For foreign travelers to the USA ESTA is available. It is an automated system featuring an application that supports the visa waiver program. If you plan to travel to the US, and your trip is for less than 3 months, you can apply. The only other prerequisite is that your home country must be on the VWP list.

Did you clear both of those hurdles? If you’re not sure about your country, visit the official ESTA site because the list is readily available. While there are other tips you need to know about ESTA travel, those are the basic guidelines that you should know prior to filling out your application.

You will be asked about any arrest records or immigration issues. That is something else that people sometimes want to know and are worried about when applying. You’re not going to know whether or not you’re approved unless you apply. So if you have an arrest record or have had immigration issues in the past, just go ahead and fill out the app to see what happens.

After you get an answer, you can work from there. If you are approved with USA ESTA, then you are good to go. If you arne’t, then you can start looking into your next steps. Speaking of your next steps, one thing I’m not sure about is if you can appeal the decision. That would be good to know for sure. If you can appeal, that’s great. If not, I’m wondering if you would have to go ahead and try to get approved for a visa, even if you were taking a trip for less than 90 days.

Let’s go with the fact that you’re going to get approved. You have decided that you are eligible to apply, and pretty soon you’re hopefully getting a big yes about the visa waiver program. Once you get that approval from the automated system, your ESTA stays valid for two years. In other words, you can take more trips to the US during that time.

Those trips just have to be for less than 90 days. And if your passport expires in the meantime, you have to go ahead and apply with ESTA again. It seems like a rather simplified process, don’t you think? Oh, and one more thing you will need to know is that there is a $14 application fee charged when you are filling out the ESTA form.