By Pedro Bianco
En esta noticia
Millions of people travel to the United States without a visa thanks to ESTA, the electronic authorization of the Visa Waiver Program. But there is a reason for rejection that catches many people by surprise, because it has nothing to do with criminal records or mistakes on the form, but with something that seems harmless: a trip made years ago.
What is the silent mistake that gets your ESTA rejected
Most people assume that ESTA is rejected for legal problems or for making mistakes when entering the data. But there is a much less well-known cause: having traveled in the past to certain countries.
Under a 2015 law (the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act), a citizen of a country in the program loses the right to use ESTA if they were in certain places, even if it was a tourist, work, or family visit, and even if a lot of time has passed.
What trips will keep you out
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a person becomes ineligible for ESTA if they traveled to or were present, on or after March 1, 2011, in any of these countries:
- Iraq
- Iran
- Syria
- Sudan
- Libya
- Somalia
- Yemen
- North Korea
Added to that list, under a separate rule, is Cuba: anyone who was there on or after January 12, 2021, the date the United States again designated it a “state sponsor of terrorism,” is also generally ineligible.
Few people know it: the dual nationality factor
There is a second reason, which does not even depend on having traveled. Anyone who is a citizen of a Visa Waiver Program country but also has the nationality of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, or North Korea is ineligible for ESTA.
The same applies to those who are nationals of a program country and, at the same time, of Cuba. In these cases it does not matter whether the person set foot in those countries or not: dual nationality alone triggers the restriction.
The two details that make it “silent”
What makes this reason especially treacherous are two details. The first: an already approved ESTA can be revoked. If CBP later detects a trip or a dual nationality covered by the rule, it cancels the authorization and notifies the email address listed in the application. In other words, you can have an ESTA approved today and lose it before traveling.
The second: there are exceptions, but they are very limited. Traveling to those countries does not count against you if it was done to perform military service in the armed forces of a program country or to carry out official duties as a full-time employee of a government of a program country.