as above has anyone ever heard of these we have accomadation got in new york and our landlords agent emailed us a few days ago requiring us to get these ids we have to send over a copy of our passport and photo plus pay 500 dollars!!! i think its ridiculous!! we suposidly get 200/ 300 of it back but i think this is dodgy anyone have any previous experience with these or know anything about them?
Been there the last 3 years and never heard anything of the sorts. Its the embassys job to clear for that sort of stuff, not the landlords. You told them you have visas?
Also, cant see any reason for them to ask for 500 unless its a deposit. If its for anything other than rent its a scam.
ya thats what im thinking alrite weve paid a 500 deposit between us so far and heard nothing of this till last week!! should we just cut our losses and lose deposit?
Well whatever you do dont give any more money. Say youre willing to go along with whatever they want but make it clear youre suspicious of this and if they need more money they can take it out of what youve already handed over and you can sort out any additional expenses once you get there. Its certainly not a legal obligation to have one of these cards (if they do exist) so if theyre genuine they should be accommodating of this.
If you want to run and they refuse to give you back what youve paid already pretend youre a lawyer/dad is one and say theyve no right to keep it as the contract (written/oral/whatever) is void since they have witheld this detail crucial for completion of the contract until now and you have been deliberately misled and threaten to call a debt collector.
Pretending to be a lawyer can work wonders and people in the states, particularly agencies are terrified of debt collectors.
