REASONS FOR AN ESTA REFUSAL

If your personal or professional plans involve traveling to the U.S. for less than 90 days, you’re probably going to apply forESTA, unless of course you’re not a national of one of the 38 countries in the Visa Waiver Program. According to the statistics, you have virtually no risk of being refused. Nevertheless, it’s not totally impossible, if certain reasons are sufficiently incriminating in the eyes of the American authorities.

REFUSAL IF ESTA CRITERIA NOT MET

The ESTA is an authorization that must be obtained by any national of a Visa Waiver Program country, when transiting the USA or traveling there for tourism or business for up to 90 consecutive days. At the same time, your passport must be valid throughout your stay. The ESTA application is quick and easy: it is made online via a multi-stage form, with questions about your identity, the reasons for your trip, your criminal record, and so on.

Obviously, if any of the above criteria are not met, the ESTA will be automatically refused:

• if you come from a country where a visa is required, don’t even try to obtain authorization, as you’ll automatically receive a negative reply;
• Similarly, if your trip is scheduled to last 6 months or 1 year, or if you intend to settle on American soil for the long term, you’ll need other documents, such as a visa or Green Card;
• Are you planning to work, study or do an internship, even for less than 90 days? Don’t waste your time filling in the ESTA form online, it’s not for you;
• on the other hand, if you have dual nationality and one of your nationalities is Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian or Sudanese, you will not be granted permission to stay in the United States.

Finally, beyond the basic ESTA criteria, a more subjective refusal may emanate from your answers, if they pose a security problem. The DHS – the US Department of Homeland Security – sometimes considers that your criminal record, state of health or intentions represent a danger to the country. In such cases, the ESTA will not be issued. For more information on the reasons for refusal, do not contact embassies or consulates; they have neither access nor the right to explain the reasons for refusal. Apply via the DHS Travel Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP).

WHAT IF THE ESTA IS REFUSED ON THESE GROUNDS?

Once you’ve been refused (you’ll need to check the status of your application online, using your ESTA application number), you can hope for a positive response by reapplying if you’ve noticed a typing error in your questionnaire. However, you will have to go through the ESTA payment process again.

To avoid this kind of unforeseen inconvenience, you can rely on our experts to check your data, so as to avoid any mistakes delaying your departure for the USA. Our esta-officiel-usa.com platform offers an assistance service for this purpose. If you have any questions, our advisors can be reached online to help you.

If there are no misprints, or if you receive a second refusal, you can forget about your stay via ESTA USA. Alternatively, you can obtain a visa, although this procedure is longer and more costly.