How to get an ESTA?

Any trip to the USA cannot be done without having a valid passport and a travel authorization. In the vast majority of cases, foreign nationals must apply for ESTA. This travel document concerns short-term stays in the United States. If you are a national of a Visa Waiver Program member country, and you plan to visit the USA for less than three consecutive months, you can apply for an ESTA instead of a visa. But how to obtain this travel authorization? This article explains how to obtain this electronic document.

Check the criteria required to obtain an ESTA USA

Before you apply for your Temporary Resident Permit, you need to make sure that you meet all the criteria imposed by the American authorities to obtain your ESTA and travel to the USA without a visa.

Citizenship of the traveler

ESTA was created to reinforce the security of the Visa Waiver Program.
In 2024, only 41 states were on the list of member countries of this U.S. visa waiver program.
These included most EU countries.

Length of stay in the USA

The ESTA is a non-immigrant travel document, i.e. it does not allow you to settle permanently in the USA. Only the Green Card allows you to reside in the USA. The ESTA authorization allows you to stay in the USA for a maximum of 90 days. If the duration of your trip is greater than this threshold, ESTA is not applicable. You need to obtain a USA visa.

The reason for the trip to the United States of America

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) provides for three situations in which an ESTA is a necessity: tourism, business travel and transit. If it is for another reason, the visa exemption will not be possible. You’ll need to contact a U.S. embassy or consulate general to apply for a visa.

Obtain an ESTA: apply online

The procedure for obtaining an ESTA is straightforward, but requires a certain amount of rigor. In the event of an error in the fields provided, your application may be rejected, so this step should not be taken lightly. To obtain an ESTA, you must first consult the official U.S. government website. The next step is to fill in the online form.

Filling in the ESTA form

The ESTA form has been drawn up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Its main purpose is to verify that each traveler wishing to stay in the USA does not represent a threat to the internal security of the country. For this purpose, in addition to the standard information on civil status and the biometric or electronic passport, you must briefly answer a security questionnaire.
You will then be asked a number of questions, notably about your legal history and state of health. These are not trick questions, but keep in mind that answering no to any of these questions will result in your ESTA authorization request being refused immediately. We do not advise you to lie, however, because your file will be examined by US Customs and Border Protection computers, which rely on a very rich database, so they are able to spot a lie. In addition to a rejection of the application, this could lead to permanent exclusion from the Visa Waiver Program, in other words, you will no longer be able to visit the USA with an ESTA.

Online payment

Paying the ESTA application fee is essential for your application to be transmitted to the American government. For this formality, it is simply asked to bring a bank card or to pay via a Paypal account. Once payment has been made, all you have to do is wait a maximum of 72 hours for the final decision on your ESTA application.

The use of the ESTA document

Do you meet the above requirements and have a valid passport? Your ESTA file should be very accepted by the American authorities. If so, you are then free to go to the USA without a visa, as many times as you want for two years. Note that if your passport expires during this same period, the validity period of your ESTA will be shortened. You will then need to apply for a biometric passport and reapply online for a new ESTA.