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It literally tells you > Your travel authorization has been approved and you are authorized to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. It t

It literally tells you > Your travel authorization has been approved and you are authorized to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. It then goes on to say (but this is the same for visas as well): > This does not guarantee admission to the United States; a Customs and Border protection (CBP) officer at a port of entry will have the final determination.

ubernostrum 9y ago
I'm not disagreeing that the web page says that. But what it says is terrible inaccurate wording. ESTA simply determines whether you're someone who is, in general, eligible for visa-free travel (which is primarily determined by your country of citizenship -- everything else involved in ESTA is secondary to that). It doesn't grant a visa or guarantee anything about being allowed in. Australia uses an almost-identical system (IIRC the US one is based on Australia's).
- germanier 9y ago
  But what the web page says is exactly what the parent comment complained about. Saying "you are free to travel" and then, without notifying you, deny you boarding is not a nice thing to do (even if it happens for a very valid reason). It just shows the careless attitude of whoever designed that system.
  - ubernostrum 9y ago
    You are saying: "But the webpage said this!" I am saying: "I agree with you that the webpage said this. The webpage should not say that, because that is not accurate or useful." In your pursuit of antagonizing someone who agreed with you, you have now devolved into trying to nitpick details of a program you clearly don't actually understand, so I'd suggest you just accept that when I said I agreed with you that the wording was bad I did in fact mean it, and stop now.
    - aardshark 9y ago
      Not accurate or useful would be an apt description of your comments here.
- dx034 9y ago
  An ESTA can be denied and there are checks in place. The approval process can sometimes take a day or more. So it's not just checking if you are eligible, they also determine if they assume that you would be granted entry to the country. Since it's valid for 2 years there can obviously be changes after you've been granted the ESTA.

ubernostrum 9y ago

I'm not disagreeing that the web page says that. But what it says is terrible inaccurate wording. ESTA simply determines whether you're someone who is, in general, eligible for visa-free travel (which is primarily determined by your country of citizenship -- everything else involved in ESTA is secondary to that). It doesn't grant a visa or guarantee anything about being allowed in. Australia uses an almost-identical system (IIRC the US one is based on Australia's).

germanier 9y ago
But what the web page says is exactly what the parent comment complained about. Saying "you are free to travel" and then, without notifying you, deny you boarding is not a nice thing to do (even if it happens for a very valid reason). It just shows the careless attitude of whoever designed that system.
- ubernostrum 9y ago
  You are saying: "But the webpage said this!" I am saying: "I agree with you that the webpage said this. The webpage should not say that, because that is not accurate or useful." In your pursuit of antagonizing someone who agreed with you, you have now devolved into trying to nitpick details of a program you clearly don't actually understand, so I'd suggest you just accept that when I said I agreed with you that the wording was bad I did in fact mean it, and stop now.
  - aardshark 9y ago
    Not accurate or useful would be an apt description of your comments here.
dx034 9y ago
An ESTA can be denied and there are checks in place. The approval process can sometimes take a day or more. So it's not just checking if you are eligible, they also determine if they assume that you would be granted entry to the country. Since it's valid for 2 years there can obviously be changes after you've been granted the ESTA.