🇺🇸 USA | Travel Visa Waiver via ESTA Website

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Good information for Taiwanese needing visa for USA especially to help avoid non-official websites and services.

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Note that this is for visa waiver, not for visas.

Good point. Updated title.

Idk where to post this.

It seems like there could be US border preclearance at TPE soon-ish. So far only some airports in Canada, Ireland, UAE, and some Caribbean islands have implemented it.

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What exactly does this mean? I applied for ESTA from the website for my spouse and within a matter of hours, she was approved. Now, I’m skeptical. Does she still need a visa to the US or not? It’s called a Visa Waiver, but then it also says “This does not guarantee admission to the United States; a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at a port of entry will have the final determination.

Uh, OK… so… what is this thing for if not entering the US without a visa?

She doesn’t need one. It’s a visa waiver!

The same was true of a visa under the old system, I believe. Has anyone ever heard of it happening to anyone?

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It means you will enter without an visa. When you enter (airport, train, ect) the boarder police will maybe see a reason to not allow you to enter. (such as wrong answers to his/her questions like why are visiting the USA and you say to get married or something like that that need a visa). Most of the time its not a problem to enter.

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It’s the United States Visa Waiver Program which includes a few dozens of developed countries whose citizens’ chances of overstaying in America are minimal. These countries are

  • Andorra

  • Australia

  • Austria

  • Belgium

  • Brunei

  • Chile

  • Croatia

  • Czech Republic

  • Denmark

  • Estonia

  • Finland

  • France

  • Germany

  • Greece

  • Hungary

  • Iceland

  • Ireland

  • Italy

  • Japan

  • Latvia

  • Liechtenstein

  • Lithuania

  • Luxembourg

  • Malta

  • Monaco

  • Netherlands

  • New Zealand

  • Norway

  • Poland

  • Portugal

  • San Marino

  • Singapore

  • Slovakia

  • Slovenia

  • South Korea

  • Spain

  • Sweden

  • Switzerland

  • Taiwan

  • United Kingdom

CBP has final decision to allow anyone in.
Can even deny a greencard holder if not been staying 6 months or more a year in US like mandatory. Some may even even see 7 months living in US as trying to skirt the law.
Having said that, the missus got visa waiver and first time in got 6 months expiration. We were only staying the summer.
Just answer everything truthfully.

I thought the whole thing was mostly an administrative action

Because the border police makes the final admission determination. So even if you have a visa it does not guarantee that they HAVE to let you in.

Because it’s possible you applied for the wrong kind of visa (applied for a tourist visa when they think you intend to work, applied for F1 student visa and they discovered you were planning to skip school and work illegally, etc.) and they can still deny you entry…

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Make sure if you get a new passport, to get a new ESTA. I nearly fucked that up on a business trip.

Luckily i got to airport early and they sent me to use the computers to apply for new one. I was constantly pressing refresh for 30 mins and they kept check-in opened for me for another ten minutes. They said the last person who had that problem had to wait 13 hours and fly the next day

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Yes, a Journalist from Australia a few years back decided that the Journalist Visa was a bit too much work, so went in the Visa Waiver way and was knocked back at the Immigration Gates, spent most of the day in LAX in handcuffs until escorted onto the return flight that night.

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The EU were thinking of something similar, but it was delayed by COVID-19.
ETIAS Europe: the EU’s version of the US ESTA.

Thank you. Is it reasonably safe, then, for my spouse to not apply for a US visa if we are planning a simple holiday for 3 weeks? I suppose evidence of an Airbnb booking might help?

Even when having a valid visa, one could still get denied on entry - that’s just how the US border controls work. I would also assume that applying for a visa for a three week vacation would raise some suspicions if ESTA travel is also possible.

Personally, I wouldn’t worry too much - if you have an ESTA you‘ve probably over 99.9% chance that everything at the immigration will go smoothly. The other cases are mostly people who say something stupid or have really really bad luck.

(There was one story about a fellow coworker I heard who had to fly back: He wanted to attend a work conference and when they asked him why he was coming to the US, the first thing he said was „I come here to work“. That was apparently enough reason for the agent to send him straight back…)

Yes. It’s not necessary to apply for a full visa if you don’t need to and from an eligible country.

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Simple holiday is good reason… And yes you bring AirBNB or hotel info as well copy of return ticket. And you may need fill out form with your USA address (some entry points have touch screen to do it online). Normally it given out on the airplane or the check in gate (last time I flew out of KHH) and they have it in Chinese.

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This article gives me more perspective into what ESTA is supposed to be

Before you start shaking your fist at freedom-hating Eurocrats, know that ETIAS is the belated continental answer to a system the U.S. has imposed on residents of friendly countries since 2009, called the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA. Like ETIAS, ESTA is a response to 21st-century terrorist attacks and combines modest fees ($21) with less-than-instantaneous turnaround times (a promised 72 hours). Both either tweak or torpedo (depending on your point of view) the notion of reciprocal “visa waiver” travel between high-trust countries.