US Visa Waiver Program

[Ryan N]

During my trip to Canada at the end of the year, I'm hoping to visit the US for a few days, crossing the border by coach from Canada. I know I need to register for the visa waiver program prior to arrival. I want to register while it's still free. There was a short article in yesterday's travel section of the SMH saying a fee of $14US will apply from September.

I had a quick look at the website for the registration and it required me to provide the address of where I'm staying. This would obviously pose a problem because I don't know where I will be staying.

Has anyone encountered this problem before? Is it sufficient to nominate a hotel of the city where I'm visiting (at this stage, New York) and change it later on?

[Karl M]

You will just need to put the hotel you shall be staying at.
I does not really matter if you change hotel's later, I don't think they really check. (never happend to me anyway!)

[Kelvin R]

Hi Ryan,

You can change the address later. The US Govt would like you to gain approval as soon as you are planning a trip to the US. Once you have completed the application you are given a reference number and you can use that to update the details. As the approval is valid for multiple entries you can come back at a later time and update it.

I would suggest printing the final form and carrying it with you as I have now twice had issues on arrival of DHS Officer finding no reference to my approval and it seems this is pretty common.

[Todd Milton]

For anyone who does not know about the current authorisation for the VWP to the USA, the form needed to be filled out is an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). The site you need to visit is https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/esta.html?_flowExecutionKey=_c5DA39EB5-1F56-1EDB-B416-504F91B2ADDD_k43D88C31-3B6B-A2A1-B4D0-ACDAAADC97D5

Do Not search in Google, this will reveal results which make you pay for an ESTA, and they are legally applying on your behalf (A Girl at work did this and ended up beaing scammed from it, I did ask the question as to why she did not just go straight to www.dhs.gov). The sites look the same, but are not. An ESTA is also not a guarantee of entry, it is an authorisation to say you are approved to apply for the VWP upon entry to the country.

When it asks for an address it is simply asking for the first night of accomodation, so if you are at a hotel or a friends place you put that down. I am carrying two copies with me for my Journey states bound, one in my passport wallet and the rest with my travel documents. Can never be too sure!

[Ryan N]

Thanks guys for the responses, and thank you Todd for providing the link. I would've done the same and searched via Google.