AIBU ESTA and entry to US?

[CherubEarrings]

My grown up daughter was living with me when she went to US. She was denied entry to the US and deported. She was banned from US for 3 years and not allowed to apply for another ESTA. Her story was her ESTA form was incorrect. This happened pre-Covid.

Will this cause problems with my ESTA and entry to US? Have to book flights tomorrow but not due to travel for a few weeks.

I don’t think I’ve ever done an ESTA prior to booking. We often book flights months in advance and ESTAs are valid for 2 years… seems a waste to do them so early.

That makes no sense. They would have known she was 20 and not 15 because they are looking right at her passport. She’s definitely telling a few lies. But ESTAs are individual. So no reason why it should stop yours being approved. I do them a lot for others at work and they’re not usually instant anymore, only when the applicant already has global entry IME, but always tend to come back within 24 hours so do it now and you should be fine getting it approved before confirming your flights tomorrow. As long as there’s nothing else going on that would cause it to be denied.

She is lying but no reason it should impact yours.

The issue is if you're denied an ESTA, you need to go for an interview to get a VISA which can take much longer. And then if you're declined I'm guessing you may not be able to claim on insurance as you didn't have the paperwork in place before booking.

Just do the ESTA now! Most are auto approved in seconds. You could have received it in the time it taken for you to post.

Why is there a 'deadline' for booking flights? Unless you are going tomorrow to can book until the day of the flight.

Unless there is an obvious reason (drug conviction, North Korean passport stamp, working as a journalist during your stay etc) an ESTA does not take that long and is often approved within the hour so I don't know why people are getting so judgy about the timelines. A few weeks away is fine. I know someone who renewed theirs in the check-in queue at Heathrow.

Yeah, I guess it makes sense if there’s a reason it might get denied. I think for the majority it’s very straight forward.

They cost around £10, not exactly expensive- not like the amount you would lose on paying for a flight you can't use

£16. Takes a few minutes.

Having an ESTA doesn’t guarantee entry to the States.

The final decision as to whether to let an individual into the US or not is made by the officer(s) at the US border on arrival.

What are you going to the USA for? It sounds like it's for work when you say you were only told today that you need to go (if it's for work you can't go on a esta you will need a different visa)

That is not true - you can absolutely travel for business on an ESTA

Not true.

I'm going to say depends what work op is doing.

Visiting another office should be fine.

@35degrees can you provide some evidence for that qualification cos I don't think it is necessary. I travel to the US on a monthly basis for conferences and client visits and I have both and ESTA and Global entry and I don't think your restriction is necessary

I went over to Texas end of last year, and was not asked for a separate visa.

Asked why visiting, said visiting another branch of company plus extra time for holiday. I had no problem going through as did 4 of my colleagues

I dont know about other need for visa

UK is a participating country

@35degrees yes but that doesn't mean if your explanations was different it wouldn't also have been acceptable so the qualification is inaccurate and misleading. Not trying to be an arsehole but you corrected my post which was based on fact and the rules with your experience which was more limited

I'm not quite sure what you're saying here.

However, I was talking from my own experience - visiting another office was fine.

We have no idea what op is going there to do, she may not be even working.

uk.usembassy.gov/visas/temporary-employment/
If you wish to work in the United States for a temporary period you will require a nonimmigrant work visa. You cannot work on a visitor or business visa, or under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).

Visiting clients, workshops etc, is also fine as long as you're not being paid directly for any work you do by the US client.