually knows how to fill out an application) pointed out a very misleading question on the visa application — something you would expect a visa processing company like TDS to be aware of.
The employees are literally incapable of helping with your paperwork because no one there can read or speak the languages that much of the paperwork is written in. This is not an exaggeration — the president of the company proudly told me that he has never hired anyone who can read a Russian visa invitation.
Customer service is nonexistent — after my application was repeatedly rejected for unknown reasons, the guy handling my account ignored my twice-​daily phone calls and emails for a week. When I complained to the president, he told me (in these exact words) that he did not know anything about my application, but he was sure that it had been rejected because my documentation was in terrible order.
You will absolutely regret hiring these guys.

I TOTALLY disagree with the reviews about Travel Document Systems !! I have used this company many. many times to get the proper travel documents for the plethora of International trips that my organization sends our reps on year after year. This company can handle anything! And they are exceptional in assisting individual travelers as well as with very large groups. Last minute needs no problem. They have come thru every time! They have always been quick to handle last minute issues such as lost passports, applications that are not filled out properly and/​or missing important information from the traveler etc. We have had issues where our reps travel documents were expired and they needed to leave with in days notice. And Travel Documents Systems has helped us each and every time. They are quick, polite, knowledgable and have saved my company from losing thousands of dollars in cancelled trips because of last minutes needs on our end.
They have always delivered.. And can you imagine… they even follow up every single time to make sure we received are completed packages.
In this day and age this is totally unheard of.
Every single timeTravel Documents Systems has come through for me and my company.
They are truely experts in their field and I can honestly recommend this company to anyone traveling abroad!

If only I had read the reviews before sending them my passport. The guys do not know anything about visa processes. They are not knowledgeable at all. They are rude. They do not even try to be helpful. I think my agent in particular is probably a particularly slow type of guy. I will have to cancel my work trip because they totally screwed up. TOTALLY. I spent way more time than when I got the visa myself. I paid 5 times more. I am way more stressed. DO NO USE THIS COMPANY. No doubts. JUST DON’T

I’m not sure how adamantly I can emphasize to you not to use Travel Document Systems, under any circumstances. Their customer service is nonexistent. They never return phone calls or emails – after multiple attempts to contact. They offer no explanation for delays that extend long beyond the expected turnaround times – even when you pay extra for expedited service. I’m still waiting to get a passport back from them that was submitted for a visa two months ago. I’m worried that the passport may have been misplaced or destroyed – no way of knowing, as I cannot contact them. I’m astounded this company is still in business.

BEWARE. This is a perilous place to be a client. Dean Orbell, the company’s president, is the most disagreeable and odious «service-​provider» I have ever dealt with as a customer. He accepted no responsibility in the company’s multiple wrong doings and treated me in such a condescending manner that I, a Buddhist, shouted into the phone – not my best moment! I would rather rely on a Somali pirates to help me acquire visas to African countries than to ever deal with the staff at Travel Docs again. Oh, and they are also unbelievably expensive, so you get to pay dearly for their multiple fumbles. I’m $ 800 poorer due to the exorbitant fees they imposed to rectify their mistakes. Lesson learned, but at a high price…

If you are looking to get a VISA to enter a country, save your time and money and do it yourself. Their VP, Dean Orbell, actually said to me «That’s right, we’re not visa experts, we just deliver the documents». That’s all they do is take your forms and hand them to the consulate. There is ZERO value in their offerings. This was right before he called me a ‘moron’, despite admitting that his company was totally at fault for a catastrophic screwup. Great customer service — really, people-​people.
The long and short of it was that I walked into their SF office with a problem. I needed to get my girlfriend a visa to Thailand, but she is an asylee holding a refugee travel document (like a passport). My first and continual question was «could she get a visa since the document expires within 6 months of our travel dates, which is the policy of passport visas — would it still apply to the RTD which is only a year-​long document). The woman at the office, Tamera, seemed pissed at something, had no idea, but took the documents and said she would contact the embassy and let me know.
I never heard a word from her and left messages a few times over the weeks they held on to the documents. No call-​backs, no response. In fact, every time I called, I spoke to someone else who couldn’t access the file for updates, tell me the location of the documents and was rude themselves. It seems to be endemic to their offices for them to hire rude people.
Finally, a few weeks later we were notified by someone named «Mr. Britt» (who signs his emails with «Thank the Goddess!» — very professional) that they were unable to obtain the visa and we would be charged regardless. No explanation, no help. I called to speak with someone and I was simply told, this is the policy of the embassy and we cannot dig further or else we will «risk of being banned from doing business with them.».
I simply wanted to see how this organization could help us to find someone at the Thai embassy to consider our situation. I assumed I hired them for their expertise and connections. I finally was connected to Dean Orbell who I was told was a co-​founder. After explaining the situation to him and expecting someone at the top to appreciate my delimma, imagine my surprise when he went on the defensive — first, suggesting that I must have convinced Tamera to do something she shouldn’t have. Then he told me about the true nature of their services (they have NO EXPERTISE AND NO CONNECTIONS see above) and then making repeated insults at me for my suggesting that I was misled in some way (and yes, I totally kept my cool).
Bottom line is that I cannot imagine any one sustaining a business for so long with such a poor attitude. Try to help people. If you can’t, be honest and nice, but lose the attitude and insults. Clearly, judging by the other posts here, I’m not the only one who sees this…

These guys were truly horrible. I used their Washington office to apply for a visa. I fedexed my passport. I called a few days later to check on status, expecting the visa to be ready or almost ready. I found out that they had been sitting on my passport, doing nothing. They claimed my passport didn’t have enough blank pages (this was arguable — I think the visa would have gone though, but they weren’t sure). But they hadn’t even tried to contact me! They just sat on the passport, and waited. The guy claimed to have called when I wasn’t home, but my telephone provider keeps a log of all phone calls, and they never did. They didn’t try to e-​mail, or anything. At that point, I had to fedex an additional payment for expedited services, and even then, it wasn’t clear if I’d get the visa in time (the embassy has a 1 – 2 day expedited processing time; fortunately, they took 1 day, so I got my passport back on the same day I was flying out). A few months later, I wanted a duplicate invoice. I called, and they promised to send it. They never did. I e-​mailed, and mailed, but they never responded. I called again, and they told me they no longer kept records (even though it was less than a year — IRS requests businesses to keep records for a minimum of 3 years). Incompetent. I appreciate having a good visa service to keep track of where my passport is, especially if I’m applying for multiple visas, but if you get one that’s this disorganized and incompetent, you’re better off just mailing straight to the embassies. (I posted the details of my experience are at
).