Travelling to the US

Andyt_uk

Andyt_uk

Andyt_uk

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Joined
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Malvern
Quick question, has anyone travelling to the US recently and know whether you need a visa or to complete an ESTA application before going?

I've a british passport but its just popped up with the following when I was booking my travel insurance.

Important information for visitors to the USA

Please be aware that the new Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) replaced the previous US Visa waiver forms on 12th January 2009. Therefore those visiting America now need to complete their visa forms at least 72 hours before departure otherwise they risk being refused entry into the US by customs officials.
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Anyone know if I need to do that and roughly how long it takes to complete as I'm supposed to be travelling tomorrow :eek:

Cheers!
 
Yes, absolutely - unless you've done it in the last 2 years of course.

You get an e-mail confirmation through pretty quickly though :)
 
Andyt_uk said:
cheers, is it necessary for everyone to complete nowadays then?

Shall start completing it now anyways :)
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You always get given one to do on the plane over too mate, so don't sweat about it. Although they sometimes tell you that only one person in you're party has to fill one in, it's best to do one for everyone - we were stopped because I'd done one and the wife hadn't. Took 2 mins to do though.
 
Sometimes they give you the card on the plane, sometimes they don't... Depends on where you're flying into. Texas seems to be pretty back water and gives you the green card which I always miss something out on, and when I flew into Newark they didn't have the card for me to fill in, go figure.
 
ok cheers guys, much appreciated. Completed the forms online and had the approval confirmation online instantly so guess I'm good to go :)

Cheers all!
 
yeh i filled in this, completely pointless.
they give you the card on the plane and tell you to fill that in as well as they haven't completed the system that tells them whether you have done it online.

so dunno whether the system is working yet (i went last july) but i doubt it. so you'll have to fill the card in on the plane anyway.
 
Why are so many people finding this so difficult to understand?

You need to fill in BOTH. You must do the online thing first.
 
You don't actually have to do the online one at all at the moment. I flew via San Francisco about 3 days ago and everyone I spoke to on the plane hadn't done the online one. They just did the green cards as previously.

I filled in the online one about 12 hours before I departed, still had to do the normal paper card and had no problems.
 
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It is mandatory to do it electronically, although it does have the caveat that those who don't do it electronically may simply experience delays in being processed, but there is a possibility that you will be denied boarding, or denied at US immigration, if you haven't completed the process.

Given that it's a 30 second task, you would have to be pretty dense not to do it and take your chance on I-94W paper form being sufficient.
 
[TW]Fox;16090566 said:
Why are so many people finding this so difficult to understand?

You need to fill in BOTH. You must do the online thing first.
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and the API too so actually 3 things ( 2 in advance ) :)
 
[TW]Fox;16090566 said:
Why are so many people finding this so difficult to understand?
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Glad I'm not the only one.

It's no wonder you hear so many stories about people being given a hard time at immigration etc if the vast percentage of travellers are bloody ignorant towards the requirements for entry to the country they are going to!
 
Yes it's very simple

Before you go fill in ESTA and API

on plane fill in Visa Waiver and Customs form

job done :)
 
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