ESTA Resources

Introduction If you are a citizen of a country that is part of the Visa Waiver Program, you are eligible to apply for the Electronic System for Travel Authorization or ESTA online. Whether you are visiting in transit or for business or leisure, a vacation, completing the ESTA application online avoids the need to apply for a visa…

Trump Administration Travel Restrictions for visitors who have recently been in Schengen Countries On March 11th 2020, in response to the growing number of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the United States, the Trump Administration has announced new travel restrictions. Starting at 11:59PM on Friday, March 13th 2020 Eastern Standard Time, travelers who have visited…

Introduction There are several questions on the ESTA application form that are optional. One of these questions is regarding social media account information. This question provides Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with a point of reference when checking applicant information matches an alternative…

Introduction In an attempt to control the spread of Covid-19 (Coronavirus), the United States is introducing restrictions on travel for foreign nationals coming from China and Iran as well as introduced travel advisories for Italy and South Korea. Individuals with an approved ESTA or U.S. visa are considered to be foreign nationals, and are subject to the restrictions below: Foreign…

Introduction Employment information is used by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to help determine if ESTA applicants are intending to illegally enter the United States to become economic migrants. The specific section related to this law is in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act Section 214b. ESTA applicants are required to provide employment information as evidence of having substantial…

Introduction The U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) arrivals statistics by country of citizenship from 2014 to 2018 have been analyzed and consolidated in this article. These statistics are released on an annual basis by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the results for 2019 are still being processed. This article will share some of the findings discovered on meaningful results…

Introduction At the end of January 2020, President Trump announced he was restricting immigration from six new countries including Burma, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), these countries have been added to the list of nations already subject to the existing travel ban because they were not complying with information…

Introduction At the Davos summit last week, President Trump announced that he was going to add more countries to the controversial 2017 travel ban list under Executive Order 13769. The White House seems to be suggesting that several countries not currently included on the list are no longer complying with US security requirements. While the president did not specify which additional countries…

Introduction In January 2016, the U.S. government started to implement changes to the Visa Waiver Program through the Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of the previous year. This act aims to exclude citizens of countries deemed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to be state sponsors of terrorism, including people from Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria. The act was amended…

This article covers a range of questions and answers on how an ESTA can be used for conducting business related activities in the U.S. while traveling under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). We received a number of the following questions in response to the information on using an ESTA…