ESTA Slight changes in rules for UK passengers wef 20 January

[uktog]

Have posted this on our roll call as it affects our cruise but for others from the UK just in case you have not picked up on this - I have had an email alert from BA and have also seen an internal BA memo issued yesterday on this.

 

As of 20th January you will not allow anyone to board an airline from the UK to the USA without a valid ESTA. (Previously you were supposed to have one but if you did not you could still fly but would be subject to further screening at the point of arrival)

 

If you have not applied for your ESTA you need to do it no later than 72 hours before you fly at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov It is free of charge - do not go and pay anywhere, there are some peole charging for doing this for you. You will get your response immediately unless you are one of the random referals in which case you will hear in 72 hours. (Of course if there are reasons you should not be admitted to the USA like you have a shoe fettish or have commited moral turpitude whatever that is, you will probably not be travelling as you have to submit yourself to the US Embassy in London but thats not going to apply here I hope!!)

An ESTA is valid for two years however, if you have travelled on one before you are now supposed to go to the above website and update your US address to the one you are using for this trip - to date they have not been strict on that but maybe they will be.

 

Just be careful, ESTA clearance now has the same status as passports with airlines - no ESTA no travel

 

Good luck!!

[sddsddean]

Also, check your airlines website regarding hand luggage. Following the bomb 'attempts' around the turn of the year, hand luggage on flights TO the USA was restricted to ONLY ONE item (ie no handbag/laptop as extra). This does not affect flights FROM the USA. I haven't heard of this restriction being lifted, so please check before you fly.

 

Simon

[Albert Ross]

An ESTA is valid for two years however, if you have travelled on one before you are now supposed to go to the above website and update your US address to the one you are using for this trip - to date they have not been strict on that but maybe they will be.

 

Just be careful, ESTA clearance now has the same status as passports with airlines - no ESTA no travel

 

Good luck!!

The address field and the airline field has no orange asterisk by it so you can just leave it blank; saves you going in every time you visit the USA to update the info.

You still need to do the APIS info with address though on the airline website

[Project_gal]

I am keen to learn how this will work. Will the airlines do the same/a similar system check to that done by US immigration?

 

I ask this because our new passports were "mislaid" by Royal Mail when we applied for Indian visas last year and we had to cancel and replace them. Unfortunately, we had already completed the ESTA online forms for the original passports and, of course, you cannot cancel the ESTA, just produce a new one. Everythng was fine for my husband but I was detained for 2 1/2 hours by US Immigration in Miami before being admitted. Believe me, this was no fun. There was a further but shorter and considerably more comfortable delay, on Infinity in San Diego at the end of our Panama canal cruise. I was carrying a printout of the second ESTA but this did not appear to help. Unfortunately, I had shreaded the first.

 

We always arrive early at the airport [so there would be time to sort out any issue]s but it did not appear to be something easy for the US Immigration officials to resolve and I cannot see airline staff making that sort of effort.

[uktog]

The airline submit their passenger lists with your passport numbers to US immigration 72 hours ahead of the flight and then get clearance. As od next week, UK airlines will NOT be able to issue a boarding pass without that clearance. As regards your husband, on the ESTA website there is a place where you can update details and I think that includes updating your passport number. (After all lots of people will get new numbers when their passports expire) Look there; the other thing is BA seem very switched on about this, submit a query through contact us on their site (even if you do not have a booking say you are planning to book) and that should get the answer as basically I think you are trying to tie up a current ESTA to a new passport

Good luck - and how awful for you and your DH at immigration, even when you know you are innocent it would be so scary

 

A

[Project_gal]

The airline submit their passenger lists with your passport numbers to US immigration 72 hours ahead of the flight and then get clearance. As od next week, UK airlines will NOT be able to issue a boarding pass without that clearance. As regards your husband, on the ESTA website there is a place where you can update details and I think that includes updating your passport number. (After all lots of people will get new numbers when their passports expire) Look there; the other thing is BA seem very switched on about this, submit a query through contact us on their site (even if you do not have a booking say you are planning to book) and that should get the answer as basically I think you are trying to tie up a current ESTA to a new passport

Good luck - and how awful for you and your DH at immigration, even when you know you are innocent it would be so scary

 

A

 

Thanks for your concern. It was scary, stressful and extremely tiring but, from reading these boards, we knew better than to let a bad journey spoil our cruise experience. We had a magical cruise, one that will be very hard to beat.

 

Unless they have changed the ESTA website in the last few weeks, it is still not possible to change a passport number and the instructions are still to complete a new online form. As you say, many people must get new passport numbers and, therefore, I am sure that I just fell into a bug in the system. However, as it happened both at Miami and San Diego, I do not think that it is a temporary pothole I fell into.

 

Thanks for the tip about the BA website. I will give it a try. Currently, our only plans to enter the US before our original ESTA form expires is our TA next November but I guess that cruise lines will also have to follow the same procedure.

[Project_gal]

It has taken a long time but the US Embassy has pointed my in the direction of the US Government Redress system for any US Immigration issues. I am posting the details here in case other experience difficulties such as I did:

http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1169673653081.shtm