You must apply for an ESTA online to enter the USA after 12 Jan 2009

s0198362

OK, so after numerous attempts at finding my ESTA, I rang up the Department for (not my)Homeland Security. They found it fine.

+1.202-344-3710, from Monday through Friday, 9AM-5PM, Eastern Standard Time

cheap_charlie

I hope someone can help me.

I applied for ESTAs for myself and my daughter in December 2009 to enable us to travel to the US in February last year.

My daughter's passport was due to expire in February this year, so I renewed it in September last year and got her a new ESTA at the same time as we have a US trip planned for April this year.

I have today received this e-mail which upon investigation refers to my daughter's original ESTA which was (obviously) only valid up until the expiration date of her old passport.

ATTENTION! The travel authorization submitted on December 7, 2009 via ESTA will expire within the next 30 days. It is not possible to extend or renew a current ESTA. You will need to apply for a new ESTA. Please reapply at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov if travel to the United States is intended in the near future. If there are 30 or more days left on the old authorization you will receive a warning message during the application and be asked if you wish to proceed.

As I already got her a new ESTA back in September am I correct in assuming I can ignore this message?

Thanks for any advice.

hansi

Never assume anything with the US authorities! Check the reference numbers for both the ESTA's and/or contact them.

hansi

s0198362 wrote: »

Decided to check my ESTA status today. I applied just before the cut-off for free applications.

Typed in my reference number, and got no application found.

Tried searching for my application number by passport number and personal details. Again nothing found. :mad:

After cursing the entire country and swearing out loud, I decided that I had to bite the bullet and buy the bloody thing.

Halfway through the application the bloody website says that an existing ESTA is already on their database, and proceeding from here would cancel it and I would be charged.

So I canceled the new application, but still can't access the old one.

What should I do?

When you applied for it, was it granted? If so, why didn't you print it out?

cheap_charlie

I checked the reference for the new ESTA and it's valid.

As the old ESTA was for an old passport it's obviously going to expire with that passport which is now cancelled anyway.

I will check again once the old passport expiration date has passed, however as that ESTA refers to a cancelled passport I can't see why the new one, which refers to the new passport, would be cancelled too.

Thanks for your help.

s0198362

hansi wrote: »

When you applied for it, was it granted? If so, why didn't you print it out?

I seemed to remember it was, I wrote down the reference number, but there is no official page to print out so didn't bother (writing down the reference number was sufficient). Just couldn't find it (despite having the reference number) when I decided to double check things.

Windscreen_Viper

OK, here is a question for you knowlegeable guys if I may?

My wife is an American by birth and still holds a US passport. She is also a British citizen and holds a UK passport. As far as i understand it, she needs to travel outwards to the US on her American passport, but needs to return to the UK on her British passport (anyone know if this is right?) but the question is.... does she need to apply for an ESTA?

We plan to travel in mid May to visit her family, not having been able to travel for nearly 5 years now.

Thanks in advance

ferf1223

I'm American but don't hold a UK passport - I always understood that if I did become a UK citizen, I would still need to enter and depart the US on my US passport...so she wouldn't need to apply for an ESTA as she would be travelling on a US passport.

Windscreen_Viper

ferf1223 wrote: »

I'm American but don't hold a UK passport - I always understood that if I did become a UK citizen, I would still need to enter and depart the US on my US passport...so she wouldn't need to apply for an ESTA as she would be travelling on a US passport.

I agree, for the outward journey. But I do believe that she is required to return to the UK on her British passport - especially if, as in her case, she has a new US passport which does not have the ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) stamp in it. It would therefore be sensible to enter as a citizen would it not?

ferf1223

Windscreen_Viper wrote: »

I agree, for the outward journey. But I do believe that she is required to return to the UK on her British passport - especially if, as in her case, she has a new US passport which does not have the ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) stamp in it. It would therefore be sensible to enter as a citizen would it not?

I have a new US passport without my ILR and carry both my old and new ones with me (I have also signed up for IRIS so normally don't need to even show a passport entering the UK) as I was advised to do if I didn't want to send both to the Home Office to transfer it over...but I am reasonably confident she's required to leave the US using her US passport..whether she can swap to her UK passport when she arrives in the UK or not I'm not sure (so depart US on US passport, arrive UK on UK passport - it would seem that one passport would be required to be used when you get on and off the plane, but maybe not - maybe the UK requires her to enter on her UK passport even if it's not the document she boarded the plane with)...but she wouldn't need an ESTA if she's arriving in the US on a US passport.