US to impose $14 fee for Visa Waiver

Irish Times is reporting that the US authorities intend imposing a $14 fee for travellers availing of the Visa Waiver Program from Sept 8th.
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Just did ESTA for my boyfriend and I since we are travelling in Nov. Mine came up approved for travel immediately. His came up Pending, wait 72 hours for a response. Anyone else have experience of Pending? I wonder why his passport didn't get approved straight away? We answered the same answers to the questions

I got pending last January for one traveller but within 24 hours it had cleared. It just happens sometimes I guess! I was all panic and calling the Tour Op but there was no need to be panicking.

Also applied for ESTA last week, i was approved straight away while other half got pending but received approval following day. After hearing about charge have applied
for rest of family even though no plans to travel.

I am sure loads of governments will start charging US citizens the equivalent to gain entry.

Kerry Gooner said:

After hearing about charge have applied
for rest of family even though no plans to travel.

Click to expand...

The questionnaire asked for flight details of your flights in to US and your address there so what did you say if no plans to travel / flight booked? It's a very good idea to apply for everyone though.

Just leave those blank. You only have to fill in the starred items.

Well the pending application came back approved today.

Anyone know how to find out how long is left on ESTA?
I got one about 2 years ago and am hoping to travel again in the next few months but can find the original approval with the the dates, so I don't know if i have to get another ESTA.

I was wondering the exact same thing. I kinda had it in the back of my mind that you had to reapply every time as I was in USA in March 2009 (work though) and again March 2010 (leisure) and applied both times.

If you've not got the previous reference then I don't think that there's anyway to work out how long there is left on the existing one - the system is pretty dumb and user unfriendly! .... Just apply for a new one anyway (before September) .. even if your old one has not run out there's no issue with doing this.

EvilDoctorK said:

If you've not got the previous reference then I don't think that there's anyway to work out how long there is left on the existing one - the system is pretty dumb and user unfriendly! .... Just apply for a new one anyway (before September) .. even if your old one has not run out there's no issue with doing this.

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+1 DoctorK, although mine was still in date the system wouldnot recognise it so I just done another one

EvilDoctorK said:

If you've not got the previous reference then I don't think that there's anyway to work out how long there is left on the existing one - the system is pretty dumb and user unfriendly! .... Just apply for a new one anyway (before September) .. even if your old one has not run out there's no issue with doing this.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that, i'll just apply for a new one then.

to reapply or not to reapply....?

HI
I travelled to US last Sept and when i went into ESTA to update my application as I'm travelling again in Nov, it redirected me to a new application, eventhough my origianl applicaiton shold ahve been valid for 1 more year.

Now when i enter my old number it says it has expired. when I enter my new number which was approved originally I now get the message 'no application found'.....

I also applied as a 3rd party for my mother - received approval at time and saved notification but the file format is unrecognisable. So when i go back and re-enter her number in order to save a copy to a word document, it says the number is invalid.

So not sure where I stand. Should I re-apply from scratch for both?
Is anyone else having similar issues?
I wonder is it due to the introduciton of fees and the site getting slammed prior to this.

They also ask for a contact email but I never received any confrimation. Did everyone else who's application went through receive a confirmation email from ESTA?

Fiinally - I advise everyone to either print out their application straightaway or save to a word document, not just print to file, just for your records as they dont look for the actual print out when travelling. (well they didnt last time even though i had a copy)

Cheers for any tips

Has anyone been able to log on today? Have a valid ESTA but thought it best to get a new one to maximise value but sites seem to be down. Why didn't I do it last week

Everyone is trying to get in before the fee comes in.

It is no use to me as my passport expires next year and my ESTA only goes to the date of expiry.

I put myself , OH and the 2 kids through on Saturday without any problem.