US ESTA Program - Information
Since 2010, the US Authorities have levied a charge for ESTAs - Electronic System of Travel Authorisation documents - enabling citizens of Visa Waiver Program countries to obtain authorisation to travel to or through the United States. Please see below for details of options, fees and service levels.
Our Service Benefits:
- 24/7 phone and email support
- At the airport? Forgot to apply for ESTA? Need it done immediately?
- Application errors corrected FREE of charge
- Friendly help and advice
- User-friendly website system and secure online payments
- ESTA supplied by email in PDF format and/or by post
- Lost your ESTA? No problem - you can apply to us and we will retrieve and send you a copy - whether or not you applied through our service originally
- Full refund of all fees if your application is unsuccessful
- Pay by any credit or debit card bearing Visa or Mastercard logos
More ESTA Information:
So what, exactly, does ESTA approval entitle you to? An ESTA approval number gives the applicant approval to travel to the US, however, it does not give the applicant the right to enter the US - this is down to the US border control authorities. Of course, it is rare for a traveller to be stopped at the border, but it can happen. An ESTA does NOT give the applicant the right to reside or work in the US, and it is only valid for a maximum of 2 years from date of issue (or until expiry date of passport, whichever is sooner). ESTA should not be confused with the Green Card system, which confers entirely different rights and obligations on the holder - the two schemes are, to all intents and purposes, unrelated.
Visa Waiver Program Countries:
The following countries are designated VWP:
Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, 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
Applying for an ESTA - Your Options:
Several years ago, it used to be possible to obtain an ESTA without charge, however, for around 3 years now, the US Government has levied a fee for all ESTA applications. There are NO exceptions to this. It is impossible to obtain an ESTA for free.
Customers can buy an ESTA direct from the US Government website (http://www.cbp.gov/), where they will pay a fee of $14.00.
There are many agencies like ours who process ESTA applications, but not all are equal. Total fees for going via an agency range from around £30 to around £80. With our service, there is a charge of £35.95 per standard application (normally 24 hour turnaround), or £45.95 per application (2 hour turnaround), inclusive of all US Government fees. Our service fee includes not only the checking and processing of the application and delivering the ESTA number in PDF format, but also all the benefits as detailed above.
Most of the above services are not available via the US Government website - the US DHS will not send documents by post because they operate the entire system only electronically, they offer only a premium rate phone service at the US embassy in London, with a series of recorded messages, and under no circumstances will they refund all of the fees if they refuse an ESTA application.