Esta

Have just visited the website as it is due to be operational next month on a voluntary basis but from Jan 09 it will be compusalry

What I do not know is if the DHS intend to charge people for applications anybody any ideas

I am right with my asumption that it is the same as the VWP and will be free?

Esta

its done on line its free if you pass all the questions its valid for two yyears if you fail you then have to apply for a visa

Esta

According to what I have read, it will be free of charge for the time being but they may start charging a fee at some point in the future.

here is the full facts of ESTA.

dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1212498415724.shtm

Cheers ;-) Wullie

I%26#39;m not sure if I have understood this correctly, but it seems to me that if you don%26#39;t ';pass'; the first part i.e. the DHS part there%26#39;s no point applying for a Visa because you can%26#39;t get on any form of transport to the USA anyway. This is all getting way too complicated. I can feel a return to Spanish holidays returning.

What would happen if say for instance you have booked an Orlando holiday for next February and you booked last February before there was any mention of ESTA. You can%26#39;t take the ESTA thing until October and find that you need a Visa for some reason - actually getting one will be a bit tight.

You can apply voluntarily from 1st August this year, so theoretically if you fail you would have six months to apply for a visa.

I agree in theory you could, but how many people have even heard of this new thing (for want of a better word) I hadn%26#39;t until today. I only came on this forum today to ask about sunglasses, if I hadn%26#39;t I would still be completely ignorant about it. Personally I don%26#39;t think it will pose any problems for me, I have no criminal record (and I travel in October on my umpteeth visit to the US) but it does make you wonder what it will dredge up. For instance as I understood it previously moral turpitude just covered crimes which could offend the moral conscience and was there for open to interpretation and varied from state to state.

It will be interesting to find out what the questions are going to be and what constitutes an unadmissable crime.

I still believe that the ESTA is for permission to travel to the USA on the Visa waiver programme.It is an extra. You STILL have to fill in the forms on the aircraft and queue at the other end.If someone knows better please let us know. All replies to this and other threads seem to think this is instead of the waiver forms. I have seen nor heard anything which suggests this.

I didn%26#39;t see it as being instead of the visa waiver thing. I saw it as being if you didn%26#39;t pass the ESTA ';test'; you couldn%26#39;t even get on the plane therefore there would be no point in applying for a VISA. In other words if you don%26#39;t meet the ESTA criteria you can%26#39;t travel to the USA.

If you fail the online application you NEED to apply in person to the US Embassy and explain yourself and ask for a visa there.

Cheers ;-) Wullie

But surely if you fail the online thing you won%26#39;t be allowed on the plane anyway so what%26#39;s the point of the visa? As I understood it you need to pass the ESTA test thing to get on the plane so getting a visa would be pointless as possession of a visa doesn%26#39;t guarantee entry to the US anyway. From what I%26#39;m told possessing a visa just subjects you to massive questioning at immigration in the US under present legislation. So now as I understand things from January you need to do the test and pass it ';bingo'; you%26#39;re on the plane, fail and you go to Spain - cheaper (possibly taking into account the cost of getting the visa) and they don%26#39;t have afternoon thunder storms in the summer OK no Micky Mouse but the beer tastes better and you don%26#39;t have to look 30 to get one.

If the DHS decide not to ';pass'; Britons for having minor criminal convictions, most of which are suposedly ';spent'; after 5 years or having cautions against them I wonder what effect it will have on the US (especially Orlando) tourist industry. How many people who have convictions for motoring offences will be excluded? How many will think ';Stuff it I%26#39;m not even bothering';. I certainly wouldn%26#39;t pay for a visa to travel to the US. BTW I never visit Orlando these days but clearly many Brits do, and make many repeat visits, also there appears to be pressure put on parents to take their children to Orlando to do the Disney/Universal thing, presumably because all of their friends go, and of course it%26#39;s a great place to take a holiday. I%26#39;ve been holidaying in the US since 1992 and have never done anything wrong apart from spend my tourist dollar. I think I%26#39;ve proved that I am no threat to the US, so why do I have to pass a test to get on the god damn plane. This whole immigration thing is totally ridiculous for the average person who just wants to spend 2 weeks in the US.

Do other continents apply such stringent rules? I have no personal experience but I would love to hear from someone who has, also I would love to hear the experiences of US citizens arriving in the UK for vacations. Passing through Heathrow a couple of years ago I witnessed extreme rudeness to foreign visitors and returning UK citizens and I would hope that it was a one off but I fear it was not.

OK rant over, but do you get my point?