HOW TO PAY ESTA?

Is a trip to the USA part of your future plans? Is visiting the USA by going to San Francisco, Miami or even the most beautiful national parks such as Yosemite or Grand Canyon part of your American dream? First of all, are you sure you’re fully aware of the administrative procedures to be followed and the official documents to be obtained? This article explains how to pay for your ESTA.

To visit the USA, you’ll need a biometric passport (with your fingerprints) or an electronic passport valid for the entire duration of your stay. You’ll also need an authorization issued by the US government to enter the country: either a visa or an ESTA.

WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF ESTA AUTHORIZATION?

An ESTA document is a visa waiver, meaning that it authorizes the holder to travel to the United States without a visa.

This document is the result of negotiations between the USA and countries belonging to the Visa Waiver Program. These countries are :

Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Poland, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and United Kingdom.

To qualify for this document, you must not have had your visa application refused in the past, and must not have visited Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya or Iran after March 1, 2011. If your application is refused, you will have to wait 10 days before applying again.

The ESTA is valid for 2 years, and allows multiple stays of up to 90 days.

Your visit to the USA with an ESTA must be a temporary, tourist stay: there’s no question of doing an internship in the USA, studying at an American university or working. If this is the purpose of your visit to the USA, you’ll need to apply for a visa beforehand.

Find out how to pay for ESTA in the next paragraph.

PAYING ESTA: THE PROCEDURE

You can only apply for an ESTA online; there is no paper version. To obtain the document, visit the official U.S. government website. Unlike the USA visa, there’s no need to go to the U.S. embassy or consulate: the ESTA application takes just a few clicks, and you pay at the end of the procedure.

You can also use an independent company, which will ask you to fill in an online form. These companies are there to support you, verify your data and answer any questions you may have. They can then guarantee that you’ll have an ESTA in time for your trip. We recommend that you apply no more than 72 hours before your trip to the USA.

In both cases, whether you go directly to the U.S. government website or use an independent company, you’ll need to pay for the ESTA online.

To pay for your ESTA, you’ll need a valid credit card, such as MasterCard, VISA, PayPal or American Express. The ESTA is not a free document: the cost of an ESTA authorization is $21.