Travelling to USA

[Casperroonie]

Travelling to the US to see unwell relative in August, on DHs side.

I'm having a panic thinking about them going through my social media, etc. There's nothing interesting there, I only have FB and I mainly follow dog things and running.

Will they go through all my online stuff? No idea what to expect.

No reason why they will go through your social media. It’s optional to offer it on the esta at the moment if you plan to use one of those. I’ve just been. They didn’t make attempt to look at my social
media. It was all very straightforward and the shortest queues at immigration I have ever seen in the USA

Who knows? It’s definitely happened but can’t be everyone. I’m not going there until trump has gone as i follow people who hate him

@Makingsenseofitall

compulsory now they say

Can you book your flight to clear US immigration in Dublin instead? That’s what I’d be looking at, at least you’ll be dealing with a sensible police force and be closer to home if there are issues.

I am screwed then . No Disney world for me.
Wonder how they will manage with the World Cup visitors.

The questions are on the ESTA form (and have been, as optional, for some time) but they're not mandatory yet. The original target start date was February 2026, but a required 60-day public comment period raised some questions that have to be addressed before proceeding. The revised target date in mid 2026, but there are no guarantees - in the current environment, this could be railroaded in at any time. If you are sure you'll go to USA this year (or even if you're not but the ESTA fee is trivial to you) I'd go ahead and apply now and have everyone who'll go with you do so too if willing, if only to relieve your anxiety. You'll have two years from the date of approval.

The proposed process is basically that there's AI analysis of your disclosed social media presence and if something seems off your file is kicked out to be reviewed by a human agent from the Department of Homeland Security. What they are looking for is not just anti-Trump/anti-USA stuff - although that would trigger an alarm - but inconsistencies, like if you made a post about going to the USA for the first time but there was evidence that you had visited before, or if you said you were going for a week but posted about potentially staying for a year.

US federal workforce and servies are all seriously underfunded (except ICE field agents & loyal White House aids, endless budget for them).

They literally have no staff who can process the information being presented by foreign nationals entering the USA, not enough Cloud servers to automatically look thru people's huge social media history fast enough.

Bit of a paper tiger the whole idea.

That might be coming but it isn’t yet compulsory. I was there literally last week.

Thank you everyone, really helpful. What a mess it's turned into.

No option to go via Dublin as we're breaking up flights already to go and visit my relatives who live in places where they don't care what you think of their government!!!

Flights are booked already as elderly relative really not great.

No.

It isn't compulsory yet. We went two weeks ago.

We used the new MPC app. I didn't even have to do fingerprints this time around.

Lovely immigration staff at Dublin. Couldn't have been welcomed more in Chicago.

There's an option to do part of the immigration clearance via an app so you just join the queue that does minimal checks once you're in the airport terminal. DP downloaded the app on the bus from the plane to the terminal and took both our photos. We breezed through, having expected it to take longer. Friendliest welcome to the USA we've ever had when we reached the agent. Dulles airport in September. I didn't provide my social media info on the ESTA app, DP did.

You can only use MPC app if you have previously travelled on the current ESTA. So this may not work for you, but may be worth a try if the lines look long.

I had a brand new ESTA and used the MPC app.

We’ve just come back and going again in april

customs was a breeze, same as PP shortest wait I have ever seen in US airport

Now, this is quite odd. The app actually now says specifically that this isn’t so, and I certainly couldn’t use it, but yours isn’t the first comment I’ve read that suggests this is sometimes not the case. Definitely worth a try OP!

Unless it’s a very new thing, this isn’t true. I entered SF via MPC a month ago on a new ESTA.

@EyeLevelStick yes definitely worked.

I completed it on arrival in Dublin from London and by the time we got to pre clearance there was no queue and we were through in two mins via a lovely chat with immigration officer.

DD had an esta that she used before but mine was new and the app was in my name.

Weird. I tried exactly the same (but from Manchester). But the queue was non-existent anyway.

I’ve just looked at the app now under “Check eligibility”. It’s unambiguous, and said the same on 23 January when I wanted to use it but couldn’t. Really strange!

was still optional last weekend when i applied for a ESTA

I don’t have any accounts on FB, Instagram, tick-tock, X, or Bluesky.
Is there a ‘Don’t use social media’ option on the ESTA?

It’s an optional field, so you just leave it blank.

I’m just back from New York - was not keen but was for work. Immigration was the easiest and nicest it’s ever been. I hadn’t heard of the MPC app but the people on front of me in the plane were using it. TBH doubt they got through much quicker on Monday as there were loads of agents on and short queues. The signs in the airport about it did say something about “returning ESTA” - I need a new one in March so assumed I wouldn’t be able to use straightaway but sounds like this might not be the case.

But pp are saying it’s optional now but mandatory at some point in the future

The pp asked whether there was a box to tick. I answered the question and said no, you just leave it blank.

I don’t think the pp was asking whether there will be a box in the future if this rule ever comes in. How could anyone possibly answer that?