Do I need a visa for New York?

[sleepyhorse]

Hi

Off to New York in a couple of weeks for 4 nights - do I need a visa?

Thanks

That would depend on what passport you hold.

If it's a British passport you must apply for an ESTA visa which you get online and it costs about £15 ish (prepared to be corrected on price)

Google ESTA but make sure you go direct thru the us gov site

esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

$14 for an ESTA

It's so they can verify your passport inf before you go

Still have to queue for hours at immigration though

True about queuing at immigration.

Probably too late for this time, but always worth travelling to the states via Dublin if possible, pre clear immigration/customs at Dublin airport and straight thru on arrival as if arriving on a domestic flight. Especially good if you have a connection flight within the US

Oh that's interesting, bridgets. We went via Dusseldorf & that wasn't an option there (love Lufthansa though )

Such pre clearance to the US only operates at Shannon and Dublin airports in Europe.

You will need to complete the ESTA online before you travel and only use the official US government website as previously mentioned. Apply for this asap as well. You can print out the authorisation but the immigration official will not ask to see a copy.

It can indeed take an age to clear US immigration at some US airports.

Thank you ladies

I did mine on a weekend & it said 'decision pending' or something like that

I twitched for a few days & then looked it up with the ref given (I took a screenshot, can't remember if I got an email too but suspect not) & it was fine - I'd been expecting them to tell me it was ok but they didn't