If I don’t need a visa, I can just cross, right?
You are in Canada either as a visitor or a permanent resident and you want to travel to the United States for a holiday. You may not need a visa to enter the United States, but you may have to sign up through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).
You must sign up for ESTA if:
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- You are a citizen or eligible national of a Visa Waiver Program country.
- You are currently not in possession of a visitor’s visa.
- Your travel is for 90 days or less.
- You plan to travel to the United States for business or pleasure.
ESTA is a free, automated system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program. As of Jan. 12, 2009, any person entering the United States under the visa waiver program is required to hold an approved ESTA Travel Authorization.
The ESTA application collects the same information collected on Form I-94W. ESTA applications may be submitted at anytime prior to travel, though it is recommended travelers apply when they begin preparing travel plans.
More About ESTA:
- Travelers transiting through the United States must also possess an approved ESTA application.
- According to Department of Homeland Security, 99 percent of all ESTA applications are approved within 5 seconds.
- If your ESTA application is denied, you must apply for a U.S. visitor visa.
- If your passport is not an e-passport (with an integrated computer chip), then you probably need to apply for a U.S. visitor visa.
You do not need to sign up through ESTA if you are a Canadian citizen and are traveling to the United States for pleasure. However, Canadian citizens entering the United States for work may need a visa.
I’m a Canadian citizen and I will like to know. My passport will be expired on Dec 19, 2009 I will like to travel to the united states for thanksgiving Nov 26, 09 I want to know if my passport will be okay to travel with.
Thanks
As long as your passport is still valid when you leave the United States to return to Canada, you are fine to travel.
Some countries require that a passport is valid for at least six months from date of entry or departure from that country, but not the United States. When you return to Canada, make sure you renew your passport — but remember that you can’t travel out of the country until you receive your new one.
On the other hand, if a foreigner is entering the United States on a work permit, U.S. immigration may only approve the visa up until the expiration date on the passport. So, it’s best to make sure a passport will not expire for at least a week after the approved length of time for a work visa. For example, if you are applying for a three-year TN visa, make sure your passport is valid for at least three years and one week from your planned date of entry into the United States.
A friend of a fiend of mine has overstayed his Visa Waiver Program status by 30 days last year (he is French national). Can he try to enter US again using VWP? What would be the worst case scenario in this case?
Anytime someone overstays on a visa (and even if it’s the Visa Waiver Program), that person can be denied entry into the United States. It’s impossible for us to find out if he specifically will be denied entry. The officer inspecting him upon entry into the United States could determine that he overstayed based on a line of questioning and/or if there is information in the computer system that he overstayed.
NOTE: When you leave the United States, you must surrender your I-94 (re-entry) card to U.S. immigration officials and you should also obtain some kind of paperwork (for example, travel documentation such as airline tickets and credit card statements or receipts showing purchases made outside of the United States) that show you left the United States before your visa expired.
Those who come from Visa Waiver Program countries are asked to register through ESTA (see the above links) before they enter the United States. Your friend can certainly attempt entry into the United States and see what happens. If he is denied entry, he will most likely need an immigration attorney’s assistance in obtaining advance permission to enter.
We recommend a consultation with an attorney. Please contact us at info@serottelaw.com or 1-888-875-8110 to schedule a paid consultation.
The law states that one can never use Visa Waiver again if they violate their status. He will have to apply for a normal visa, and have a really good reason why he violated his status.
We just received a call from a Canadian citizen who is helping his German-citizen father with applying for ESTA. However he didn’t follow our instructions on this blog entry and instead did a Google search for ESTA and paid $49 through a third-party website. Applying for ESTA under the U.S. Government is FREE! Not only has he become a victim of fraud, but he has put his father’s personal information at risk for identity theft.
Please read the below from the U.S. Customs & Border Protection website: http://tinyurl.com/SerotteLawESTAisFREE
Being charged for submitting an ESTA Application
Published 12/02/2009 04:43 PM | Updated 05/11/2010 02:19 PM
Q: I’ve been charged for submitting an ESTA application, but since then I’ve found out there should not be a charge; what should I do?
A: There is NO charge for submitting your ESTA application for travel to the U.S. However, there are a number of unauthorized third-parties that have established websites that charge a fee for submitting your application on your behalf.
If you have used one of these unauthorized sites, we strongly suggest you reapply at the official U.S. government site. We recommend you do this because we have no way of knowing if the information passed through the unauthorized website to us is accurate. If it is not, you may have a problem when you arrive in the U.S.
The U.S. government cannot refund the money you paid an unauthorized website, however, you have been victimized by a fraudulent enterprise, and others who have had this problem have told us that they have been successful in getting their money refunded by disputing the charge with their credit card company or bank. You should explain that you are a victim of fraud, as you have paid an impostor government website for a service that does not require any payment.
We would also like to advise that you may also be a victim of identity theft, as the individuals who operate the fraudulent ESTA website have your passport information, full name, date of birth, address and full credit card information. We have not been notified of any specific examples of this, but caution it could be a problem.