Will ESTA be denied?

[suggestionsplease1]

Planning a trip to Las Vegas, (already paid up 😬) not been to US in many years now and looking over the ESTA questions...

A long time ago around 2005 my friend and I travelled to Canada for a driving holiday, we started in Toronto and stupidly thought that we could show our passports at the Canada/US border to see the Falls from the American side. (Naively thought it would be similar to Europe at borders where we were more familiar with)

We were quickly corrected on this point and were turned around at the border but I think they might have looked over our passports and got us to sign something 😔

Now I'm looking at the ESTA question 7 thinking I probably have to put yes to it:

"Have you ever been denied a U.S. visa you applied for with your current or previous passport, or have you ever been refused admission to the United States or withdrawn your application for admission at a U.S. port of entry?"

I'm hoping to give an explanation as it was an honest mistake but just wondering if anyone has any experience here on what will happen next.

My friend has travelled to the US since, no problem, so I didn't anticipate I would have any issues, but I think that was before the ESTAs were in place.

Yes I have ChatGPT'd it, just hoping to hear from anyone knowledgeable about this area or with direct similar experience. Thanks.

In your shoes, I would do as a PP suggested and contact the Embassy, preferably as anonymously as possible.

Why would it help to be anonymous? Only if you’re anticipating not following any advice you’re given and lying on the application. And if you’re going to lie, why bother asking for advice?

Because the OP could be targeted by immigration officials who could deny her entry to the U.S. (or worse) even if she follows all the advice she is given. Sadly, this is precisely the sort of thing that happens now. 🙁

The green form was basically the same
questions as on the esta but it was free and hand written. Then they moved it online and started charging.

If you think you are going to be targeted for following advice, there is no point asking for that advice.

One thing that will quite rightly guarantee you a hard time at the US border if it should ever in the future come to light is to have lied on an immigration form. Maybe not this visit, maybe not next visit. But there’s no time limit after which you will have “got away with it”.

Well I couldn't submit without my passport number and, although initially reluctant, I gave it because I do need to get to the bottom of this and perhaps they can quickly look at records and see nothing formally recorded and no issues, or alternatively that there's more to be done - visa application potentially. I don't want to spend the next few weeks with the weight of uncertainty about how best to proceed. I was polite, apologetic, highlighted my youth and naivety and how much I'm looking forward to my U.S trip, so hopefully my ....obsequiousness 😆...means I'm not targeted aggressively.

I wish you luck. Hopefully everything will go smoothly for you. Unfortunately, you might do everything that you're meant to do, follow the advice to the letter, and end up in a difficult situation. I very much hope that is not the case, of course. Crossing my fingers and toes for you!

Thank you. I'm gutted that a simple, naive mistake from decades ago is causing such a headache now. I'll just have to play things out as they come.

Interesting reading for the OP:

https://visarefusal.com/inadmissibility/esta-denials-and-revocations/

I’d say you’re doing the right thing. Never ever lie on a US immigration form. They hate that more than anything.

(I’ve emigrated to the US twice and applied for citizenship once, and it’s amazing how linked up all their systems are.)

As I recall it at one point (certainly pre-2022) despite what you've read you couldn't enter the US by land as a UK passport holder simply on an ESTA or just by filling in a Visa waiver form

Based on what I saw a few times travelling between Vancouver and Seattle by road those that tried it got a lot of grumbles and were granted entry/permission eventually, (not sure in what form the permission was issued).

Wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what the process is now or what the attitude of Border is.

Just put no and enjoy your holiday!

i definitely had dodgy visa situations travelling in the USA in my early 20s (more recently than 2005) and definitely way way overstayed one of them. I am now old and boring and have been to the US on holiday several times since, and no one has ever questioned me at all. It will be fine.

Thats the only gambling you should do though in Vegas - the house always wins! 😉