Travel to Europe won’t be so easy come 2021 - EUROPE VISA

[K32682]

On 3/10/2019 at 2:02 PM, slidergirl said:

 

I've had plenty observations in Europe with the "superior" Americans to validate my opinion: whining when they can't understand why someone doesn't speak English, whining when they can't use $US to buy a Chinese-made trinket from a street vendor in Vernazza, whining that the pizza they get isn't the same they get in New York/New Jersey/California...  

 

Taxes/visas are all an accepted part of world travel for most of the world.  If someone has a a $10 fee push them over the edge, I fear they have budgeted far too close - what would happen for an emergency?  

 

If the rest of the world need to pay for visas, why not Americans?  We are not special.

 

You may be suffering from a slight sample bias.  Because you speak English and are an American you will notice Americans acting badly more often than other nationalities whose language you do not understand.  I recall sitting at a hotel in Europe with a Chinese woman who was appalled by the comments being made by a group of Chinese tourists.

 

I have heard some American visitors make particularly idiotic and offensive remarks while traveling.  I don't hold it against all of them.  Although more than once I've noticed a slight softening of attitudes when asked if I'm an American and I tell them I'm Canadian.  The exception is in the Basque region of northern Spain. 

 

The new requirements to visit Europe don't bother me in the slightest.  It is far from the worst visa I've had to apply for.

Edited March 12, 2019 by K32682

[John Bull]

17 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Interesting. Flying from Portugal, we have always had to produce a printed copy of our ESTAs when checking in for our flights to the US and at the enhanced security check-point at the boarding gate. We have also been asked to show them to the immigration officer on arrival in Miami on all but the most recent occasion (this past November).

 

Interesting, indeed.

I don't see those on flights from Portugal as more of a risk than those from the UK.

And besides, by the time arrivals get to immigration in Miami or every other US gateway that I've used, folk from different flights are well-mixed.

Last occasion was only three weeks ago (Fiji - Hawaii), and - as every other time - my ESTA remained unwanted in my travel file from start to finish. In fact I'd be concerned if I were asked for it by an immigration officer, because that would suggest to me that it didn't show on their screen. 

 

I wonder what others have experienced. 

 

JB 

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

Interesting. Flying from Portugal, we have always had to produce a printed copy of our ESTAs when checking in for our flights to the US and at the enhanced security check-point at the boarding gate. We have also been asked to show them to the immigration officer on arrival in Miami on all but the most recent occasion (this past November).

When we fly,  passports are always checked but they have rarely checked for the necessary visa's, except for India and the US.

[LHT28]

Just now, MicCanberra said:

When we fly,  passports are always checked but they have rarely checked for the necessary visa's, except for India and the US.

Do they scan your passport or just look at the photo?

 

Here  they scan the bar code  & check the photo matches 

I am guessing any e visas will show up when they scan the passport 

[MicCanberra]

15 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Do they scan your passport or just look at the photo?

 

Here  they scan the bar code  & check the photo matches 

I am guessing any e visas will show up when they scan the passport 

True, E visas would show up with the scan but not everywhere has an E visa. Brazil, China, etc they would need to look through it, I suppose they leave that up to immigration but then they don't always look at where you are going, just that you are leaving.

[LHT28]

Just now, MicCanberra said:

True, E visas would show up with the scan but not everywhere has an E visa. Brazil, China, etc they would need to look through it, I suppose they leave that up to immigration but then they don't always look at where you are going, just that you are leaving.

Brazil now have E Visas  for some  nationalities

but yes  maybe  the airlines would not check the destinations of outbound pax

[dogs4fun]

I fly to Russia frequently - Lufthansa always checks my passport for my Russian visa.

[Extra Kim]

On 3/11/2019 at 11:20 AM, sverigecruiser said:

For example it's not easy to fill in the state or province when we don't have that in Sweden. Place of birth is also a problem because the Swedish version translated that to "birthtown" (but in Swedish) and the town of birth is not mentioned in our passports.

State/Province = Län

Place of birth = You will find that on line 6. Födelseort/Place of birth/Lieu de naissance

[sverigecruiser]

9 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Interesting. Flying from Portugal, we have always had to produce a printed copy of our ESTAs when checking in for our flights to the US and at the enhanced security check-point at the boarding gate. We have also been asked to show them to the immigration officer on arrival in Miami on all but the most recent occasion (this past November).

 

We have not been asked to show them a printed copy when checking in for flights.

 

When we checked in for our cruise in Miami they asked for it. Very strange!

 

[sverigecruiser]

6 hours ago, Extra Kim said:

State/Province = Län

Place of birth = You will find that on line 6. Födelseort/Place of birth/Lieu de naissance

 

The place of birth in the passport is not a place but the name of a church and state/province is not exactly the same thing as län, as you know.

 

Not a big problem but it makes the application a little more difficult to do, I think. 

[Extra Kim]

3 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

The place of birth in the passport is not a place but the name of a church and state/province is not exactly the same thing as län, as you know.

 

Not a big problem but it makes the application a little more difficult to do, I think. 

Are you telling me that Kalmar is a church? Because that's what I have in my passport, my wife has Kläckeberga (10km outside of Kalmar). 

 

Put in your län and you have put in the info they are asking for.

[sverigecruiser]

1 hour ago, Extra Kim said:

Are you telling me that Kalmar is a church? Because that's what I have in my passport, my wife has Kläckeberga (10km outside of Kalmar). 

 

Put in your län and you have put in the info they are asking for.

 

In my passport I have Heliga Trefaldighet and my wife has Staffan but we are born on the same hospital in Gävle.

 

My guess is that your parents lived in Kalmar församling and your wifes parents in Kläckeberga församling when you were born.

 

I may be wrong and then it's different in different parts of Sweden. Here it's not the town but the församling.

[Extra Kim]

It doesn't matter, that's the info they want you to fill in. Not that hard i.m.o.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Extra Kim

[sverigecruiser]

56 minutes ago, Extra Kim said:

It doesn't matter, that's the info they want you to fill in. Not that hard i.m.o.

 

As I said, it's not a big problem.

 

It's still incorrect to write Heliga Trefaldighet even if that's the information they want!

Edited March 13, 2019 by sverigecruiser

[FionaMG]

10 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

When we checked in for our cruise in Miami they asked for it. Very strange!

 

Yes, we were asked for it then too. I'd forgotten about that. 

[VMax1700]

20 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

I wonder what others have experienced. 

 

JB 

 

I/we have never taken a paper copy of ESTA.  It's electronic so why would you need a paper copy?

We have precleared in Dublin and Shannon and flown with connections in LHR and MAN and never been asked for it.  

So, with thanks to gooogle here is the US Gov website definitive answer....

DO I NEED TO BRING A PRINTOUT OR DIGITAL COPY OF MY TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION TO THE AIRPORT?

 

No. DHS will be able to communicate a traveler's ESTA status to the carriers. However, DHS recommends that travelers print out the travel authorization application response in order to maintain a record of their traveler authorization application number and to have confirmation of their ESTA status.

U.S. regulation does NOT require a Visa Waiver Program (VWP) traveler to present a printed copy of the ESTA authorization page in order to travel. However, it is recommended that you print a copy for your records. If you did not receive or cannot locate your application number, you may retrieve the application through the ESTA website by entering your passport number, country of citizenship, passport issuance date, passport expiration date, and date of birth.

[Cruise Junky]

14 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

 

I/we have never taken a paper copy of ESTA.  It's electronic so why would you need a paper copy?

We have precleared in Dublin and Shannon and flown with connections in LHR and MAN and never been asked for it.  

So, with thanks to gooogle here is the US Gov website definitive answer....

DO I NEED TO BRING A PRINTOUT OR DIGITAL COPY OF MY TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION TO THE AIRPORT?

 

No. DHS will be able to communicate a traveler's ESTA status to the carriers. However, DHS recommends that travelers print out the travel authorization application response in order to maintain a record of their traveler authorization application number and to have confirmation of their ESTA status.

U.S. regulation does NOT require a Visa Waiver Program (VWP) traveler to present a printed copy of the ESTA authorization page in order to travel. However, it is recommended that you print a copy for your records. If you did not receive or cannot locate your application number, you may retrieve the application through the ESTA website by entering your passport number, country of citizenship, passport issuance date, passport expiration date, and date of birth.

You technically don't need a paper copy, but some airlines and cruiselines have asked for it because they don't have the ability to scan the passport for it.  There was a big story a year or so ago about a family being denied boarding of an NCL ship.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Cruise Junky

[Extra Kim]

I have never been asked to show a paper copy of my Electronic System for Travel Authorization. I have entered the USA, 18 times, if you count San Juan and St Thomas during cruises then it's 22 times, between 2012 and 2019. I have had four different Esta's.

[SRF]

21 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

When we fly,  passports are always checked but they have rarely checked for the necessary visa's, except for India and the US.

 

Leaving the US, they ALWAYS check for visas.

 

Then there was the one time I was flying from the US to Port Moresby.  I did not have an Australian visa, as I was just transiting.  TOTALLY forgetting, I was arriving in Sydney, flying to Brisbane, then on to New Guinea.  Oh well, it worked out.

 

Also had an issue with Australian customs, as I was carrying food.  Once I pointed out I was going to New Guinea immediately, the lady said, "Oh, I see why you are carrying food, have a nice trip." 😄

 

[sverigecruiser]

3 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

You technically don't need a paper copy, but some airlines and cruiselines have asked for it because they don't have the ability to scan the passport for it.  There was a big story a year or so ago about a family being denied boarding of an NCL ship.

 

The strange thing is that I was in the US! They shouldn't have allowed me to enter the US if my ESTA wasn't okay!

[John Bull]

On 3/12/2019 at 6:49 PM, John Bull said:

 

 

I wonder what others have experienced. 

 

JB 

 

So, some have had the same experience as me - never been asked to produce their paper ESTA.

But Fiona is not alone in being asked to produce it.

 

The only conclusion that I can come to is that some us look angelic and trustworthy,  but others are clearly very shady and suspicious-looking characters.

 

What say you, Fiona  

 

JB  

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Leaving the US, they ALWAYS check for visas.

 

Then there was the one time I was flying from the US to Port Moresby.  I did not have an Australian visa, as I was just transiting.  TOTALLY forgetting, I was arriving in Sydney, flying to Brisbane, then on to New Guinea.  Oh well, it worked out.

 

Also had an issue with Australian customs, as I was carrying food.  Once I pointed out I was going to New Guinea immediately, the lady said, "Oh, I see why you are carrying food, have a nice trip." 😄

 

As long as you declare it and the food is commercially packaged (processed) food, it is generally allowed. Glad it worked out.

[MicCanberra]

58 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

So, some have had the same experience as me - never been asked to produce their paper ESTA.

But Fiona is not alone in being asked to produce it.

 

The only conclusion that I can come to is that some us look angelic and trustworthy,  but others are clearly very shady and suspicious-looking characters.

 

What say you, Fiona  

 

JB  

Yes, like most policy enforcement it depends on the  staff member and maybe also the person.

[FionaMG]

15 hours ago, John Bull said:

What say you, Fiona  

Now there's a challenge! 

 

With the caveat that it's largely speculation on my part...

 

I think being asked to produce them when checking in for our flights is probably down to ****-covering by the airline (TAP) to try and allay the risk of inadvertently boarding someone who might be refused entry on arrival. (I believe the airlines get fined if this happens?) However, I may be being unfair given that we start our journey at our local airport where 99% of the traffic consists of low-cost flights within Europe. I suppose it is possible that the check-in agents here genuinely have no other way of verifying our ESTAs than asking to see them. I don't know if folks who start their journey in Lisbon are asked to produce them at check-in.

 

Having to show them again at the pre-boarding gate check is possibly due to over-zealous interpretation of the US's enhanced security requirements and/or further ****-covering in case anyone has managed to sneak past the check-in agents.

 

I'm blaming DH for us being asked to produce them on arrival in the US. He is Portuguese. Portugal is known, for want of a better term, as a "people-exporter". The population of Portugal is roughly 10 million but there are another 5 million Portuguese nationals scattered around the world and of these one million are in the US. There could very well be more who are there illegally. However, as I mentioned before, we were not asked to show them on arrival last November but that was our second entry on the same ESTAs, which may be significant. We also did not get stamps in our passports last November and I did not even have to do the fingerprint thing, although DH did. (I travelled on a UK passport.)

 

And I am as flummoxed as Sverige as to why we were asked to show them when checking in for our cruise. I agree that that seems to be completely senseless.

 

As a relevant aside, DS recently flew from London to Los Angeles and was not asked to produce any documentation other than his passport. He too was travelling on a UK passport.

 

[ollienbertsmum]

On 3/9/2019 at 10:16 PM, LHT28 said:

Yes effective Jan 1st 2021

 

 

I would apply  before  the non refundable portion of your trip kicks in just incase  you are not approved ....that is just me though

 

 

Most people would no doubt be approved.  There are always some people who attempt to travel who have not taken into some previous brush with authorities.  Having a pre-entry check as LHT says prior to having paid the non-refundable portion of the bill could also advantage those who did not realise how long some things stick.