It’s not enough to hold a current UK passport when you visit the USA, you will also need prior authorisation, either through a visa, a Permanent Resident Card, or the Visa Waiver Programme. Most passport holders can get an Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) through the Visa Waiver Programme, which means you don’t need to go to the bother of applying for a full visa. The ESTA allows travel to the US for up to 90 days and covers tourism, certain types of business trips and transit to another country.

You can apply for the ESTA online and it may take up to 48 hours to process, however you may also receive confirmation immediately after application. The US Customs and Border Patrol recommends that you apply at least 72 hours before departure.

If you are a UK residents you will most likely quality for the Visa Waiver Programme if you meet the following criteria:

your passport describes your nationality as a ‘British Citizen’
your passport is an ePassport
you haven’t been arrested for a crime, have a criminal record or have previously been refused admission into, or have been deported from, the US
you aren’t a dual national of Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria
you haven’t travelled to Libya, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen since March 2011
you can show that you have enough funds available on arrival to support yourself during your stay, even if you’re staying with family and friends

The situation is the same for holders of Irish passports who are described as ‘Irish Citizens’.

Watch out for travel scams

But beware! You should only apply for the ESTA through the official website. Searching on Google for ‘US visa’ will bring up a number of seemingly reputable websites advertising ESTA applications. All use a variety of different web addresses including words such as ‘visa-express ‘, ‘evisa’, ‘online-visa-us’, etc, and advertise ‘fast processing’, ‘affordable rates’ and ‘dedicated support’.

Most look like official US government sites, to the extent of including the US Customs & Border Protection logo. They will ask all of the questions you would expect to be asked, regarding your travel plans, length of stay, address in the country, etc. These are legitimate questions, in fact they have all been copied from the official ESTA website. But when it comes to paying for your visa, you might notice the price is not clearly stated and it is only after you fill out your card details for payment and submit your webform that you are told you will be charged anything up to $100 US dollars for your visa application. A standard US visa through the official channels costs $14, so you are being considerably ripped off.

These sites are not ‘scams’ in the traditional sense of the word however. They will actually process your application and secure your visa. But the fact remains that you could have done this yourself, probably quicker, as it may take up to 48 hours to hear from these ‘rogue’ sites and you will quite likely have an answer from the embassy immediately. And you can certainly do it cheaper by doing it yourself. Why pay up to $100 dollars when the actual price is only $14?

Doing a quick Google search and clicking on to one of these sites – the perils of doing anything in a hurry with your mind half on something else! – I was completely taken in by it. The US Customs & Border Protection logo sitting reassuringly in the top left hand corner convinced me that I was on an official site. It was only when I submitted my application and received a notice telling me that I would be charged $90 for it, that I realised I had been ‘had’ – knowing the cost of a visa was actually only £14.

Cursing myself for rushing through the process and not taking the time to check out the site credentials, I quickly Googled the site and found lots of people in the same situation as me. However, taking heart from the number of people who said they had contacted the site’s customer services and demanded a refund of their money, I did the same. Within a few minutes I had an email saying that my application would be cancelled at my request and my money was refunded in full.

I was lucky – though I’m not sure all other visa providers would be so quick to refund. It did waste a lot of my time however, as I then had to go to the official site and fill in my application again. I also had the worry of not knowing whether my original application had been sent to the official ESTA processing system before I cancelled it. You can only apply for one visa at a time – the last thing you want is to have several visa applications pending as ESTA  may become suspicious and refuse your application.

So I could have saved myself a lot of time and angst had I just gone straight to the official site to begin with. As I say, these ‘express sites’ are not typical scams, just services chancing their arms but best avoided for peace of mind. Also, do you really want to share your bank or credit card details with a slightly dubious online practitioner? Don’t be fooled!

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Image credit: Photo by Rob Wilson Jnr, Fluid4Sight