ESTA Question

[Sweet Pea UK]

When you have completed your ESTA form - do they send you anything via email for you to put with your passport?

My Dad has done his - although he paid???? But he hasn't received anything??

 

[wickesy]

No they don't send you anything either by e-mail or post and you should never pay for ESTA - at the moment it is completely free from the official site.

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/

Hopefully he has been given an authorisation number which he can use on the above site to check that his application has actually been granted. There are a lot of fraudulent sites about and your Dad needs to check ASAP that he has actually been given authorisation to travel.

 

[2Tiggies]

I didn't get email last year either. Printer was broken so just wrote down the confirmaton no. It is a bit confusing because they ask for your email details as far as I remember (optional info) so I also assumed they would email Never mind, it is all done electronically so they never even asked for anything when we travelled.

 

[Pegasus928]

Paying for the ESTA is a definate no-no at the moment. There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there that would do anything for a quick buck.
At the very least your Dad should have been sent his authorization number in case of difficulties when he gets there - if not I would be following this up and doing some checks on the company he paid to do the job. If you think about all the details he would have had to provide in order for the application to go through identity theft is a very real possibility.
Hope it all gets resolved soon

 

[oceanscape]

Paying for the ESTA is a definate no-no at the moment. There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there that would do anything for a quick buck.

Makes me FURIOUS! My mother ended up paying -- the first website that comes up on Google when you type in "ESTA" is a link to a dodgy company! The website looks very official and everything, but they charge £25 per person!

The authorities should ban third parties making applications on people's behalf. Makes me so mad that some people are getting very rich from this.

 

[luke]

Makes me FURIOUS! My mother ended up paying -- the first website that comes up on Google when you type in "ESTA" is a link to a dodgy company! The website looks very official and everything, but they charge £25 per person!

The authorities should ban third parties making applications on people's behalf. Makes me so mad that some people are getting very rich from this.

Yep, it's a disgrace! I've had to warn off so many people who tell me they're going to have to pay for their ESTA!! Can't believe the US government don't do something to stop this

 

[wayneg]

Makes me FURIOUS! My mother ended up paying -- the first website that comes up on Google when you type in "ESTA" is a link to a dodgy company! The website looks very official and everything, but they charge £25 per person!

The authorities should ban third parties making applications on people's behalf. Makes me so mad that some people are getting very rich from this. :mad:

Post Office do it with passports, charge £8 just to check it for you, is it much different?
I have never looked at the services of any of these sites but sounds like they are offering a similar service?
Not saying its right but are they doing anything wrong?

 

[luke]

Post Office do it with passports, charge £8 just to check it for you, is it much different?
I have never looked at the services of any of these sites but sounds like they are offering a similar service?
Not saying its right but are they doing anything wrong?

I guess giving personal info like passport numbers etc to 'unknown' companies is probably my biggest annoyance with them, but I take your point

 

[2Tiggies]

I don't understand the benefit of getting someone else to apply for you. They will need the same details you have to plug into the official site, so essentially you still need to do the same amount of referencing and work.

 

[oceanscape]

Post Office do it with passports, charge £8 just to check it for you, is it much different?
I have never looked at the services of any of these sites but sounds like they are offering a similar service?
Not saying its right but are they doing anything wrong?

It's completely different!

First, these companies do NOT make it clear that one can apply for ESTA free-of-charge directly. Unless you dig deep (and why would you have reason to when they look so official?) you'll never know.

Second, they simply COPY and PASTE the information you give them into the ESTA application form. How is that a "service"? AFAIK they don't "check" the information you provide, and they (obviously) make no guarantees that your ESTA authorization will be approved.

In summary, they darn well know people who aren't savvy to this kind of thing will "fall for it", not realising they could have applied directly.

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

Oh dear ... he has paid!! Why he couldn't have waited until I helped him I don't know! I did mine no problem through the link on the ESTA sticky at the top of this Forum!

So ... now that he has done that - has he actually applied for an ESTA or is the whole thing completely fradulent??? Does he need to apply through the official site as I have done?

 

[Claire-Bear]

I'd say he should apply through the proper link, just incase. It should come up if he has already applied.