Regarding the US, as an European the ESTA is tied to the passport, so when it expires (or you lose it and have to renew it), you have to redo it. So yeah, usually it's ~10 years.

Side note: EU is planning to retaliate, and just as US is requiring ESTA from EU citizens traveling to US, in 2024 EU will start to require a similar application caller ETIAS, from US citizens traveling to EU.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Travel_Information_an...

People on twitter seems to think this is the -end- of American tourism for Europe, funny how just bringing the same standards suddenly makes us a no-visiting place.

FFS

It's a power game. Presumably less Americans visit places that require visas since there are enough places that don't. So Americans may not want to go to Europe as much. Currently plenty of European tourists go to America, so maybe that doesn't bother them as much. Pick a third world country like Jamaica. Americans can go there visa free, and Jamaica wants Americans to continue to come, so it stays visa free. However Jamaicans require Visas to go to the US, because the US had decided that it doesn't need to encourage Jamaicans to come to the US, enough already do.

Maybe someone could analyze from 2009-2010 data, did the introduction of ESTA have any effect on how much Europeans traveled to the US.

Americans have many destination options, including America. Any barrier is going to reduce the number somewhat

Presumably it also means some number of Americans are going to be legally prevented from entering Europe when they wouldn't have had any trouble under the old system.

Yeah, it's just hyperventilating. If I'm spending five-digit sums of money on a trip to Europe, an extra $10-20 per person for some electronic nonsense is not going to stop the trip. It's a hassle, sure, but a pretty small one.

Should it be seen as retaliation, or just rational decision to prevent illegal or unwanted migration?

I think you will struggle to find numbers that support a high degree of illegal immigration from the US to the EU, and retaliation, justified or not, is the much simpler explanation. For unwanted but legal immigration, this has no impact.

According to that Wikipedia page, this looks very similar to the ESTA.

Having had to apply for that last year, it's not at all clear to me how that could help prevent any kind of illegal or unwanted migration. It's not rocket science to say that "yeah, you're only visiting for a few days and that yes, you intend to go back".

So I think it absolutely is a political circus, aka retaliation.

Just like during COVID, when at one point cases started taking off in France again, some country (can't remember which, might have been the UK) started asking for a negative test before entering. Wouldn't you know it, the next day it became mandatory for people coming in the other way. Cases hadn't moved in that other country.

Retaliation is basically the default for visas. The data obtained from the ETIAS is no better than what they get from the airlines (APN) or scanning passports at the border.

Not just the US - Brits will have to do it too. Thanks, Nigel!

Not only has the US unilaterally introduced these requirements already 15 years ago, but there are still 3 EU countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Romania) that are not even in the Visa Waiver Program - so I think some "retaliation" is in order...

ESTAs expire after 2 years. It costs $14 and a relatively (compared to an actual Visa) simple online form.

I thought EU citizens no longer need a visa to the US ahead of time at all[0]?

[0] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-...

It's not technically a visa, but you must have an ESTA which is like a pre-approval for a visa and is required for all flights to USA from participating countries. Then on arrival it's up to the border patrol to determine you're validity for entry and issue you with a 90 day "visa".

From your link:

> Travelers must have a valid Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) approval prior to travel and meet all requirements explained below. If you prefer to have a visa in your passport, you may still apply for a visitor (B) visa.

So it's not as complex as the visa process and can be all done online. The ESTA lasts for 2 years (as far as I can remember).

edit: spelling

The ESTA is not a visa and when using the Visa Waiver Program you do not have a visa. The Visa Waiver Program existed before ESTA.

Think of ESTA as an opportunity to search for you in terrorist & crime databases ahead of time, as doing it at the time of the entry is logistically hard.

No Visa in advance but you need to fill out ESTA online a few days prior to your departure.

If you are declined for ESTA you need to apply using the usual process at the embassy/consulate.

> I thought EU citizens no longer need a visa

Overwhelming majority yes, exceptions are citizens of: Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus.

What's different about those three countries?

Not sure about Bulgaria and Cyprus, but in Romania's case having a visa refusal rate of above 3%

From my circle of friends it seems like random chance, and because there is no reason given for the refusal one can only speculate. When I got my B-1/B-2 visa, my interview was very quick (I'd even dare to say closer to 1 minute). Whereas I have a couple of friends that applied for a travel visa and were rejected after being "interrogated" more heavily. When it comes to travel visas, I would assume they would mostly filter for potential illegal immigration, but all those I know that got rejected were pretty well "rooted" in the country.

There might just be the fact that getting an invitation letter from a company is considerably more important than receiving one from anyone else.

Cyprus has a land dispute with the US.

The Americans thought Turkey should run it to avoid them taking up a communist government

There's still un peacekeepers there keeping the conflict quiet iirc

For the US you sometimes might get a visa that's valid only for a year, and in some extreme cases I've seen people receive visas for 30 days surrounding a specific event they were traveling for .

What does this depend on? I (Israeli citizen) always got 10 year visas to the US (now on my 3rd one).

I think B1/B2 visa last of 10 years.

I guess the 30 Days visa are J visa ?

I think 10 years visas are for some "friendly" countries, others get 3 year visas if no 221g procedure was involved.

It's based on a subjective risk assessment. For example, middle aged Indians are usually issued 10 year visas to visit their children in the US.

I (Brazilian) had to get a J1 for a 3-month internship despite having a B1, my sister had a 6-month J1 for another exchange, so I guess it can vary

If it is work or education of any kind (internship falls into that bucket I guess), then B1/B2 won't work.

Visa type is also a factor. F1 and H1B frequently get capped to just 1 year.

I had a 5-year F1 visa for what would normally be a 2-year graduate course.

I was under the impression that 5 years was the norm, considering a lot of undergrad courses (in engineering especially) take about that long to complete.

Grad schools too can take that long if you're aiming for a PhD.

(Although, when you graduate your F1 expires even if there's still time left on it; so you can't continue staying in the US after graduating without obtaining an OPT, or a different type of visa, PR or whatever).

Funnily enough those instances I described are based on Israelis as well.

From what I gather it mostly depends on how the person reviewing your application thinks it's likely you might break your visa terms (stay longer than you should, work when you're not allowed to). Usually happens for younger people or people involved with problematic industries (military etc)