ESTA info for visitors to the USA using the Visa Waiver Program

[peteukmcr]

The US is soon going to charge an entrance fee of $14 per person for all people travelling to the US that enter using the Visa Waiver Program.

 

ESTA has been mandatory for a while now and I'm not sure if you still have to complete the green I-94W form as ESTA was supposed to remove the need to complete this form.

 

Another CC member posted on another thread that the US will start charging this fee from 8 Sep 2010. You don’t have to pay if you are travelling to the US and have a full travel Visa. Those having to register with ESTA will have to pay.

 

Apparently it's $10 to enter the US under the Travel Promotion Act and $4 for using the ESTA system to obtain your electronic travel authorisation.

 

The Travel Promotion Act is legislation that was passed into law by Barack Obama in March this year. The act has ear marked the $10 fee to be used to promote the US as a tourist destination. I can't find out for definite when the charge is coming into effect.

 

This made me look at our ESTA approvals that I knew were expiring soon, and guess what? They expired yesterday – spooky!

 

Anyway I have just applied again (you can’t use the same application code from your previous authorisation after it has expired) and gained approval for the next 2 years until August 2012 for free.

 

So to anybody who needs an ESTA, I’d suggest you apply now if you don’t yet have one or before September to extend your current application if that’s possible. As they are valid for 2 years it will easily cover you for any upcoming sailings before Aug/Sept 2012.

[peteukmcr]

RCI did advise us that we would have to show our ESTA approval for our check in for our Freedom sailing last year, but we weren't asked for it.

 

However, their documentation still states that you need a copy with you, this is an extract from our latest invoice:

 

For cruise check-in, our guests need to bring a printed copy of their ESTA receipt and present this at the pier when checking in for a cruise that will call/finish at any US port.

[heatherb1958]

Thanks for that Pete , from another Mancunian:D.

I updated our ESTAs when we got our new passports this year so we 'll be okay for a while yet.

Like you I have carried ours with us to the USA and never been asked for them by immigration:(.

[C U Onboard]

Thanks from me also ;) - still had 7 months to run on mine but submitted a new application yesterday which was approved okay - Yippee! I now get to hold on to my $14 for another 17 months :D

[peteukmcr]

Thanks for that Pete , from another Mancunian:D.

I updated our ESTAs when we got our new passports this year so we 'll be okay for a while yet.

Like you I have carried ours with us to the USA and never been asked for them by immigration:(.

You're welcome. It seems it has been all over the news over the past couple of days as it's coming into effect 8th Sept.

 

Thanks from me also ;) - still had 7 months to run on mine but submitted a new application yesterday which was approved okay - Yippee! I now get to hold on to my $14 for another 17 months :D

Most welcome, anything that puts off the cost of getting into the USA for a while longer.

[whenthecatsaway]

Yikes!!!! Doing Southern Carribean on Explorer of the Seas in November. Don't have an ESTA or a Visa or anything, what do I need to do and how much is this going to cost me??!!!

[zephyr17]

Yikes!!!! Doing Southern Carribean on Explorer of the Seas in November. Don't have an ESTA or a Visa or anything, what do I need to do and how much is this going to cost me??!!!

Assuming you are a citizen of the UK, you should qualifty under the Visa Waiver program and only need the ESTA. That is "only" $14, as opposed to a visa, which is $131.

 

Editorial comment: Charging for this is ridiculous, especially to fund a tourism promotion board. It may actually violate the agreements with the Visa Waiver countries. Just to be clear, I am a US citizen and actually have no dog in this fight (unless the visa waiver countries institute a recipricol fee, which I think they have every right to do).

[bandt]

Yikes!!!! Doing Southern Carribean on Explorer of the Seas in November. Don't have an ESTA or a Visa or anything, what do I need to do and how much is this going to cost me??!!!

 

Shackinsotis ! (I was born in Norn Iron) 14$ for the ESTA from 8th Sep!!!!

 

If you hold a UK or an EI passport you can go on to the esta site and (for the moment), as Pete says, get your ESTA approved for free. Ours were valid till Dec 2010 and yesterday we re-applied and they are now valid till AUG 2012. You'll definitely need them for travel in November so get your passports out and do it NOW!

 

I'll try and give you the website for the ESTA ....... there is no reason that CC should "beep" it !

 

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

 

Let us know how you got on.

 

Bandt

[wolfcathorse]

paying to enter a country isn't new. The other 2 that come to mind are Chile and Brazil, you have to pay to enter and exit!

[jjb415]

ESTA has been mandatory for a while now and I'm not sure if you still have to complete the green I-94W form as ESTA was supposed to remove the need to complete this form.

 

As of July 1, 2010, the green I-94W forms are no longer needed for arrival into the US.

[peteukmcr]

Assuming you are a citizen of the UK, you should qualifty under the Visa Waiver program and only need the ESTA. That is "only" $14, as opposed to a visa, which is $131.

 

Editorial comment: Charging for this is ridiculous, especially to fund a tourism promotion board. It may actually violate the agreements with the Visa Waiver countries. Just to be clear, I am a US citizen and actually have no dog in this fight (unless the visa waiver countries institute a recipricol fee, which I think they have every right to do).

I believe it's now time that seeing our old friend across the pond is charging us to visit them, that we do institute a reciprical fee for our US friends visiting the UK.

 

paying to enter a country isn't new. The other 2 that come to mind are Chile and Brazil, you have to pay to enter and exit!

Didn't say it was new, there are many other countries where we already pay a fee for a 'tourist card' and then a departure fee, but at least they are not saying it is to be used to promote 'tourism' and to pay for the use of the system we have to use to actually obtain permission to travel to the country.

 

Perhaps it is going to support the marketing campaigns of Disney and Universal that advertise heavily over here.

 

I personally don't think tourism to the US needs more promotion, especially to justify a fee to be paid by the actual people who are spending their tourist dollars in the US.

 

Examples of entry and departure fee charging countries.

 

Egypt

Turkey

Cuba

Antigua

Malaysia

Australia

[peteukmcr]

As of July 1, 2010, the green I-94W forms are no longer needed for arrival into the US.

That's great news as over the past couple of years since ESTA was introduced there has been great confusion for airlines departing the UK for the US where, in some cases, the forms were not provided during check in or onboard, only for passengers to find when they arrived at passport control they had to fill in the forms.

[Norwegianlatvian]

Just to get this 100% right:

 

If you register and get an answer about the ESTA before 8 Sept 2010, you dont need to pay?

 

So when I got my passport (issued 2007) and the approved ESTA, I can travel to USA the next couple of year without anything more?

 

Thanks in advance!

[LoisGriffin1]

I applied just over a year ago for a trip to the US. I am not going again till middle to end of next year. Is it worth re-applying now or wont I be able to because I am currently still in the 2 year period (period will have expired by the time I am going to America again so will have to apply again at some point)?

[davenew]

The US is soon going to charge an entrance fee of $14 per person for all people travelling to the US that enter using the Visa Waiver Program.

 

ESTA has been mandatory for a while now and I'm not sure if you still have to complete the green I-94W form as ESTA was supposed to remove the need to complete this form.

 

Another CC member posted on another thread that the US will start charging this fee from 8 Sep 2010. You don’t have to pay if you are travelling to the US and have a full travel Visa. Those having to register with ESTA will have to pay.

 

Apparently it's $10 to enter the US under the Travel Promotion Act and $4 for using the ESTA system to obtain your electronic travel authorisation.

 

The Travel Promotion Act is legislation that was passed into law by Barack Obama in March this year. The act has ear marked the $10 fee to be used to promote the US as a tourist destination. I can't find out for definite when the charge is coming into effect.

 

This made me look at our ESTA approvals that I knew were expiring soon, and guess what? They expired yesterday – spooky!

 

Anyway I have just applied again (you can’t use the same application code from your previous authorisation after it has expired) and gained approval for the next 2 years until August 2012 for free.

 

So to anybody who needs an ESTA, I’d suggest you apply now if you don’t yet have one or before September to extend your current application if that’s possible. As they are valid for 2 years it will easily cover you for any upcoming sailings before Aug/Sept 2012.

 

Thats interesting!! I hold a visa so should have no problems, and my wife has a brand new ESTA (although the original had not expired). The first time she used it was last September, and would you believe it, our friendly USA Immigration official, in Miami, played dumb and made her fill out the Green waiver form. I have just come back from a business trip to US and told my travelling collegue that he had better fill the form in - just in case. On arrival he was told that the green form wasn't needed and they ripped it up.

I am curious that they are going to charge because, about 18 months ago, I crossed into the USA via canada at Buffalo, and was charged $12 for the priveledge, even with a bloody visa.

Lets return the favour to our "Closest Allies" and lobby the government to impose a similar surcharge on them, when they arrive into Great Britain. :D

[English_in_Spain]

I think not just UK but all Europe should start a reciprocal scheme. I don't just mean $14 to enter but also...

- have to register online before travel

- refused entry if you have a criminal record (this can be quite a minor offence)

- fingerprints at immigration

- up to 2 1/2 hours to get through immigration following a long transatlantic flight

- all UK/European immigration officers must be as unpleasant as possible

Only when we introduce all of this will visitors from the USA understand how we feel.

[peteukmcr]

Just to get this 100% right:

 

If you register and get an answer about the ESTA before 8 Sept 2010, you dont need to pay? Yes

 

So when I got my passport (issued 2007) and the approved ESTA, I can travel to USA the next couple of year without anything more? Yes

 

Thanks in advance!

This is eactly what I've done even though we're not scheduled to visit the US until Nov 2011 when we disembark from our Liberty TA in Fort Lauderdale. As it happened our previous ESTA expired on the 5th of August just as I was finding out about the new charge when reported on the 6th! Needless to say I re-applied immediately.

[peteukmcr]

I applied just over a year ago for a trip to the US. I am not going again till middle to end of next year. Is it worth re-applying now or wont I be able to because I am currently still in the 2 year period (period will have expired by the time I am going to America again so will have to apply again at some point)?

From what I can gather from others, you can apply again now so that you have 2 years from now that is valid. Not done this myself though as mine had expired last Thursday.

[davenew]

I think not just UK but all Europe should start a reciprocal scheme. I don't just mean $14 to enter but also...

 

- have to register online before travel

- refused entry if you have a criminal record (this can be quite a minor offence)

- fingerprints at immigration

- up to 2 1/2 hours to get through immigration following a long transatlantic flight

- all UK/European immigration officers must be as unpleasant as possible

 

Only when we introduce all of this will visitors from the USA understand how we feel.

 

I totally agree with your comments plus:

Ask them stupid questions like; who do you work for and what do you do - as if they know anything anyway about your answers. Oh, yes...........

And put a big sign up that says "Welcome to ....." just before they meet our wonderfull Immigration Officials.

Marshall them, like cattle, to meet and greet the correct official.:D

[peteukmcr]

Thats interesting!! I hold a visa so should have no problems, and my wife has a brand new ESTA (although the original had not expired). The first time she used it was last September, and would you believe it, our friendly USA Immigration official, in Miami, played dumb and made her fill out the Green waiver form. I have just come back from a business trip to US and told my travelling collegue that he had better fill the form in - just in case. On arrival he was told that the green form wasn't needed and they ripped it up.

I am curious that they are going to charge because, about 18 months ago, I crossed into the USA via canada at Buffalo, and was charged $12 for the priveledge, even with a bloody visa.

Lets return the favour to our "Closest Allies" and lobby the government to impose a similar surcharge on them, when they arrive into Great Britain. :D

Not sure how practical this is as some of our airports are major hubs for US travellers connecting to other destinations and if we discourage them from using our airports it could reduce our tourism income.

 

I think not just UK but all Europe should start a reciprocal scheme. I don't just mean $14 to enter but also...

 

- have to register online before travel

- refused entry if you have a criminal record (this can be quite a minor offence)

- fingerprints at immigration

- up to 2 1/2 hours to get through immigration following a long transatlantic flight

- all UK/European immigration officers must be as unpleasant as possible

 

Only when we introduce all of this will visitors from the USA understand how we feel.

Well I know that's why it's so hard for US travellers to get a Visa to enter Brazil for example, as the government there set up such a reciprocal scheme to match the conditions imposed by the US.

 

To be fair, I have to say I have never had to wait that long to get through immigration whenever I've arrived in the US, and all the officers have been pleasant and courteous to me, also seeming to understand that we will have endured a long flight to get there. This is at all the ports of entry I've been through in the US (New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Orlando, Washington to name a few) with the exception of Miami which never mind the immigration, it is a nightmare airport.

 

To be honest some of our immigration officials are not that friendly to me and I'm trying to get back into my own country!

[peteukmcr]

Just received the following from our company travel agents. Please note the available payment methods. Not sure how you will be able to pay if you don't have a credit card and only have a debit card that is not associated with Visa or MasterCard as Maestro is not mentioned which is common for debit cards in the UK.

 

Most probably the US expect everyone to have a credit card and if not, then you can't pay and so can't travel!

 

Such shortsightedness was apparent when the ESTA system was first introduced and they would not believe that someone's passport could be valid for more than 10 years which mine was as the UK Passport Authority will add any unused months (upto 6) onto the length of a new passport, so when I applied in 2008 my application was rejected at first as my new passport was valid for 10 years and 5 months!

 

If you plan on flying to the United States from the 8th of September then this news will affect you.

The United States has set the fee for using its online compulsory online immigration system ESTA

at $14 (£8.80).

 

The charge is higher than the $10 predicted, and US border authorities said $4 of each fee would be

used to cover the costs of administrating the system.

 

The remaining $10 will be used to fund a new organisation set up to promote tourism under the Travel

Promotion Act, which came into law this year.

 

The fee will be imposed from September 8 and all payments will have to be made by credit card or debit

card at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov.

 

The system accepts only MasterCard, VISA, American Express, and Discover.

[English_in_Spain]

Miami airport last April. 3 large flights had just arrived from Europe (Iberia, Virgin & BA). It was absolute chaos. We were lucky as I was in a wheelchair but people we met with on our cruise said they took 2 1/2 hours.

 

The immigration officer was not rude just not very pleasant. He sort of grunted his questions.

 

Just found a copy of the I94W and here are a couple of the stupid questions we are asked

 

Q. Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or genocide or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved in any way in persecutions associated with **** Germany or its allies?

 

Q. Are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?

 

 

Is anyone going to answer 'yes'? If they were involved in **** activities in 1945 they must now be over 80.

 

 

Edit to add. it has put **** for N A Z I

[Costafox]

I applied just over a year ago for a trip to the US. I am not going again till middle to end of next year. Is it worth re-applying now or wont I be able to because I am currently still in the 2 year period (period will have expired by the time I am going to America again so will have to apply again at some point)?

 

My current esta also has over a year to run but I just applied and got approved a new one which is valid for 2 years from today - might as well put off paying the esta fee for as long as possible. ;)

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[whenthecatsaway]

Shackinsotis ! (I was born in Norn Iron) 14$ for the ESTA from 8th Sep!!!!

 

If you hold a UK or an EI passport you can go on to the esta site and (for the moment), as Pete says, get your ESTA approved for free. Ours were valid till Dec 2010 and yesterday we re-applied and they are now valid till AUG 2012. You'll definitely need them for travel in November so get your passports out and do it NOW!

 

I'll try and give you the website for the ESTA ....... there is no reason that CC should "beep" it !

 

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

 

Let us know how you got on.

 

Bandt

 

 

Off to do that right now, cheers neighbour!;)

[whenthecatsaway]

Off to do that right now, cheers neighbour!;)

 

 

Just applied for one each for the missus and I, thanks lads :) !