Visa Waiver US

Hannaho

Hi! Just completed VISA Waiver form for my cousin who we're fostering at the moment. Completed the forms for my children and I a month ago. Going to US in first week in Feb 2017. Have we done the forms too soon? My daughter says no, as the vista starts to run from 1st day you enter US - is this correct? My daughter always thinks she's right!

BuffyBot

The ESTA approval is valid for 2 years from when you apply and are approved. So you're not too early.

Hannaho

Thanks for that. I've never been anywhere I had to get a Visa before. I had visions of three children arriving at the airport and being turned back, because I'd made a hash of the Visas. Nightmare thought!!

naughtysmurf

Always think it's good to do ESTA early, if it's denied you have time to go the visa route, an ESTA applied for & denied a couple of weeks before travel is a disaster for the traveller

coylemj

Hannaho wrote: »

.....as the vista starts to run from 1st day you enter US - is this correct? My daughter always thinks she's right!

There's two clocks here......

The ESTA expires two years after it's approved or when your passport expires, whichever comes first. It is valid for multiple entry i.e. it does not expire after one trip to the US. That clock starts on the day you get the ESTA approval, whether you ever visit the US or not.

When you enter the US, either at pre-clearance in Dublin or Shannon or in a US airport, you will get a travel permit (stamped in your passport) to stay in the US as a tourist for up to 90 days. While you are there, you can temporarily leave the US to visit Canada, Mexico or the 'adjacent islands' (most of the Caribbean) and return to the US under the same permit (the original 90 day clock stays running) but if you go to another country (e.g. back to Ireland), the travel permit expires.

So ESTA will cover you for several trips to the US, up to two years on the same passport but on each visit you will get a new 90 days travel permit stamped in your passport.