ESTA question

[MyVisionsComeFromSoup]

I have emailed the US border people but they say replies take 2-3 weeks, so I thought MN would be bound to know

I applied for ESTAs as a group application, which I understood just meant that I could make one payment for all the applications, rather than paying separately. One of us will be travelling to the US individually, and the travel company has raised a concern that their ESTA may not be valid if they don't travel as part of the application group.

Any idea if that's the case? I know it's only another $14 to reapply for the one person, but it's the more the principle of the thing, they have a valid ESTA, but the travel co can't/won't accept the printout of the individual confirmation, as they can't check the status themselves from just the passport data. They haven't asked me directly for the group application info they'd need, but I'd be reluctant to hand that over, as they then would have a lot of personal ID on the rest of the group.

I may just give in and pay out the $14 to reapply, but wondered if anyone had come across this situation?

Each member of the group has an individual esta within the group, it's just an admin thing to allow you to apply for them all together. You don't need to travel together.

yes, that's what I thought Patricia, i'm just really confused by this travel co who are saying it's a problem and I should get a new one.

What is the advice on the ESTA web site? Is that not clear? Personally I would never do it as a group. What happens when an individual wants to travel to the USA again?

as I read it, the ESTA website only covers how to make and pay for a group application (i.e.several individual ESTAs attached to individual passports). It doesn't actually spell out that you do or don't need to travel as a group. Which is where the confusion seems to be arising.