Reasons for refusal of ESTA

One of the fundamental roles of the ESTA is to improve the security of the country as well as of American airports. For this reason, all ESTA applications are subject to verification by U.S. immigration officials to determine the applicant’s eligibility to enter the United States. To avoid having your ESTA application denied, please see our article below.

How can you avoid having your ESTA application denied?

The conditions for granting such an authorization are particularly strict and if one of the conditions for acceptance is not met, the request may be refused.

To begin with, it is good to remember the conditions for obtaining ESTA travel authorization:

• You must be a citizen of one of the countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program;
• The national of an authorized country must not have dual citizenship with any of the following countries: Iran, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia.
• Your passport must be valid for your entire stay;
• Your passport must be “electronic” or “biometric”;
• Your trip must not exceed 90 consecutive days;
• You wish to travel to the United States for tourism or business reasons;
• You have purchased your round-trip tickets prior to your ESTA application;
• The airline is officially recognized by the US government;
• You have not broken U.S. law in the past;
• You have not been denied a US visa lately.

If all these conditions are met, you are then eligible to obtain an ESTA travel authorization valid for two years. However, filling out the application form remains an essential step and you are required to fill it out honestly and truthfully. Indeed, the slightest typo or wrong passport number can result in an immediate refusal of your ESTA application.

Reminder: If you wish to travel to the United States by land, from Canada or Mexico for example, it is necessary since 2022 to have an ESTA.

What to do if your ESTA application is denied?

If your ESTA application has been denied, you can find out why by contacting the DHS Travel Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP). This national security service is the only agency authorized to provide you with information on this subject. Unfortunately, neither the embassy nor the consulate will be able to assist you in this process.

If your ESTA application was denied due to a typing error or a wrong passport number, you will be able to fill out the ESTA form again in order to correct your information, but you will have to pay the $21 application fee. If there are no errors in the data entry process, your last recourse will be to obtain a US visa from the embassy or the Green Card.