Going to USA ESTA application - how early can I do this
Discussion
I'd print out the confirmation page once you have applied, take it with you. The yanks can be pretty retarded at immigration.
EG: I had an ESTA and a US work visa, and that totally baffled them when I passed through transiting to Mexico for work. They simply could not work out what I was doing, and why, and I spent an hour in 'that room'. They really are a bunch of simpletons in the immigration department. Explaining it to them resulted in more confusion.
EG: I had an ESTA and a US work visa, and that totally baffled them when I passed through transiting to Mexico for work. They simply could not work out what I was doing, and why, and I spent an hour in 'that room'. They really are a bunch of simpletons in the immigration department. Explaining it to them resulted in more confusion.
King Herald said:
I'd print out the confirmation page once you have applied, take it with you. The yanks can be pretty retarded at immigration.
EG: I had an ESTA and a US work visa, and that totally baffled them when I passed through transiting to Mexico for work. They simply could not work out what I was doing, and why, and I spent an hour in 'that room'. They really are a bunch of simpletons in the immigration department. Explaining it to them resulted in more confusion.
Probably because you had an ESTA & a Visa all at the same time.EG: I had an ESTA and a US work visa, and that totally baffled them when I passed through transiting to Mexico for work. They simply could not work out what I was doing, and why, and I spent an hour in 'that room'. They really are a bunch of simpletons in the immigration department. Explaining it to them resulted in more confusion.
The ESTA is a visa waiver. You don't need (or should have) both.
HD Adam said:
Probably because you had an ESTA & a Visa all at the same time.
The ESTA is a visa waiver. You don't need (or should have) both.
ESTA is for tourists, work visa is for workers. I can't go on holiday there on a work visa, and can't work on an ESTA, so I needed both. Their system, just they don't seem to understand it. The ESTA is a visa waiver. You don't need (or should have) both.
One TSA guy told me I have to enter on the work visa if I have one, even though I was simply transiting through the USA to Mexico, not actually going there.
Of course, the USA does not have a 'transit' per se, unlike every other country on the planet, just because they have to be different......
No, you don't need both.
If you have a work visa or any visa to enter, you can do just that whether or not you are working.
The TSA guy is right. If you were working there and decided to take a week off before you flew home, you wouldn't go back through immigration just for that.
The system cannot handle both because it's not designed to do so.
I have an L-1 visa and can come & go as I please and was told categorically at the US Embassy that I do not need and cannot have both.
The only system I have found that cannot handle this is the KLM website for online check-in as they do not have an ESTA on file for me and they cannot hold visa details in lieu.
If you have a work visa or any visa to enter, you can do just that whether or not you are working.
The TSA guy is right. If you were working there and decided to take a week off before you flew home, you wouldn't go back through immigration just for that.
The system cannot handle both because it's not designed to do so.
I have an L-1 visa and can come & go as I please and was told categorically at the US Embassy that I do not need and cannot have both.
The only system I have found that cannot handle this is the KLM website for online check-in as they do not have an ESTA on file for me and they cannot hold visa details in lieu.
Nope, our company was fined $18,000,000 some ten years ago because guys were entering on the wrong visa, then joining ships.
Even today our company has a whole department to process and organise visas, because immigration are so strict about it. We have to have a specific letter of invitation, detailing the vessels name etc. I have an OCS B1 visa.
Once we finish work they say we can stay in country 'for a few days', but immigration have never detailed exactly how long that few days is.
But I retired three months ago, so hopefully will never need a work visa again.
Even today our company has a whole department to process and organise visas, because immigration are so strict about it. We have to have a specific letter of invitation, detailing the vessels name etc. I have an OCS B1 visa.
Once we finish work they say we can stay in country 'for a few days', but immigration have never detailed exactly how long that few days is.
But I retired three months ago, so hopefully will never need a work visa again.
HD Adam said:
Not wishing to be pedantic but.....
You appear to have been told something totally different to what we have been. But that's not unusual, as like I say, the American Immigration knobs don't seem to understand their own rules at best. The fiascos we have been through trying to work out what visas people need to come into and through the USA is incredible. Some of our Filipino crew flying Philippines to Canada got turned back in San Francisco, because they had OCS visas and were told they could transit the USA using them, by our immigration and visa department guy.
Mind you, the same 'expert' also told us we could just go through transit when we passed through USA, and I had to explain to the 'expert' that there IS no transit in the USA, everybody has to enter the country under some sort of immigration status. He is an American.......
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff