Are you looking to apply for an ESTA visa? Well, here are some of the questions that you will need to answer during your application process.
The ESTA visa is issued by the US to allow tourists and businessmen to visit the country without having to go through the traditional visa process. The visa was created to increase the country’s economy and diversity in the state.
The process of applying for this visa doesn’t take much time like other US visas. All you have to do is visit the ESTA home page, pay, and start your application.
If you are looking to come for a vacation in the US. This is one cheap way to go about it.
The ESTA questions on the form reflect the intention to request a minimal amount of data that would assure border officials a candidate wouldn’t represent a significant risk to American public safety.
Below, I will be listing the types of questions that will be asked in different sections of your application. These questions are grouped into sections, and they include.
ESTA applicants’ questions
- Information about the applicant or passport.
- Citizenship/Nationality.
- GE Membership
- Parents
- Contact Information
- Social Media(optional)
- Employment Information
- Enter your travel information.
- US point of contact information
- Address while in the US
- emergency contact information in and out of the US.
- Eligibility questions
Information about applicant/Passport
In this part of the application, you are requested to put your basic applicant information. This includes entries for the applicant’s first name and family name.
Along with the information regarding if you have other nationality. And any pertinent paperwork to prove that you belong to that country. This section also asks for information about an applicant’s passport information.
Your passport information must match the information in your ESTA application. That means if you’re applying for UK ESTA online visa, then your passport must indicate you’re a citizen of the United Kingdom.
Be careful when inputting your passport information in this part to avoid having your ESTA USA rejected for inaccuracies. Other common mistakes include applicants entering their first name in the last name form and vice versa. And candidates leaving their middle names off their First (Given) Name fields.
Citizenship/Nationality
In this section, you are to provide information about your nationality and other citizenships, if you have any. If the applicant holds another citizenship or nationality, they must explain how they gained it, as well as offer details about the nation and any documents they have been issued.
The form does not ask for details on how the applicant obtained citizenship or nationalities that are no longer valid. However, applicants are required to list the nations where they have previously had citizenship or nationalities.
GE Membership
The Global Entrance program from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) allows for accelerated entry and security clearance. Travellers using CBP Global Entry are pre-approved and are therefore considered low-risk travellers.
Also, members of the program may enter the country via automated kiosks at different American airports. This information is collected on the ESTA form so that CBP Global Entry members can enter the country without difficulty using their authorized ESTA and membership credentials.
Parents
You will be asked to provide information about your parent in this section. This information may include their first and last names.
Bare it in mind that parents are regarded as either biological, adoptive, stepparents, or guardians for this question.
Lastly, if you don’t know this information, just use people who raised you as a child or just “UNKNOWN” if you didn’t have any parents or other caregivers.
Contact information
You must enter your address, phone number, and email address in this box. Make sure you accurately type your address in each field. CBP will likely not utilize your address information for correspondence. Communications relating to your ESTA application will be made using your email address.
To make it simple for people to reach you, you must enter a reliable email address in the box given. Do not simply type any broken email address. You can always open or use a family member’s or close friend’s if you don’t have one.
SOCIAL MEDIA (OPTIONAL)
This part, which was just recently added, is used to collect data on an applicant’s social media usage.
Applicants can enter other social media platforms not listed in the dropdown along with their social media identifier, such as the account name. They can choose from alternatives in the form dropdown such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and others.
Though they’re not needed right now, these specifics might be in the future. CBP may use information from social media to assess the potential threats posed by applicants who are subject to further screening while filing their ESTA.
Employment Information
An applicant’s employer’s name and contact information are requested in the ESTA form’s employment information section. This data is needed to give CBP insight into your employment condition, so please submit it.
Although it is unlikely, this information is not used to approve or deny ESTA applications. Border Guards may use it to question visitors at the border about the reasons for their visit to the United States and their sincerity in intending to return home once their travel arrangements are complete.
United States Contact Information
The residence and phone number of their US contact must be provided by visitors entering the US for purposes other than transit. If an applicant doesn’t have a US contact, they can give the contact information for a US business or hotel.
Otherwise, candidates can use ‘UNKNOWN’ for text fields and a series of zeros ‘0’ for number fields if US contact information is not accessible.
Also, the details of a visitor’s liaison are included in the US Point of Contact information, which enables the agency in charge to ascertain where an applicant would probably stay during their visit.
The Resident’s address is in the US
If, for instance, a visitor is in New York and only has access to hotel contact details and no contacts in the United States. The information in this area may be identical to that in the previous section.
However, tourists on business who are there to negotiate a contract should list their contact’s name in one column. Their hotel or other accommodations in the other.
Otherwise, applicants may write ‘UNKNOWN’ for text fields and a series of zeros (“0”) for number fields if they have not yet reserved lodging for their anticipated visit.
Emergency contacts in or outside the US
The information will be used by CBP to get in touch with an ESTA applicant’s designated people if the applicant has a medical emergency without having any next of kin.
Lastly, some candidates might not have an emergency contact. In which case they can fill in the emergency contact boxes with “UNKNOWN.”
Eligibility questions
Travellers’ eligibility is determined by their answers to these nine yes/no ESTA questions.
The questions cover a range of subjects to ascertain whether an applicant poses a risk based on their health, criminal history, drug history, involvement in terrorism, aspirations for US employment, or immigration to specific African and Middle Eastern nations.
You have to be careful when completing this portion of the form because answering “yes” to any of these ESTA eligibility questions will most likely result in an application being rejected.
The following are the types of questions you should expect to see in this section;
- Do you currently suffer from any of the following diseases (communicable diseases are defined under section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act)?
- Have you ever been detained or found guilty of committing a crime that caused significant harm to someone else? Significant destruction of property, or a government official?
- Have you ever broken any laws about using, selling, or carrying narcotics?
- Do you intend to commit, or have you ever committed acts of terrorism, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?
- Have you ever lied about yourself or others to get a visa or gain access to the US? Have you ever helped someone else do so?
- Are you particularly searching for work in the United States? Also, have you ever worked there without the approval of the American government?
- Have you ever had a US travel visa rejected using your current or previous passport? Have you ever had your request for legal entry rejected at a US border of entry?
- Have you ever stayed in the country more than the United States of America allowed you to?
- On or after March 1, 2011, have you been or been present in Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen?
In conclusion, Even though submitting an ESTA application may appear simple. There are several things that applicants should keep in mind when responding to the form’s numerous ESTA inquiries.
Suppose you want a smooth application without any form of stress. You have to pay good attention during the process.
Applicants are urged to carefully check the information they gave on the form and verify their answers to the ESTA questions because luckily. They can check their answers before sending the form off to be processed by CBP.