Generally, ESTA is an electronic automated system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to the USA under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Here, the authorization via ESTA does not regulate whether a victor is permissible to the United States of America. Moreover, the US customs and border protection organization determines the admissibility upon the visitor’s arrival.
Where the ESTA application collects the biography details and answers to VWP eligibility questions. And the visitors should pay for the ESTA, and the application is submitted at any time before travel. I6t is recommended that visitors apply as soon as possible that they begin preparing travel plans or prior to purchasing airline tickets. Let us see the procedures and eligibility criteria and requirements to apply for an ESTA.
Eligibility criteria for applying an ESTA:
- The visitor should be a citizen or eligible national of a Visa Waiver program country.
- The visitor should not be currently in possession of a visitor’s visa.
- The travel duration should be 90 days or less than that.
- The visitor should travel to the United States for business or pleasure.
- The visitor should apply for a new authorization for a single person or group of applications for two or a group of people
Documentation required for applying for the ESTA:
For the application process, the traveler should produce appropriate documents for the ESTA authority. Here we can see the required details for the application procedure.
- The visitor’s a valid passport from a Visa Waiver program country.
- The visitor’s valid Email address for the verification process.
- The visitor’s residential address and contact details.
- Additionally, they have to provide alternative contact details such as an emergency point of a contact phone or Email ID.
- Finally, the visitor has to pay for ESTA, the payment method includes Mastercard, VISA, American Express, and PayPal.
The above-mentioned details are mandatory to submit while applying for the ESTA. And you may come across the frequently asked question, can I pay for my ESTA later?, and why is it a mandatory process to pay for ESTA? so, here we can see the solution for this query in detail.
Can I pay for ESTA later?
Once your application has been completed and validated, you are requested to make the payment immediately. So, your application will be checked and forwarded to the US authorities for the approval process and in charge of its review application.
Moreover, you can see on the official website of the US government, they stated that it is possible to pay for ESTA up to 7 business days after the application. After the date expired data on the form will not be retained and you will have to start the application process for ESTA from the beginning.
Final Thoughts:
To summarize, A few years ago the ESTA application fee was entirely free of cost. But from 2010, it has become a fee-based process and turned into a 100% electrical base applying form. Moreover, these payments are mandatory for applying for ESTA for the approval and verification process.
