VISA Waiver Program to USA

[jastel]

Applied for ESTA today, came back approved in about 3 hours.

A few minor issues...I dont live in my city anymore but my suburb.
It wants a phone number with country code in a separate box but if you put the front zero in your number (which all Aussie mobiles have) it spits the dummy.
The fake address at the airport hotel...still the same...must be a huuuge hotel.
The second email says "Your ESTA Status has Changed" and you have to log in again and see what it has changed to...wouldnt it be easier to just say approved or denied?

Anyway next challenge will be LAX customs...I've previously had from 10 minutes to over 3 hours, what's the current situation? QF11 in early Oct if it matters.

 

[DC3]

It wants a phone number with country code in a separate box but if you put the front zero in your number (which all Aussie mobiles have) it spits the dummy

Often just dropping the first zero fixes that. Did you try that?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Applied for ESTA today, came back approved in about 3 hours.

A few minor issues...I dont live in my city anymore but my suburb.
It wants a phone number with country code in a separate box but if you put the front zero in your number (which all Aussie mobiles have) it spits the dummy.
The fake address at the airport hotel...still the same...must be a huuuge hotel.
The second email says "Your ESTA Status has Changed" and you have to log in again and see what it has changed to...wouldnt it be easier to just say approved or denied?

Anyway next challenge will be LAX customs...I've previously had from 10 minutes to over 3 hours, what's the current situation? QF11 in early Oct if it matters.

Yeah. Exact same experience last night. But the mobile phone thing is normal to leave off the leading 0 these days, not just on the ESTA site but many others too!

 

[jastel]

Yes I did that but my gripe is all websites treat it differently.
Then throw up an error because you dont have ESP and know what exactly they expect.

Had to be careful with the US date format as well. Do I get there on the 10th February or the 2nd of October...

 

[DC3]

Anyway next challenge will be LAX customs...I've previously had from 10 minutes to over 3 hours, what's the current situation? QF11 in early Oct if it matters.

Historical data: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - CBP Airport Wait Times (AWT)

 

[DC3]

Had to be careful with the US date format as well. Do I get there on the 10th February or the 2nd of October...

I hope that your trip will be less problematic.

 

[Lynda2475]

If the auto address can't find hotel name, just put hotel st address e.g instead of Hotel Indigo LES you just type 171 Ludlow St. If you have to select country code of 61 in a field the the leading 0 is dropped from the number, or if a single field its always entered as 614 not 6104.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

If the auto address can't find hotel name, just put hotel st address e.g instead of Hotel Indigo LES you just type 171 Ludlow St. If you have to select country code of 61 in a field the the leading 0 is dropped from the number, or if a single field its always entered as 614 not 6104.

it couldn’t verify any of my addresses! Either my US point of contact, where I’m staying in the US, or my home address in AU (not that I expected it to find the latter!)

A little box popped up saying ‘invalid address, please tick here if the address is actually correct’. Which I did. And it worked!

 

[justinbrett]

It wants a phone number with country code in a separate box but if you put the front zero in your number (which all Aussie mobiles have) it spits the dummy.

Technically your mobile doesn’t have a zero, it’s eight digits like a landline with an area code of 4. Like other area codes, you add a zero when calling from Australia to use it, but not from overseas.

 

[jastel]

Historical data: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - CBP Airport Wait Times (AWT)

Well cant see any excessive figures for last Tuesday so hopefully not too long.

 

[chooms]

Hi all. Back to the USA with family in tow this time. We all still have a valid ESTA until 2 days after we depart back to Australia. No issues with this? No need to have a length of time remaining on visa waiver to enter USA? We are in the USA for 16 days.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Hi all. Back to the USA with family in tow this time. We all still have a valid ESTA until 2 days after we depart back to Australia. No issues with this? No need to have a length of time remaining on visa waiver to enter USA? We are in the USA for 16 days.

All good. Just a warning, I was in the US for 89 days last year and got an email as I was leaving the country telling me it was time to go (90 days is the max for a tourist visa). So they do seem on top of things.

 

[chooms]

All good. Just a warning, I was in the US for 89 days last year and got an email as I was leaving the country telling me it was time to go (90 days is the max for a tourist visa). So they do seem on top of things.

Thanks. I suspect on arrival CBP will note we only have 18 days left of that visa waiver left.

Don’t want to go through the hassle and pay for 3x more ESTAs when it’s likely USA as a destination for the family won’t be as regular after this trip… unless there is a risk we’ll be denied check in/boarding on the way to LAX.

 

[Flashback]

Thanks. I suspect on arrival CBP will note we only have 18 days left of that visa waiver left.

Don’t want to go through the hassle and pay for 3x more ESTAs when it’s likely USA as a destination for the family won’t be as regular after this trip… unless there is a risk we’ll be denied check in/boarding on the way to LAX.

FWIW you can always gamble at check-in (get there as early as possible), our VWP's were both turned around in under an hour - submitted a few weeks ago.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks. I suspect on arrival CBP will note we only have 18 days left of that visa waiver left.

Don’t want to go through the hassle and pay for 3x more ESTAs when it’s likely USA as a destination for the family won’t be as regular after this trip… unless there is a risk we’ll be denied check in/boarding on the way to LAX.

The ESTA only needs to be valid on the day you arrive in the USA. If it expires during your trip it doesn’t matter. Your ESTA could expire the day after you arrive, but you’ll still have the full 90 days before you need to leave.