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applied for with your current or previous passport, or have you ever been refused admission to the United States or withdrawn your application for admission at a U.S. port of entry?"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

Think you filled in the I-94 form on a land border if you had a uk passport.

Now I’m assuming you’d need an Esta.

We have family on the US side of Niagara Falls and have visited a number of times over the years by flying into Toronto and crossing the border at Niagara Falls. Can’t remember when we stopped having a I-94 filled out and stapled into our passports.
We’d cross between the US and Canada almost daily and it was just a matter of showing your passport and walking through a waist high turnstile.

On one occasion the I-94 wasn’t removed and retained from my passport when we left to fly home (think that would’ve been around 1989) and the thought did cross my mind that they’d have me down as overstaying but we’ve been back to the US numerous times since then and it’s never come up when applying for an ESTA or at border control.

Pretty sure back then we had to send a visa application form along with our passports to the American Embassy and they were returned with a visa stamped in them.

Yeah you could definitely go across on land.

Ugh I had the same thing happen after a flight. Got home and the green bit hadn't been taken out. I remember they would pile them up at the check in desk and I used to think god what a rubbish system - they could end up on the floor or anything.
Anyway I found an address online in Texas that you could mail it back to, if this happened to you. So I did that. Obviously you had no idea if it got there! I panicked on my next trip they would also think I had over stayed and I took payslips etc to show incase I was asked.

We were refused entry at Niagara and had our passports stamped saying this as we did not have US dollars to pay the fee to cross the border as my DSIL confidently said you can use Canadian both sides of the border, they wouldn’t take a debit card either, this was around 1996, I have been to the USA several times since, can’t remember what I put on the ESTA though.

If it is this or your previous passport, surely 2005 is three passports away?

Anyway, no is the answer.

Also, I made the same assumption and was told no. Didn't sign anything and had a lovely cup of tea with the immigration official. (Was a very remote crossing to be fair - he was probably glad of some company!)

You should have just put no. You weren’t ’refused entry’ in the sense they mean, ie you didn’t show up with valid visa and were prevented from entering due to drugs or criminal record that you didn’t declare on the form etc, and you didn’t have a visa declined because you didn’t try to get one.

This is a very automated process and you just need to select no and you’ll get an accept within 10m to 24 hours.

A random honest mistake that is made by 100s or more every single day is not going to prevent you getting your ESTA.

To update on this - I got a very generic reply to my enquiry to US Customs and Border Patrol which didn't help.

I made a decision to answer 'no' to the ESTA question as it was really hard to recall the precise nature of the turn around at Niagara and I figured it could as well be a lie to answer yes to it if the circumstances didn't meet their definition.

Then my application had my status pending for 9 days, which apparently is pretty unusual...I imagine a manual review probably was triggered by a past record of Niagara, or possibly even my query to CBP with my passport number on it was recorded and prompted further investigation. (Or maybe it was random, or something else altogether, who knows.)

Tonight I had an email saying my ESTA status has changed and when I logged in it has thankfully been authorised. It's been a very nervous few days!

Great news OP. If they question you about the Niagara trip at the border, just be very frank with them and go into as much detail as you remember, but you will likely be fine. As long as you don’t hide the information, it should be okay. Good luck!

Great pleased it’s sorted, I would have put no too. As you were not refused a visa, you didn’t apply for one. Simple error to have made and many would have done the same, no way should you be refused an ESTA for that. Have a great trip.

Thanks, yes, this is what I intend to do if it comes up.

I doubt very much they will ask about it, twenty odd years ago! The ESTA would not have gone through, if it had come up as a query. Relax and enjoy your holiday.

The ESTA doesn’t mean they are authorising her entry to the US or that there are no questions left to ask. Entry into the United States is always dependent on that final interview upon landing. The ESTA is purely a pre-travel authorisation, doesn’t carry any guarantee of entering the country.

Not saying this to scare you OP, just because a lot of people are surprised when they find out it’s not clear cut. You’re unlikely to run into any trouble 😊

The ESTA is merely permission to arrive at the border and ask permission.