Yes, the application is still free, but only until 07 Sept 2010.

If you plan on taking a trip within the next two years, then fill in your visa waiver programme application online before 08 Sept for free… they will start charging after this date!

Fill it in, there’s no need to fill in any travel details, and the visa is valid for two years.

Visit Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) to complete your application.

In a September 2008 post, I had blogged about the upcoming Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which will go into effect on 12 Jan 2009.

As of now, visitors to the U.S.A. are able to enter the country without a visa. As of 12 Jan 09, entry into the United States will only be possible with this electronic travel authorization.

Passengers need to apply at least 72 hours in advance through the internet at esta application. The authorization will also be granted through the internet. Applications are available in English as well as in German. It is advisable to carry a printout of the authorization on you at time of travel.

In case your travel authorization application gets rejected, you will not be able to board the flight and you need to apply for a visa at a U.S. consulate.

This procedure is mandatory for all passengers entering the United States via air or sea port (this also applies to transit stopovers).

Travelers, entering the U.S. by way of land from Canada or Mexico, are exempt from this rule.

As I had mentioned in a previous post, there is a new Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for entering the United States of America on a tourist status.

I had been waiting for my e-ticket to arrive to apply for this travel authorisation beforehand. As of now this method of application is still on a voluntary basis until January 2009.

My travel agent just sent me the USA-Einreiseformular (US entry permit application), which instructs me  to fill it out and submit to the ground personnel before the departure. This made me shiver. Why? Well, I want to know beforehand – while still in Germany – that my paperwork is good enough for entry. I travel with my daughter ( a minor) and a non-English speaking sibling. If my entry got refused and I’d be put on the next plane back, this would leave two stranded folks in New York City.

Why do I want to take extra precaution? For one – I am married to a U.S. citizen and residing in Germany. So entering the United States will put me in the highest risk category for illegal immigration as I have no green card and immigration believes that non-green card spouses would like to stay longer than permitted. Number two – my daughter is a U.S. citizen, which puts my tourist intent in double jeopardy. Immigration officials only do their job and try to fish out anyone looking to stay beyond their limited time. I have no intention to stay more than four days in the United States.

We are what we experience, so here goes my real-life fairy tale:

Once upon a time, in the last millennium, there lived a fairly young German wife with her U.S. American husband in a far away land called Japan. They were so happy when their son was born and they were so proud of him and wanted to take him to the kingdom where his father had been born and raised. His paternal grandparents wanted to hold their first-born son who would carry on the family name. (Back in those days, those things were still important.)

So they planned on taking their son across the Pacific Ocean to be held once by his grandparents for a couple of weeks before the family would continue across the Atlantic Ocean to take on a new post in another old country.

Luckily the couple inquired at a Japanese outpost of the kingdom to learn whether traveling with a one-way pass for the wife would be enough to enter the kingdom. The Consul yet told them there might be trouble as the guards watching the kingdom gate would get suspicious with anyone showing up with a one-way pass. The kingdom thinks of itself so highly and believes it to be so beautiful that once you have entered it, you will never want to leave again.

And because the wife was married to a citizen of that kingdom, then it was assumed she would definitely stay without proper permission from the king. She was advised she was in the same risk category as some dark haired people who liked to swim across the river or sneak through the border at night.

The couple felt very discouraged and tried to think of a way to show the baby to the aging grandparents.

One night they had an idea. If the problem lay with a one-way pass, surely a two-way pass would be sufficient to enter the country for a short visit. The two-way pass would definitely prove the intent of leaving again. Again the couple inquired at the outpost station and were told that a two-way pass held better chances to get in. But still, the couple had no proof of the new post in Germany as in those days, contracts and such were delivered by postal courier only and those sometimes took a while.

So the couple packed up their belongings and traveled via Taipei/Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia to Frankfurt/Germany. Then they went to a travel merchant and bought a two-way pass for entering the kingdom.

Two days later they crossed the Atlantic Ocean to meet the child’s grandparents and everyone was overjoyed.

All together, they had to travel 27,000 km because the kingdom’s guards thought the wife to be a prime risk for illegal immigration.

The wife’s kingdom never questioned her husband’s entry on a one-way ticket.

-The End-

The moral of the story: Always travel with your complete paperwork, but be prepared for the unexpected.

With my upcoming trip to the USA in November, I took the time to look into any changes in regards to entry requirements etc. At the present you can still enter the U.S. with a valid passport until Jan 11, 2009. As of Jan 12, 2009 all international travelers who are seeking to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program will be subject to enhanced security requirements.

Visiting the U.S. embassy site, you will be advised that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) computer system and any related equipment is subject to monitoring for administrative oversight, law enforcement, criminal investigative purposes, inquiries into alleged wrongdoing… Don’t let it scare you off. Once you are on the page, you have to click “OK” anyway.

All eligible travelers who wish to travel under the Visa Waiver Program must apply for authorization (U.S. embassy) using the following process:

Complete your application – Submit your application -Receive and record your application number – Receive response to your application

From the time of this new form’s implementation of travel authorization on August 25, 08 until Jan 12, 2009 when it becomes obligatory, all registrations are voluntary and free of charge (which might be likely to change in the new year).

For more information in German visit:

Diplomatische Vertretungen der USA Deutschland

The board of Airline Representatives in Germany e.V. (BARIG) recommends the usage of the new system. As stated in a press release, this new visa-waiver program was initiated early August and is supposed to improve travel conditions. The application can be filed as late as 72 hours before the departing flight to the U.S. This new application will replace the green I-94 W which passengers had to fill out on board a flight to the U.S.

This application can also be submitted by parents for their child/children and travel agencies. Passengers with a valid visa do not need an ESTA permit. Once the Department of Homeland Security has issued an ESTA permit, then it is valid for two years or until the passport expires.

Important: This new travel authorization process also applies to all transits – wether you change planes in Florida to travel to South America, are British and accompany your spouse on a business trip to the U.S.A., or you just visit a tiny spot in the States while touring Canada – you must apply for this authorization in a timely manner for any touch-down on American soil happening after January 11, 2009.