ESTA Questions for Irish and UK Citizens Traveling to USA

ESTA Questions for Irish Citizens

The Visa Waiver Program, a US government initiative, allows citizens of participating countries to enter the US without obtaining a visa for tourism or business. You can apply for ESTA approval and enter the US quickly.

The Visa Waiver Program is not open to everyone. Only citizens of countries that have waived visa restrictions, such as Irish nationals, can apply. Even for short visits, travelers with passports from non-visa-exempt nations must apply for a B-1 Business Visa and a B-2 Visitor Visa. Not only must you obtain an ESTA in advance online, but the I-94W form is usually filled out on board the plane before you enter the US port.

The ESTA application form requires that the traveler provide their first and last names, gender, birthdate, passport number, passport issuing, and expiration dates, citizenship, destination and hotel numbers, as well as their flight number. The traveler must also answer security questions regarding their criminal history and history of deportation or visa revocation.

Yes. The applicant can request the ESTA Visa Ireland prior to completing the form with specific travel plan information. You can update your travel details, such as flight number and hotel, at a later date. Travelers are not required to update their travel details if their ESTA is approved.

The US government may deny an ESTA request, but the traveler still wishes to visit the US. They can apply for a visa non-immigrant at any American embassy. We recommend you contact officials if you feel authorities made a mistake or if you think they misunderstood or assumed something to be a reason for your denial.

Online applications for ESTA are easy to complete and should take less than 15 minutes. The response should be received within 72 hours to applicants who have submitted their applications online. However, delays can occur depending on the situation. We encourage travelers to check whether they are eligible to receive ESTA before departing and to apply for visa waivers weeks in advance. DHS recommends that travelers complete the ESTA application before they begin planning their trip to America.

Once a traveler has submitted their ESTA Visa application, they usually get approved and cleared to enter the United States within 72 hours. These are only indicative times. Each case is unique and may take longer to process. Travelers should also remember that an ESTA authorization is not a guarantee of entry into the US. Border officials always make the final decision.

The ESTA application data will be retained for the remaining validity period of two years or until the passport expires. DHS can keep these data for another year before archiving them for 12 years for national security or law enforcement purposes. ESTA allows the paper I-94W to be completed in both air and sea conditions. The I-94W retention schedule states that the admission record of a VWP visitor who is accepted by the automated system will be kept for 75 years. I-94W data and I-94 data will be kept for this period of time to ensure that relevant information regarding a particular admission to the United States can be accessed to provide any immigration or enforcement benefits.

Your ESTA is valid for two years from the date you received your authorization. Keep in mind, however, that your ESTA can be linked to your passport. If your passport expires, your ESTA will also expire. To check if your ESTA still has validity, look at the date you applied for it and receive a positive response. Once your ESTA has expired, you will need to reapply. You can Check ESTA Status Ireland if you do not know whether your Application is valid or not.

Global Entry (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) is a program that expedites clearance for low-risk, pre-approved travelers upon their arrival in the United States. The United States allows members to enter through automatic kiosks at specific airports.

Program members arrive at airports and present their U.S. permanent residence card or machine-readable passport. They then scan their fingerprints for verification and fill out a declaration. The kiosk issues a transaction receipt to the traveler and directs them to baggage claim or exit.

Global Entry requires that travelers have been pre-approved. Before being accepted into the Global Entry program, all applicants must pass a thorough background check.

Global Entry’s goal to expedite travelers through the process is not to stop them from entering the United States. However, some members may be subject to further inspection when they enter the country. Any violation of these terms and conditions may result in the traveler losing their membership privileges.

Before a Visa Waiver Program participant can travel to the United States, they must have an approved travel authorization. A traveler who obtains a passport must apply for ESTA a second time using the passport. Each new application will incur a processing fee.

If you have dual citizenship and you are registered with ESTA, you can use your VWP-eligible passport when you board the plane to leave your country of origin and arrive in the U.S. If your two countries are VWP-eligible, then we recommend that you choose the one you wish to claim in order to travel to the U.S. Two people with different ESTA authorizations can cause confusion and delay your travel.

If you are a U.S. citizen and also a country in the VWP, you shouldn’t apply for ESTA. Naturalized U.S. citizens must apply for and use a U.S. passport to travel. Although we know that naturalized U.S. citizens may use their passport from another country in certain cases, we expect that you will use your U.S. passport for travel from one country to another, leaving the foreign country, and arriving in the U.S.