Our ESTA has expired!!

[Marie9LPG]

We did our ESTA applications last November in readiness for our New York trip in Feb with no problems.
Went on today to check/amend details for our upcoming trip onlt to find they had all expired
I was under the impression these were to be valid for multiple trips until their expiry date(2010 in our case).

Spent a few anxious minutes reapplying but had no problems getting them again.
Thought I should flag this up incase anyone else is affected.

Marie

 

[TracyK]

Thanks, I will check ours.

 

[Claire L]

How did you know they had expired? Was there a message?

Claire

 

[Marie9LPG]

when I tried to amend the details a message appeared on the screen. Not very obvious I have to say.

 

[wayneg]

Strange, they are supposed to be valid 2 years.

 

[bombhead444]

I applied for myself and the DW couple of months back. I saw that her's is valid for two years but mine expires with my passport in june. Is that the case, are you in the middle of renewing your passport? Saying that if it all went through ok then you must be fine.

 

[gemmybear83]

I applied for myself and the DW couple of months back. I saw that her's is valid for two years but mine expires with my passport in june. Is that the case, are you in the middle of renewing your passport? Saying that if it all went through ok then you must be fine.

Yes mine is the same - I need to renew my passport next May so my ESTA only runs until then, my fiance's is valid for 2 years as he doesnt need to renew his.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

From the ESTAweb site:-

"Unless revoked, travel authorizations are valid for two years from the date of authorization, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. The Authorization Approved screen displays your travel authorization expiration date. "

 

[Marie9LPG]

Our passport dates are fine & I have printouts of originals which had 2010 expiry dates.

Have no idea at all why they had 'expired'.

 

[juliebro]

when I tried to amend the details a message appeared on the screen. Not very obvious I have to say.

Why would you need to amend the details?

 

[Pegasus928]

Why would you need to amend the details?

For each new trip you are required to amend the details of where you will be staying whilst in the US.

 

[juliebro]

ok. Didn't know that.

 

[Cochise]

For each new trip you are required to amend the details of where you will be staying whilst in the US.

Spot on that

 

[juliebro]

On another thread someone has said that the flight and accommodation info is voluntary so you don't need to update it for each trip.

It's been a while since we did ours, so I can't remember what it said when we were completing the online form.

 

[Pegasus928]

I'm not sure if the accommodation info would be voluntary as on the green form, which this is supposed to be replacing, it is required.

 

[wickesy]

I'm not sure if the accommodation info would be voluntary as on the green form, which this is supposed to be replacing, it is required.

On ESTA, for some strange reason, it is voluntary.

Field

Description

Address Line 1

Enter the number and street of the location where you will stay while in the United States. Do not include the city and state in this field. Address Line 1 is optional to complete the application.

Address Line 2

Enter apartment, suite, unit, floor, building, or other, if appropriate. Do not include the city and state in this field. Address line 2 is optional to complete the application.

City

Enter the city of the address where you will stay while in the United States. The city is optional to complete the application.

State

Enter the state of the address where you will stay while in the United States. The state is optional to complete the application.

Taken from the Help screen on the official site

 

[juliebro]

Did anyone else notice that it doesn't ask you for the date of travel?

It suggests that it's really just a way of gathering data about people who are going to be travelling to the US.

It also means that there's no real point in updating it for subsequent trips after the first time.