The ESTA form can be used by UK citizens and EU citizens to apply for an ESTA travel authorisation, which means that no visa is required for trips to the USA.

An ESTA ( meaning) is a digital travel authorisation issued by the US government, which is granted after the traveller has declared that they pose no threat to the safety and law enforcement of the United States of America. The US ESTA system can be used to prevent unwanted travellers from being permitted on aircrafts and ships headed to the USA.

ESTA form
Open the ESTA form

Guide: filling out the ESTA form

The ESTA form can be filled out digitally. Four categories of data are asked for:

Contact information of the applicant

The first part of the application form consists of the contact information of one of the travellers for whom an ESTA visa is being applied for. Make sure that the e-mail address is filled in correctly; the ESTA confirmations of each traveller will be sent to this e-mail address.

Details about the trip to the USA

The second part of the US ESTA form consists of the travel details. The date of arrival needs to be the same for all travellers in the ESTA application. If this is not the case, separate application forms can be submitted. If your case is urgent, this part of the form also allows the applicant to check the "urgent delivery" box, indicating that the ESTA application needs to be processed as a matter of urgency (extra cost urgent application: € 17,50).

This part of the form also asks for a point of contact/contact person in the USA, the initial lodgings in the United States and an emergency contact. Filling in a point of contact/contact person in the USA is optional; it is also permitted to fill in "Unknown". Likewise, filling in the address of the initial lodgings in the USA is also optional. However, it is always necessary to fill in an emergency contact. For example, fill in a family member, friend or colleague who is not travelling along.

Information about the traveller(s)

The third part of the ESTA form consists of questions about the traveller(s) from the UK and EU. It is possible to submit an ESTA application for multiple travellers at once with a single form. Keep in mind that each traveller is required to hold their own passport and ESTA. The passport information of each traveller needs to be filled in. This also applies to children and babies included in the ESTA application.

When entering the passport information, make sure that all information is correctly written down; even a minor typing error can result in an invalid ESTA. Checking in for flights or (cruise)ships to the USA is impossible without a valid ESTA. If any passport information has been incorrectly written down in the ESTA form, an entire new application must be submitted. The application cost will be charged anew as well. Travellers that hold(or have at some point held) a passport of a different nationality need to fill in certain information about that as well.

Details about each travellerʼs employer will also be asked for. This part of the ESTA form also needs to be filled out if the traveller only has a side job or a summer job, or if they are self-employed.

The safety questions/background questions

The fourth and last part of the ESTA form concerns questions about the background of the traveller from the UK and EU. Here, questions will be asked concerning drug use, psychiatric problems and/or a criminal past. The traveller will also be asked if in the recent past, they have been to Libya, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Iraq, Somalia and/or Yemen. If one or several questions have to be answered with "yes", it is no longer possible to submit an ESTA application. Finally, the applicant will be asked to agree with the "Statement of Agreement": This statement means that the traveller agrees not to appeal against the decision of US Customs and Border Protection regarding the admissibility of the traveller to the United States of America. The applicant also declares to have filled out all questions in the ESTA application completely and truthfully.

After the entire ESTA form has been filled out, the applicant can click on the button "add a traveller". With this, an additional traveller can be easily added to the same form, without needing to fill in all the contact information and travel details again.

Checking the application and paying

Have all the questions in the ESTA application form been filled out? Click "Apply for ESTA". You will be forwarded to the control page. It is very important that all the information on this page is double-checked to avoid rejection or invalidity of an approved ESTA USA. Has an error been found? Click on "edit", correct the information and then click on "save". When everything is in order, the desired payment method can be selected and the payment screen is displayed.

Submitting the required documents

To complete the ESTA application, a digital copy of the passport of each traveller must be submitted after payment. This is done on the page which appears after you have paid for your application. This concerns a photo or scan of the information page of the passport. It is important that the image is sharp and that all the information is clearly legible. Additionally, no part of the passport may be covered, for example by an object or a finger.

The upload page has instructions on correctly cropping the image that is used. After you have submitted the required documents, they are immediately checked by a visa specialist of e-Visa.ie and processed. If the copy of the passport does not meet the requirements, the visa specialist will contact you so you can provide a new digital copy, and the application can still be processed quickly. If the documents are in order, the application is processed immediately.

Submit ESTA form

To start with the application for one or several travel authorisations, the ESTA form can be opened with the button below: