ESTA is intended for citizens of countries covered by the U.S. Visa Waiver Program who hold a valid passport. Instead of showing the USA visa on boarding and arrival in the USA, these citizens can use the ESTA document.
The application is made online, and takes the form of a questionnaire similar to the I-94W document you used to have to fill in on the plane. For your ESTA application to be valid, you must answer the questions accurately and precisely.
Is the ESTA application free or subject to a fee? This is the question we answer in this article.
ESTA USA: free or not?
ESTA was introduced as part of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to make it easier for eligible tourists to travel to the USA. When it first appeared, the online ESTA application was completely free of charge, but a year later it became a fee-based process. These fees are used to finance tourism on American soil, and to pay for the application process. Since then, it has been impossible to apply for an ESTA free of charge for a stay in the USA.
It’s possible to find different prices, as many sites on the web offer to fill in the online form for you. The fee starts at $14 on the official U.S. government site, and can be higher if you request assistance from a private site.
Where and how to apply for an ESTA?
Unlike a visa, you don’t apply for one at aUS embassy. To travel to the USA with an ESTA, you need to fill in an ESTA form on the Internet.
ESTA authorization is available only to travelers from 38 visa-exempt countries. These travelers must be visiting the U.S. for tourism, business or transit purposes only. Travelers must stay in the U.S. for a maximum of 90 days, and must be in possession of a valid biometric or electronic passport. If these mandatory conditions are met, the traveler can complete the questionnaire online, either on the U.S. government website, or on a specialized site if assistance is required. In both cases, it’s the American authorities who analyze your request. The authorization granted is the same on all these sites, as is its two-year validity period, unless your passport is about to expire, as your permission is linked to your passport number.
Just because you have to pay for an ESTA application doesn’t mean it’s compulsory. In fact, not only must you meet the various eligibility requirements to travel to the USA with this authorization, but you must also have filled in the form correctly. A spelling mistake can have a negative impact on your application.
If you simply don’t meet the required criteria, the ultimate solution is to apply for a visa at the U.S. embassy. Even though approval is issued quickly, we still give the same advice to travelers: apply at least 72 hours before your stay in the USA. Once you’ve received approval, you can start planning your temporary stay in the land of excess.
