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ESTA Visa Waiver Program
ESTA Visa Waiver Program

How to apply for the ESTA and go to the United States

If you travel for tourism (or business) in the United States of America and you are a citizen of Europe or other countries to which ESTA is granted. You can take advantage of the opportunity to enter the country without a visa. In this case you must request ESTA. How to apply for ESTA? This is done by filling in the ESTA form online. You are entitled to take advantage of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) through ESTA:

  • In case you are a citizen of one of the countries admitted to the visa-free travel program (VWP).
  • You do not have a visiting visa.
  • In addition, the stay in the United States must not exceed 90 days.
  • Finally, you must have a return ticket from the United States.

Citizens of countries admitted to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) are as follows:

  • Asia: Brunei, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan.
  • Europe: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Italy. Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom. Czech Republic, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary.
  • Oceania: Australia, New Zealand.
  • South America: Chile.

Always check the possible variations on the official website.

1 ESTA. Countries allowed
1 ESTA. Countries allowed


In order to apply for ESTA, i.e. the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, you must visit the dedicated website of the American government: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/ and fill in the ESTA online form.

To complete the form you need: a passport valid from a country admitted to the Visa Waiver Program. A valid credit card (MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover (JCB, Diners Club)) or PayPal to pay the US $ 14 per application. You can choose between individual application and group application, the group application allows you to make a single payment for multiple people requesting the form.

The cost of the form is 14 US $ which are paid in full only if your application is accepted, if instead your application is rejected you only have to pay 4 US $.

Once the ESTA has been obtained, it is valid for 2 years or until the passport expires, it allows multiple entries into the USA for tourism, business or transit reasons.

If, on the other hand, you are not a citizen of one of the admitted without a visa countries in the United States and participating in the Visa Waiver Program. Or you are a citizen of a participating country (also an European citizen), but you have visited Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen starting from March 1st 2011. You must apply for a visa. In this case you have to submit to another procedure.



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