I've been thinking about the difference between a visa and an ESTA. I reckon we look at them as very different animals when they are both much the same thing.

You deposit an application and your passport at an embassy to obtain a visa. They think about it and then they either say yes or no. Apply for an ESTA and they think about it and then say yes or no. They are actually the same animal!

The difference is that, I suspect, most of us never really give much thought to the ESTA process because we always get a yes. It takes no more than a couple of hours. In particular, updating an existing ESTA, until the issue reported by Union Jack, have any of us ever had an existing ESTA rejected? I doubt it.

Apply for a visa and we are more on tenterhooks. It takes longer and we're left wondering and waiting.

I'm going to wait until someone has their application to enter the EU rejected on their ESTA equivalent.

Thanks everyone for an informative discussion thread. The only thing that I am still not sure of, is the ESTA being cancelled at On Line Check In??

Mostly I am following the possibility of going the other way as a citizen I have no problem getting back in but what qualification did they think they had for being able to get in with an ESTA. Looking at the standing NIEs for getting round the UK / Ireland travel proclamation it seems that the only ones that could apply would be US citizen / permanent resident spouse or unmarried child under 21. Individual exceptions may be being granted of course but you would expect these to have all been pre approved not for just rocking up with an ESTA.

The couple concerned were very specifically advised by BA Global Engagement *not* to do On Line Check In since, *allegedly*, if they were declined boarding at that point, they could lose the total value of their flight whereas, if they were declined at Terminal 5 before check in closed they could receive the value in eVouchers

For added interest, having checked that their cancelled ESTAs had indeed expired, they decided to check out the system and were successfully accepted today for new ESTAs - more in hope than expectation of any early change in their likely eligibility to travel to the US!

Jack

The information on refund/voucher is very useful. I had thought that if I cancel the trip at short notice for any reason, I would forfeit the money. As SoS has asked, it would be nice to know exactly what triggered the Esta cancellation but i would guess we won't be told. It does look as if it would be as likely to be cancelled at the terminal check in as on line under the current rules and until the proclamation is rescinded, one's Esta needs to be replaced by a proper visa. Commiserations to your relatives but thank you for sharing this sad story.

I have to travel to the US for simulator recurrent. I am still waiting for my NIE from the US Embassy in London. I submitted the application (and supporting evidence) 3 weeks ago. I will be traveling on a visa. I am hoping to fly out on the 31st July.
When I saw the post about the ESTA being cancelled, my first thought was an NIE hadn't been applied for.

I am not expert on the detail, but a couple that I know who are building a food business on the East Coast went off to somewhere in the Caribbean for a fortnight, from where they were able to enter the USA as they had not been in any of the listed no-go territories for 14 days. No-go includes UK, Ireland, Schengen zone, Iran, Brazil, China, South Africa or India within the previous 14 days.

Building a food business does not qualify for NIE.

Every now and then they have to leave for a few days, and then fly back to East Coast.. As their work is pretty intensive, they love the short breaks!

Not sure if they have to "renew" their visa/ESTA, or how it works.

The business has done brilliantly, partly due to Covid. I was told that I could not afford their menu.

When you book these days you are encouraged to enter your passport details into your booking. That data is transmitted to the USA so they can match it against the ESTA/visa database and I doubt it's all done in a big batch once checkin has closed. BUT, if the data is not in the PNR it can only be verified at check in. Indeed, a late application/update to an ESTA may result in people arriving at checkin not aware of a cancellation resulting in the impression that has been cancelled at check in. It's all about timing!

Having said that I doubt all the data is sent in a batch there is a message sent when check in closes asking permission for the flight to depart. I am going to suggest that having sent the passenger details "piecemeal" a final message, referencing the flight details is sent for final permission to depart.

For the record, it took the US Embassy in London 4 weeks to process my NIE.