Esta help

[Nanabigjo]

My husband and I will be doing a TA in late may and we know that we need estas. We have done the online application for my husband and it has come back as “Authorization Pending”. I suspect the reason is we put unknown for the details of an amarican contact and address. Can you please let me know if this is usual- if it is refused can we reapply- and what do other cruisers put in these fields when they are only ashore for a day. There is no reason for his application to be pending and am starting to think we may not get ashore! Any advice would be appreciated. 

[Host Hattie]

 

It's not unusual for the application to show pending when first submitted

From the Cunard website

 

 

[Yoshikitty]

Check the status regularly.

in the past, a decision has been done within a couple of hours (keep in mind that we are on a weekend), could take up to 3 days.

[oskidunker]

Why wouldn't you just use a passport?

[bluemarble]

23 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Why wouldn't you just use a passport?

 

An ESTA is in addition to the passport. The US requires an ESTA (or a conventional visa instead) for visitors from countries that qualify for the visa waiver program.

[lissie]

If in doubt use a random hotel address. Every country does this - its super annoying if you don't  book your hotels in advance - or as far in advance as sorting out paperwork. They aren't asking for a reservation number - just want you to fill in the box with something believable 

[ace2542]

23 hours ago, Nanabigjo said:

My husband and I will be doing a TA in late may and we know that we need estas. We have done the online application for my husband and it has come back as “Authorization Pending”. I suspect the reason is we put unknown for the details of an amarican contact and address. Can you please let me know if this is usual- if it is refused can we reapply- and what do other cruisers put in these fields when they are only ashore for a day. There is no reason for his application to be pending and am starting to think we may not get ashore! Any advice would be appreciated. 

 

Have you checked to see if it has been approved?

[majortom10]

19 hours ago, lissie said:

If in doubt use a random hotel address. Every country does this - its super annoying if you don't  book your hotels in advance - or as far in advance as sorting out paperwork. They aren't asking for a reservation number - just want you to fill in the box with something believable 

I certainly would not recommend you put an address of a hotel which you would not have a reservation for. Cunard recommend you simply put "In Transit".

[lissie]

4 hours ago, majortom10 said:

I certainly would not recommend you put an address of a hotel which you would not have a reservation for. Cunard recommend you simply put "In Transit".

Or you book a hotel which is fully refundable - booking.com usually has this. Get the ESTA and then cancel the booking. Plans change all the time - plus the ESTA lasts for a number of years - the booking is just for your first entry - they don't ask  on your following tirps using the same ESTA 

[milamber]

We usually put 'unknown' as we just renew Esta's when they expire, not when we have a specific trip planned. They always show as 'authorization pending' initially and can take from a few hours to a few days to process. It's nothing to worry about.