New rules for visa waiver

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:We are travelling next May and was going to complete the form online last night but got stuck at the address we are stay at in Orlando. We have rented a villa and at this point only know the name of the Villa and area it is in. I could contact the owner for the full address but I am sure when I booked my flights with Thomas Cook they said that they will give me their Orlando address to give as our contact address in the US, does this seem right?[/quote]

There is no hurry at all to complete the form and many people will have it done at the airport check-in desk - not everyone is on the internet or will have heard of ESTA.

You can wait until you have the address of the Villa

[steph_goodrum]

Apparently flight and address details are covered by the advance passenger info you have to give the airlines so you can go ahead and fill it in but leave any travel details (including flights out. They are suggesting you fill it in as soon as you plan a trip to the States.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Apparently flight and address details are covered by the advance passenger info you have to give the airlines so you can go ahead and fill it in but leave any travel details (including flights out. They are suggesting you fill it in as soon as you plan a trip to the States.[/quote]

Steph,
What is not clear to me is the position on future trips.

I have filled in the form giving the flight details for my next trip and the address where I will be staying.

I have had clearance to travel for the next 2 years with a registration number etc.

However I will be going on another trip later this year, and lots more over the next 2 years. Obviously the Flight No and address I am staying at could be different.

Whilst I will still obviously have to fill in the advance passenger info to the airline each time I travel, what is the position for ESTA?

There doesn't seem to be any provision for re-entering flight numbers and addresses for future trips.

[steph_goodrum]

The airlines after Jan 12th will have to supply (as you will) your ESTA number along with the Advance passenger info so between the 2 pieces of info they will have all they need. As they will have your general info from the ESTA and each time you fly they have your ESTA number (which will be valid for 2 years) and the APIS info which you will update with the airline for each trip which will include your flight details and airport and address etc.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:The airlines after Jan 12th will have to supply (as you will) your ESTA number along with the Advance passenger info so between the 2 pieces of info they will have all they need. As they will have your general info from the ESTA and each time you fly they have your ESTA number (which will be valid for 2 years) and the APIS info which you will update with the airline for each trip which will include your flight details and airport and address etc.[/quote]

We are at cross-purposes I am afraid.

I appreciate what you say above is what will happen.

The point I was making is that to get my ESTA number it was mandatory to supply my departure airport in UK, my airline and flight number, and my destination address in the USA.

For my subsequent trips that information will be different, indeed if I now have to cancel my forthcoming trip it will be different, so what is the relevance of supplying that information?

As said above I have been given a ESTA number for an AA flight from Manchester to an address in Florida. I might well be travelling from, say, Paris on Air France to stay at an address in California.

[steph_goodrum]

Robert
What I was trying to explain is that you can obtain your ESTA number with no flight details entered from what other people have told me, if you have no definite arrangements yet you dont need to fill it in. The advice itself says yu should fill it in as soon as you anticipate you may travel to the US at which point most people wont have made definite plans and should get a number allocated.
I'm leaving mine for a couple of weeks purely as my daughter is in the US at the moment so will wait till she gets back at teh end of the month to fill all ours in together. I'll try doing it without putting in our flight details and let you know what happens.

I dont think we are talking at crossed purposes, as you said for subsequent trips the information given will be different but they have thee info for the first trip IF you have it when you apply, after that the updates will be done through APIS in the same way the info for the first trip will if you dont know the details when you book.

[Tonish]

Well, I completed this all online before departure, got the approval numbers etc.

Still had to complete green cards and hand them in at immigration. I asked the Virgin staff was it necessary since I had already done it online, but they had no idea what I was talking about. The immigration officer didn't mention it or ask about it.

I'm a bit puzzled.

[steph_goodrum]

Tonish
All the info says that until it becomes mandatory on 12th Jan 2009 youu still have to fill in the green form but after that date wont have to.

[brendawilliams]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Tonish
Well, I completed this all online before departure, got the approval numbers etc.

Still had to complete green cards and hand them in at immigration. I asked the Virgin staff was it necessary since I had already done it online, but they had no idea what I was talking about. The immigration officer didn't mention it or ask about it.

I'm a bit puzzled.
[/quote]

My son arrived in Florida yesterday and said more or less the same, immigration didn't want to know and were only interested in the information on the green card.