ABTA, the British Travel Association, is advising travellers to the USA to apply online for their ESTA – the Electronic System for Travel Authorization – before charges of $14 per person come into effect on September 8 2010.
ABTA, the largest travel association in the UK, quite rightly points out that by applying early a family of four will save $56 on their trip to the States, or approximately £40.
The ESTA system which was brought in to speed up security checks means that all customers travelling under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) must have a valid ‘ESTA’ to gain smooth entry to the USA.
The electronic system allows for the pre-screening of foreign national visitors travelling to the USA under a VWP application. The system is widely regarded as having made trips to the USA easier and simpler under the heightened security of recent years. However, the levy of a fee on the previous free system is a significant change, affecting the millions of travellers to the USA from the UK and other countries who have machine readable passports.
The US Government charge is to fund holiday and travel promotion for the USA and with an average 4 million visitors arriving in the USA from the UK each year – that means British visitors alone will be contributing in the region of $56 million a year.
Luke Pollard ABTA Head of Public Affairs says:
“We fully support the US Government’s wish to encourage people to visit their country. However charging visitors $14 each to fund this drive seems a rather odd way of doing so.
“Customers should go online to obtain their ESTA before 8 September to avoid the charge. An ESTA is valid for two years, so if you intend to visit the USA in the next 24 months go online now.”
The situation is unfortunate for travellers at a time when consumer budgets are under pressure and also the pound is suffering a hammering against the dollar.
While the fee is unlikely to have a negative impact on USA tourism it is likely to be seen as just another example of extra charges which gets up the nose of travellers.
The ESTA is not a visa. It was developed to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pre-screen all travellers to the USA on the Visa Waiver Program and was introduced in 2009.
Without an ESTA foreign nationals could be denied boarding in extreme circumstances or entry at US borders but the most likely inconvenience is that they would have to experience delays at passport control.
However, according to DHS records, application for the ESTA, although an undoubted additional hassle for visitors, has not become a major bar for most applicants with over 96 per cent of all ESTA applications approved.
The USA-PATRIOT Act was the impetus for the ESTA that requires all travellers under the VWP scheme to have a machine-readable passport.
To apply for travel passes through ESTA you must have a machine readable passport with a digital photograph printed on the page that contains your biographic data or a newer passport with an integrated chip containing the information from the data page.
If you are from a Visa Waiver Country but hold an old passport, i.e. non machine readable then you have to apply for a visitor visa in advance.
As well as the UK there are 34 other countries which are members of the Visa Waiver Scheme, including France, Germany, Australia, Spain, Italy, Norway and Greece.
