QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

If your travel authorization is approved, you are eligible to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program, but it does not guarantee admission to the United States. Upon arrival at the United States a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer may determine that you may not enter the United States under the Visa Waiver Program or due to another reason according to the Law of the United States.

To apply for an ESTA, you must complete an Individual Application under "START ESTA APPLICATION" in the global menu. In your application, enter all required information labelled with a red asterisk.
After entry of the data, accept the terms and select "NEXT". After an approval you can review the submitted information for accuracy. To make any corrections, you can select "EDIT" in the corresponding application section and make updates, if the information is correct, approve the terms and click "CONFIRM AND CONTINUE".
After submission of the application make the payment by entering your credit card data in the required fields and click "COMPLETE THE PAYMENT". If the payment is successful, and approval will appear on the screen.
After a successful payment you will receive an answer to your e-mail within 24 hours.

Yes. Specific travel plans are not mandatory at the time of application, but you will need a U.S. point of contact.
Although specific travel plans are not required, the address where you will be staying in the United States is recommended to complete the application. If multiple locations are planned, you only need to enter the first address. If a complete address is not known, you can enter the name of the hotel or location you will visit.
If you are in transit, please select 'yes' to the 'Is your travel to the U.S. occurring in transit to another country?' question in the Travel Information section.

All mandatory fields must be completed. If erroneous information is entered this will not result in a mandatory denial, but it is possible that due to erroneous information you are denied entry into the United States.

• - If you intend to arrive in the United States aboard a non-signatory air carrier.
• - If you intend to visit the United States for more than 90 days.
• - If you believe any grounds of inadmissibility of the Immigration and Nationality Act § 212(a) apply to you, you should apply for a nonimmigrant visa before travelling to the United States.
• - If you are travelling to the United States for a purpose other than short-term tourism or business.

All payments for electronic travel authorization applications must be made by credit card/debit card. The ESTA system currently accepts only the following credit card/debit cards: MasterCard, Visa credit/debit cards. Your application will not be submitted for processing until all payment information is received.

Yes. Our system does not retain your credit card information after the transaction is processed.

Yes. If the application is denied, the funds will be automatically refunded to the card the payment was made with.

A new travel authorization may be required in any of the following cases:

• - The traveller has a new passport;
• - The traveller has changed name and/or surname;
• - The traveller has changed sex;
• - The traveller has changed citizenship;
• - Circumstances that formed a reasoning for the traveller's previous replies to the ESTA application questions with "yes/no" answers, have changed.

Travel authorization approvals are generally issued for a period of two years or until expiry of the traveller's passport, depending on which event occurs first. Upon approval of an application, the ESTA will assign an expiry date. Therefore, the traveller shall apply for a new travel authorization after expiry of the current ESTA authorization or passport of the candidate. The related payment will be charged per each submitted application.

No. ESTA travel authorization needs only to be valid upon arrival in the United States.

If your ESTA has expired, you must reapply by submitting a new application. Existing authorizations cannot be extended.
You do not need to wait until your ESTA expires to reapply. You may do so at any time. Your prior ESTA will be cancelled and replaced with your new application.
ESTA approvals are typically granted for a two-year period or until the applicant's passport expires, whichever is sooner. The approval is good for multiple entries – meaning you may use it for more than one entry into the U.S.

An approved travel authorization is not a visa. It does not meet the legal or regulatory requirements to serve in lieu of a United States visa when a visa is required under United States law. Individuals who possess a valid visa will still be able to travel to the United States on that visa for the purpose for which it was issued. Individuals travelling on valid visas are not required to apply for a travel authorization.

You are eligible to apply for admission under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) if you:

• - Intend to enter the United States for 90 days or less for business, pleasure or transit;
• - Have a valid passport lawfully issued to you by a Visa Waiver Program country;
• - Arrive via a Visa Waiver Program signatory carrier;
• - Have a return or onward ticket;
• - Travel does not terminate in contiguous territory or adjacent islands unless the traveller is a resident of one of those areas;
• - Are a citizen or national of one of the Visa Waiver Program countries listed below: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Malta, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

Information submitted by applicants through the www.estausaonline.com Web site is subject to the same strict privacy provisions and controls. Access to such information is limited to those with a professional need to know.

An approved travel authorization is not a visa. It does not meet the legal or regulatory requirements to serve in lieu of a United States visa when a visa is required under United States law. Individuals who possess a valid visa will still be able to travel to the United States on that visa for the purpose for which it was issued. Individuals travelling on valid visas are not required to apply for a travel authorization.

Each citizen of Visa Waiver Program participant countries travelling to the United States for business or tourism have to receive an electronic travel authorization in the ESTA system prior to departure.
Children also, regardless their age, have to receive a separate ESTA approval.

Children, regardless their age, have to receive a separate ESTA approval.

It is recommended to receive an ESTA approval not later than 72 hours prior to departure to the United States. Usually ESTA applications are processed within 24 hours, but it must be taken into account that the final response term is 72 hours. If the application is submitted shortly before departure, then it may come to a situation when it is not processed in a due time and the individual may not depart. It has to be considered that in separate situations an application may also be denied. In such a case an individual, prior to travelling to the United States, must apply for a visa at the U.S. Embassy.

Yes, ESTA application, regardless the selected program language, has to be filled in in English.

You can stay in the United States without a visa for 90 days.

No. During your stay in the United States the authorization may not be changed to a working permit or student visa. To make a respective change and individual has to return to his/her home country.

Yes, ESTA approval is required also in case an individual is only transiting the United States.