Important: DO NOT USE AN AGENT or VISA COMPANY TO APPLY FOR YOUR ESTA. DO IT YOURSELF. THE COST IS $40 DO NOT PAY ANYMORE OR YOU ARE BEING SCAMMED. TAKE CARE TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE ON THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

There are 40 countries that travellers are allowed to travel on the Visa Waiver programme to America by means of having an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation).

I knew that my 2 year ESTA expires shortly but hadn’t anticipated that it would be only two days before I travelled on my next visit to America. Finding information about ESTA application can be a bit tricky and I contacted the help section of the CBP (U.S Customs & Border Protection) to ask when is the earliest period to apply to get a new ESTA authorising my travel into the States. They did respond quite quickly but didn’t answer the question. So thirty days from the expiry date I received an email advising me that my ESTA was due to expire and actually it explained how to proceed in applying for a new ESTA.

If your passport expires and you have an active ESTA you have to apply for a new ESTA.

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At the bottom of the email from the CBP was two images and although I am late to the party I was really excited to discover that as of June of 23 there is an app for ESTA released for passengers flying on the Visa Waiver programme. So for 40 countries and 24 languages can be downloaded for IOS or Android phones. For this ESTA application I used the new app and other than the photo that I tried to centre in the oval frame failed the first time it was reasonably straight forward and I had a confirmation that authorisation to travel had been issued only thirty minutes later.

The other app the email was pointing at was for MPC (Mobile Passport Control) for travellers arriving at selected airports and ports in America. This allows arrivals and their family groups to upload and answer all the questions in advance and on arrival send the information so that by joining the correct line there is a chance to streamline the passport process before collecting your baggage. There is a feature on the app as well that will advise the status of your luggage and where to meet it.

Obviously there might be a shorter queue to go an join the Homeland Security line as normal so check the situation to take the best option.