Completing Your ESTA Application

To apply for an ESTA, you must complete an Application. Select and complete "ESTA Application". In your application, enter all required information labeled with a red asterisk. You will be asked to provide: basic biographic information; information from your VWP eligible passport and other passports; your current or previous employer; your address and point of contact in the U.S.; an emergency point of contact; and payment information. You will also be asked to answer nine security questions. Each member of your party must have an approved travel authorization or a visa, regardless of age, prior to traveling to the United States.

Review Your Application - In Step 5 of the Application process, you can review your answers for accuracy before selecting "Next" and submitting your application. To make any corrections, you can select "Previews" and go back to the corresponding application section and make updates. Once your updates are made, you can click "Next" then proceed to the Payment Section.

Make Payment - After reviewing your payment summary on the Payment Section, check “Terms & Conditions” box and click “Pay” you will be taken to the final step where you enter in payment information for payment.

Check Your Application Status - In most cases, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization will return an Application Status immediately. In cases where more time is needed to process an electronic travel authorization application, an answer will usually be returned within 72 hours. Information will be provided to check the application status if you receive a pending response. The three possible responses to an electronic travel authorization application are:

• Authorization Approved. Your travel authorization has been approved and you are authorized to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. The system displays confirmation of the application approval and a payment receipt notice showing the amount or your payment. A travel authorization does not guarantee admission to the United States as a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer at a port of entry will have the final determination.
• Travel Not Authorized. You are not authorized to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. You may apply for a visa from the Department of State for your travel. Please visit the U.S. Department of State Web site for additional information about applying for a visa. This response does not deny entry into the United States. This response only prohibits you from traveling to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. The system also displays a payment receipt notice showing the amount of your payment for the processing of the ESTA application.
• Authorization Pending. Your travel authorization is under review because an immediate determination could not be made for your application. This response does not indicate negative findings. A determination will usually be made within 72 hours and you will be notified.

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 in U.S. POINT OF CONTACT INFORMATIONand the word Unkonwn in the rest of the fields.

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.

Diseases
Under United States law communicable diseases of public health significance include:

• Cholera
• Diphtheria
• Tuberculosis, infectious
• Plague
• Smallpox
• Yellow Fever
• Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers, including Ebola, Lassa, Marburg, Crimean-Congo
• Severe acute respiratory illnesses capable of transmission to other persons and likely to cause mortality.

Physical or Mental Disorders
With regard to physical or mental disorders, answer "Yes" to this question if:

• You currently have a physical or mental disorder and a history of behavior associated with the disorder that may pose or has posed a threat to your property, safety or welfare or that of others; or
• You had a physical or mental disorder and a history of behavior associated with the disorder that has posed a threat to your property, safety or welfare or that of others and the behavior is likely to recur or lead to other harmful behavior.

With regard to physical or mental disorders, answer "No" if:

• You currently have no physical or mental disorders; or
• You have or had a physical or mental disorder without associated behavior that may pose or has posed a threat to your property, safety or welfare of that of others; or
• You currently have a physical or mental disorder with associated behavior, but that behavior has not posed, does not currently pose nor will pose a threat to your property, safety or welfare or that of others; or
• You had a physical or mental disorder with associated behavior that posed a threat to your property, safety or welfare or that of others, but that behavior is unlikely to recur.

Drug Abusers and Drug Addicts
Under United States law persons may not be admissible if they have been determined to be a drug abuser or drug addict.
For further information refer to § 212(a)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(1)(A), and corresponding regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Pursuant to Section 214b of the Immigration and Nationality Act, all individuals must demonstrate that they are not intending to migrate into the United States. Employment information can help demonstrate eligibility under the legal requirement of the Visa Waiver Program.

Since 9/11, the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) has evolved from a travel facilitation program concerned about the threat of economic migration to one with more robust security standards that are designed to prevent terrorists and other criminal actors from exploiting the Program. The requirement for all VWP travelers to complete an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) prior to traveling to the United States was introduced by The Secure Travel and Counterterrorism Partnership Act of 2007 (part of the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, also known as the "9/11 Act") (Pub. L. No. 110-53) to improve the screening of individual travelers from VWP countries.

DHS must be agile and vigilant in continually adapting to evolving threats and hazards. DHS has not made a significant upgrade to the ESTA application in the six years that it has been in operation, despite a significant evolution in the terrorist and criminal threats to the U.S. DHS has determined that the additional data fields to the ESTA application will enhance the ability of DHS to screen and more accurately and effectively identify travelers who pose a potential security risk.

• 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 traveling to the United States.
• If you are traveling to the United States for a purpose other than short-term tourism or business.

As of November 3, 2014, the additional questions are:

• Other Names/Aliases
• Other Citizenships
• Parents name(s)
• National Identification Number (if applicable)
• U.S. Contact information (email, phone, points of contact)
• Employment information (if applicable)
• City of Birth

ESTA does not currently have a gender "X" to choose from on the application. You should choose whichever you feel most comfortable with. ESTA will not be denied solely on the gender chosen on the application.

The ESTA application does not accept special characters. Below are some common substitutions in the American English alphabet for unique European letters. You may also refer to the machine readable portion of your passport (with the chevrons << >>) for the universal spelling of your name.

• ß,ß = ss
• æ = a e
• ö = oe
• ü = ue
• ë = e
• ä = ae
• Å = aa
• ø = oe
• ñ = n
• ? = i j

If you don t find your country of issue in the drop down menu, make sure you are selecting the correct country. Your "Country of Issue" is the same as your "Country of Citizenship". For instance, if you are a citizen of the United Kingdom, but are getting your passport from the UK Consulate in Hong Kong, the UK is your country of issue.

Only citizens of countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) should apply for ESTA.

If you have dual citizenship and have registered with ESTA, you should use your VWP-eligible passport to board the plane when you leave your country of departure and when you arrive in the U.S. If both your countries of citizenship are VWP-eligible, then we strongly recommend you choose which one you want to claim for purposes of travel to the U.S. and use that country s passport each time you travel. One person with two different ESTA authorizations creates confusion that will only delay your travel.

If you are a citizen of the U.S. and also of a VWP country, you should not be applying for ESTA. One of the requirements of being a naturalized U.S. citizen is that you apply for, and use, a U.S. passport for your travels.

If you have a true emergency, and are unable to obtain a U.S. Passport before your travels, and only have a VWP-eligible passport, then you will have to apply through ESTA using that passport to travel to the U.S. When arriving at the U.S. airport using the foreign passport, you will have to use the non-resident queue.