Business Travelers - what to do about expiring ESTAs?

October 11, 2021

Lately, U.S. bound foreign nationals with seemingly valid ESTAs (Electronic Secure Travel Authorization) are having them cancelled either in advance of travel, or in some instances (per Reddit), on the day of their flight to the U.S. Typically the traveler is notified by email that their ESTA has been “changed”, and when they login to the ESTA system run by U.S. Customs & Border Patrol, the ESTA system indicates that the ESTA has expired.

This seems to be connected to the Presidential Proclamations prohibiting direct travel to the U.S. from Ireland/Schengen Zone/UK, even though the impacted travelers are either flying from third countries (having spent at least 14 days there), or are flying from a restricted country accompanied by their US citizen/permanent resident immediate family member. There doesn’t seem to by any pattern behind this, and there is no formal guidance on how to approach it. The good news is that these cancellations aren’t revocations, meaning the traveler hasn’t been refused an ESTA – they can apply again and there are many reports of successes in simply re-applying. In any event, airline check-in agents have access to a 24-hour ESTA confirmation line to enable them to manually discuss a particular traveler’s ESTA with a government employee/contractor. This is a line that is designed to be only used by airline personnel (not the general public). Obviously not an ideal solution, but at this juncture there doesn’t appear to be much more that can be done.

With luck, the current restrictions on travelers entering the U.S. will soon be a thing of the past.