ESTA Necessary for Holiday in USA

parkerpen

I'm wondering if it is necessary to get ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) under the Visa waiver Programme, if you have a machine readable passport and have already supplied the Advance Passenger Information? I have received conflicting advice on this, so just wondered if anybody has travelled to the States on holiday recently. It's a few years since I last travelled there so my previous ESTA would be out of date.

Cheers.

dirkmeister

Yes,you absolutely need one.

Don't listen to anyone saying you don't.

damianmcr

As above definitely need one.

Layinghen

Just to echo what the previous posters said, yes you definitely need one.

wingnut

You even have to get one if you are travelling through on connecting flights. I was heading to Mexico a few years back didn't even think about it. They did have a facility at the airport to apply luckily.

Its quick and easy anyway.

naughtysmurf

Even with an approved ESTA you can still be denied entry, rare I know, it's permission to travel not permission to enter, immigration officer will make that decision but you do need one

OldBean

wingnut wrote: »

You even have to get one if you are travelling through on connecting flights. I was heading to Mexico a few years back didn't even think about it. They did have a facility at the airport to apply luckily.

Its quick and easy anyway.

For the record, you'll need your ESTA applied for before travelling. The embassy recommends 72 hours, but you'd probably get away with 48.

It could be the difference between being just plain turned away at preclearance as you won't have had time to get a B visa and going on your holiday, so it's worth doing right.

parkerpen

Thank you all. That sorts that. There are 6 of us travelling so that will be 6 x $14 (an added expense I had forgotten about). Better to be safe than sorry. I will get working on that a.s.a.p..

naughtysmurf

Make sure you use the official site too or it will end up a lot more than 14 bucks per person

athtrasna

parkerpen wrote: »

Thank you all. That sorts that. There are 6 of us travelling so that will be 6 x $14 (an added expense I had forgotten about). Better to be safe than sorry. I will get working on that a.s.a.p..

It's not about being safe it's about being able to get into the country. It's a legal requirement. All this should have been listed on your airline confirmation and again when you completed the api.

OldBean

parkerpen wrote: »

There are 6 of us travelling so that will be 6 x $14 (an added expense I had forgotten about).

Cheaper than losing your flights/accommodation!

jhegarty

Make sure you use this site (and not any other):
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

anne burnell

yeah ya need one.... I had a problem at the dublin Airport last year flying to the states, the air line had a problem with my esta, even though it was in date, and they could see that, they had to do a new one for me at the airline desk, so ya dont need to do it 48 hours before ya fly

athtrasna

anne burnell wrote: »

yeah ya need one.... I had a problem at the dublin Airport last year flying to the states, the air line had a problem with my esta, even though it was in date, and they could see that, they had to do a new one for me at the airline desk, so ya dont need to do it 48 hours before ya fly

ESTA approval CAN take 48 hours, you were lucky. You are advised to complete it well at least 48 hours in advance, someone reading your story and assertions that you "don't need to do it 48 hours before ya fly" may risk missing their trip.

naughtysmurf

Extremely lucky I'd say, sometimes you can get Authorisation pending, for up to 72 hours which isn't much good when your flight is leaving in two

damianmcr

Why are some approved instantly and some take 72hr?

athtrasna

damianmcr wrote: »

Why are some approved instantly and some take 72hr?

Can be volume, can be technology issues, can be something so simple as commonality of name. And lots of other reasons I guess.

OldBean

Loads of reasons. But none not to just get it done beforehand.

footy231

I am new to the site, im meant to be flying to vegas in 3 days with my girlfriend so i needed to fill in my girlfriends esta for her a while ago, it was after work so i was tired i wanted to do it tomorrow as i was exhausted, but she is a worrier and wanted me to do it then, so a happy girlfriend is a happy life i did it and it was auth pending i checked back and it was denied, i reviewed the application and to my surprise i mistakenly didnt check no for question 5 which was did u ever try to falsely ever try enter d states it says yes by mistake obviously she has never had i emailed the relevant folk and it says it might be 2 to 3 weeks for a response , thats no good so what can we do i read about people trying again in 24 hours might that work , any advice i would appreciate or we are down 3 and a half grand and she will never forgive me thanks. Mark

Atlantic Dawn

footy231 wrote: »

I am new to the site, im meant to be flying to vegas in 3 days with my girlfriend so i needed to fill in my girlfriends esta for her a while ago, it was after work so i was tired i wanted to do it tomorrow as i was exhausted, but she is a worrier and wanted me to do it then, so a happy girlfriend is a happy life i did it and it was auth pending i checked back and it was denied, i reviewed the application and to my surprise i mistakenly didnt check no for question 5 which was did u ever try to falsely ever try enter d states it says yes by mistake obviously she has never had i emailed the relevant folk and it says it might be 2 to 3 weeks for a response , thats no good so what can we do i read about people trying again in 24 hours might that work , any advice i would appreciate or we are down 3 and a half grand and she will never forgive me thanks. Mark

What happens if you try to fill a new request in correctly?

BuffyBot

Alas this is not something re-applying is going to sort.

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1088/~/i-made-a-mistake-on-my-esta-application

The bad news is that this may not be fixable in the time you have before departure.

Nodge1965

Yep - you cant get around it - the questions asked in the application are also security related - where are you staying and purpose of visit . Someone else mentioned it already but use the official ESTA site - esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

coylemj

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What happens if you try to fill a new request in correctly?

Reapplying from scratch is allowed to fix mistakes like putting in the the wrong date of birth but the CBP website specifically says that this will not fix the OP's problem .....

Link as per Buffybot's post above (#21)

3. You answered a question about your eligibility to travel to the U.S. under the visa waiver program incorrectly and were denied authorization as a result.

If you misunderstood the question, or thought something in your background was a reason to be denied and found out later that it was not, we advise you to contact us so we can review your answer. You should send us an email (see instruction below) explaining why you selected "yes" to that question, and asking for clarification on next steps.

footy231

we tried and it denied it again is it because it was a serious question did u ever commit fraud to enter the US which she clearly didn't , so we don't know whether to try again later or tomorrow, do you think if we went up to the airport Monday to immigration they could help? we cant call CBP due to the holiday as they are closed and i think tomorrow will be the same and Monday i flight is early in the morning our time,Irish time? my girlfriend is crying heartbroken 3 and a half grand could be wasted and no holiday any advice id greatly appreciate it.

whomitconcerns

Unfortunately as you (she) told them she tried to enter illegally before they are not going to ignore this and will do a full check. I can't see them letting you travel Monday. Get there early enough and they might do a full on the spot interview and determine it's a mistake and allow her in.but that would really be a 'hall may' shot. Sorry...

naughtysmurf

I don't think you will get this sorted before you fly, you need to look at changing your flights / accomodation if possible, here is the contact info you need

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1208/kw/status%20change

Further info

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1088/kw/status%20change/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNDM1OTk0MzMyL3NpZC8yUThVOXZxbQ%3D%3D

coylemj

footy231 wrote: »

we tried and it denied it again is it because it was a serious question did u ever commit fraud to enter the US which she clearly didn't , so we don't know whether to try again later or tomorrow, do you think if we went up to the airport Monday to immigration they could help?

I know you're probably getting desperate at this stage but you can forget the ESTA online approval route, your girlfriend's passport has a red flag against it on their system and you're going to get rejected no matter how often you reapply. Sorry but as their website says, you have to contact them to get it sorted. I understand the problem with the 4th of July holiday which is very unfortunate.

Can you chance going to the airport and talk your way around the problem? Almost certainly not, you're supposed to be in possession of a visa or have ESTA approval under the visa waiver program when you present yourself to an agent at a point of entry which includes a pre-clearance station such as Dublin.

I would seriously doubt that the agent you meet in the airport will have the authority to process her with no ESTA and no visa. Her status on the system will be something along the lines of 'ESTA application rejected for suspected previous immigration breach, further enquiry required'. The agent probably won't be able to see any more details and will refuse to process her.

Unless someone else had an experience involving a supervisor being called and letting someone in this situation through?

WheatenBriar

You're only hope is to contact the embassy in ballsbridge
Btw you can only tick yes or no on those ,so youticked yes?
Not ticking would stall the page

You will not be let in or have it sorted by the immigration official at the airport
It will just be a decline
Which by the way will flag you forever and a day from here on in for secondary inspection any other time you present yourself
So don't be an eejit
Contact the embassy and explain the clerical error

BuffyBot

Applying again has probably just complicated things even more.

Do not try to travel. The only thing that will result as your gf having a long and unpleasant interview with USCBP

SpaceTime

damianmcr wrote: »

Why are some approved instantly and some take 72hr?

It just depends what you've been posting on boards and twitter recently and some email accounts take longer to access...

The answer though is nobody's quite sure. Most likely just load / administrative issues.

coylemj

SpaceTime wrote: »

It just depends what you've been posting on boards and twitter recently and some email accounts take longer to access...

The answer though is nobody's quite sure. Most likely just load / administrative issues.

People get delayed waiting for the ESTA approval because they have the same or a similar name as someone who is on the list of banned individuals, it just needs an immigration officer to manually review the application and approve it, hence the delay.