New Restrictions to the ESTA Program
By Shaftel Law / June 22, 2017 /
ESTA (the Electronic System for Travel Authorization), allows citizens of visa waiver countries to travel to the United States without visas for up to 90 days. Currently, there are 38 countries that are part of the visa waiver program (VWP), and therefore eligible to use ESTA.
DHS announced new restrictions on ESTA eligibility, including:
- Eliminated ESTA eligibility for any foreign national who has traveled to any of the following countries since March 1, 2011: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
- Nationals of VWP countries who are also dual nationals of Iraq, Syria, Iran or Sudan.
Foreign nationals who are no longer ESTA eligible based on these new restrictions can still travel to the U.S. upon obtaining a B2/B1 (tourist/business visitor) visa from an United States consulate.
There is a limited exception to the new restrictions. If such travel to one of the named countries was to represent your country on official military orders or official government business, you may still be allowed to use the ESTA program.
To implement these new ESTA restrictions, the following questions have been added to the ESTA questionnaire:
- Have you traveled to or been present in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen since March 1, 2011?
- Have you ever been issued a passport by any other country?
- Are you a citizen or national of any other country?
- Have you ever been a citizen or national of any other country?