US to charge USD14 for ESTAs as from 9 September

[Dave Noble]

BBC News - US to charge £9 for Esta compulsory travel entry form

[markis10]

It would apply to all countries according to the original source :

http://www.ttglive.com/c/portal/layo...set%20at%20$14

[Dave Noble]

Although the BBC article focuses on the UK cost/issue, it does state

It applies to all 35 countries with US "visa waiver" status.

Dave

[Blackadder]

I guess only a matter of time before the LOTFAP started charging for the ETSAs.

[straitman]

As I suppose this will also apply to updates then I had better go ahead and do so shortly.

[james4321]

Can anyone help me with this query? My wife and I travelled to Hawaii last Xmas (2009) and so we applied for and received our ESTA approval. We supplied that number to the checkin staff as required, and then threw away the piece of paper with the approval number on it.

We will be returning to the USA in May next year (2011) and although I understand that approval is valid for 2 years, so should still be OK, my question is: Do I need the approval number or some other reference to supply to the airline at checkin? If I do how can I obtain it? (I have looked at the ESTA site but it requires an application number to be able to access my details, so cant get in there)

Thanks in advance for your help.

[serfty]

I would suggest you both do new ones sometime before 9th of September and keep a printout (and soft copy, e.g. pdf) of each approval.

These would then be valid until Aug/Sep 2012.

I always have a printed copy available when checking in for flights to the USA.

[Mal]

I would suggest you both do new ones sometime before 9th of September and keep a printout (and soft copy, e.g. pdf) of each approval.

Yep, I'll be applying for a new one as late as possible. I have to anyway (you can't change home country without doing a new appln), but might as well ensure I get the best value out of it.

Either way $US7 / year (and yep it will keep going up I'm sure!) isn't a huge impost. I'm not a fan of it, but don't consider it too bad.

[clifford]

So, shouldn't we be charging Americans to enter our wonderful country?

[straitman]

So, shouldn't we be charging Americans to enter our wonderful country?

At least double