Launch of Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA)
Kathleen Kraninger,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Screening Coordination, Department of Homeland Security
Foreign Press Center Briefing
Washington, DC
January 9, 2009
11:30 A.M. EST
View Video
MODERATOR: Good morning. Welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. This morning we have Kathleen Kraninger, who’s  Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Screening Coordination at the Department of Homeland Security. She’s here to talk about the launch of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, known by the acronym ESTA.
Without further ado, Deputy Assistant Secretary.
MS. KRANINGER: Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. Of course, as was just said, we’re here to provide a quick update related to the Visa Waiver Program. Of course, that is a program that allows nationals from 35 countries to visit the United States without having to go through the formal visa process. It’s a key program from a tourism standpoint; certainly, in an international relation standpoint for the United States, and it allows about 16 to 20 million visits annually, particularly with the expansion to that 35 countries.
The update today is specifically about the requirement for those individuals traveling under the VWP to obtain a valid ESTA or Electronic System Authorization. And those travelers are required to provide the same information that they provide today in the I-94 Form that they fill out on the plane, and now we’re just asking for that information in advance of travel. Once the individual is approved, they just have to go online to the system. It is on the internet. It’s available. It’s been up since August 1st. It’s a free service. They can provide that information themselves or a third party can fill the form out for them. The approval comes back very quickly; it’s almost immediate. And then the individual is, of course, authorized to come to the United States, and from there will be processed in and is able to do that for business or pleasure without getting a visa.
The ESTA program very briefly, as a reminder, is really a security enhancement to the VWP program. Congress authorized some improvements to the program to ensure its continued success and that we’ve added this as a requirement to get additional information about the people who are expecting to come to the United States so that we can process them. Certainly from a security standpoint, we would like to know who’s coming and some information about them as early as possible.
On the other side of that, there are historically individuals who are not, in fact, eligible to travel under the Visa Waiver Program, who do go through the efforts to come to the United States and find out, of course, at the port of entry, that they’re not eligible. So the other thing that ESTA does is provide that information well in advance so the individual can properly apply for a visa and otherwise come in a lawful manner, and then avoid the hassle of being turned around at the port of entry.
ESTA actually is available in 22 languages today. As I said, it’s been up and running since August 1st, and since that time we’ve had 1.2 million individuals apply for an ESTA with over 99 percent approval and those approvals, again, come very quickly. So it’s hopefully something that’s very convenient for people to use.
We do recommend that the ESTA be filed in advance of travel while you’re still planning it. It’s good for two years. It’s free, so there’s no reason really to wait. We are capable, though, and this has been a confusion point early on, we are capable of processing that ESTA right up until the point of travel, as long as the person can get access to the web.
And in terms of just a couple other key points that have been a question, the system does apply only to those individuals who are traveling under the Visa Waiver Program, so that does not include Canadians or Mexicans. Canadians are in a different status, and Mexicans actually require a visa unless they’re traveling within the border zone.
With that, I’m happy to take – oh, the other key point, of course, is that starting January 12th, which is Monday, we are requiring that this ESTA be obtained. And individuals who are seeking to come to the United States and don’t yet have their ESTA may actually be delayed or detained. Their boarding may be delayed or they may be delayed at the port of entry if they don’t have the ESTA yet, so we really are trying to get the message out and continue to push that out to make sure that travelers are prepared when they come here. We are ready to process people. We are not going to keep individuals out of the country on an absolute basis if they don’t have their ESTA. It’s what we call “informed compliance,” so as we continue to make sure that the traveling public is informed and that the airlines are doing their part to, again, inform travelers so that they meet the requirements, we’re going to continue to, I’m sure, allow people into the country who don’t yet have their ESTA. But we’re encouraging that, and it is a requirement at that point in time. With that, I’m happy to take any questions that you have.
MODERATOR: And if you can please wait for the microphone and state your name and media organization. Ready for questions.
Right here. Gentleman in front.
KRANINGER: Good morning, Jordi Zamora from AFP Agence France Press. A couple of questions. If I understood, while it is good for two years, it means that once you apply for one travel, you have to do – or you want to go – you want to come to this country, then it’s going to be on for two years, valid for two years, even if you come back or go back to your country several times during those two years. And the second one, it seems that if that’s – so is that a problem, the visitor has to apply for a visa? And does it have any influence the fact that you have been rejected for any reason? And now I’m getting another question on my mind. Is there any explanation when you ask online for that – for this authorization, if it’s rejected? So at least three questions.
QUESTION: Fair enough. You might have to remind me of those, since I started reaching for my pen. Yes, it is good for two years. And that validity maintains as long as key information about the person has not changed. If you get a new passport, if you change your name, if you change your gender or your citizenship, those are key information elements that we need an update on, so you would have to apply for a new ESTA if those things change. Otherwise, it’s good for two years, travel in and out, multiple visits. You can be assured of that.
In terms of the second question, what the impact is of a rejection for an ESTA, there are completely legitimate reasons why you are going to be rejected or not approved for an ESTA. One of them being that you intend to study in the United States, for example, things that require a visa, require further information be provided at a different process. So that approval or disapproval for an ESTA is just a referral to the State Department. There’s no negative implication necessarily of that. It just means, you know, you’re not eligible to travel under this particular program. Here is where you need to go to seek that authorization and that approval.
And in terms of the information on the website, it is all there. We’ve got some frequently asked questions and things with respect to what are the implications of applying for this and where does your information go. All of that is available through the website. And certainly if the media asks us questions we haven’t yet put on the website, we’re happy to make sure those are clarified, too, and we have continued to update those FAQs, if you will, based on questions we get from people.
QUESTION: Just further clarification, but there is a – I assume there is going to be an automatic answer then, almost automatic. If there is a rejection and this answer is going to be an explanation or a short explanation or, at least, if it’s – why it’s being rejected?
KRANINGER: There is an explanation in terms of the fact that it just says: This is not approved. It is nearly immediate. For security reasons, in many cases, we don’t want to say exactly why, so it will say: Refer you to the State Department for further action. And in that case, they’re happy to provide you, you know the appropriate information to apply for a visa.
MODERATOR: Next question. Right here.
QUESTION: Hello. My name is Satoshi Ukai from Asahi Shimbum, Japanese newspaper. There are some concerns in my country that people are not fully aware of this problem and the airline companies and the airport authority fear that there will be some troubles when it – starting on Monday. Do you share the same concern? And the second question is a little bit personal. If somebody who has exact same name with me is on the terror watch list, so whenever I make domestic travel, I face a delay. I have to go up to the counter and clear my, like, date of birth and everything. Somebody like me could face delay in – when applying this ESTA.
KRANINGER: On the first case, in terms of what is going to happen on Monday we recognize the concern that there will be delays, given the start of any new program. So we have a lot of experience with this. For example, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative required individuals entering the U.S. by air to have a passport. This goes to January 2007. We have long experience of making sure that we continue to facilitate travel, let legitimate travelers into the country who are unaware of the requirement, and certainly stop those with – for whom we have other interests to stop them. But that is a pretty standard process for us. We call it informed compliance. And we will make sure we continue to facilitate travel. We have worked really closely with the airline industry and certainly with the airports. They bear some responsibility to help us make sure that travelers know of the requirement. But we are right now in, if you will, a glide path in terms of enforcing this requirement, because we recognize we need to continue to do outreach.
One note is that since August, individuals who have entered the United States have been receiving a handout. So they have been personally given notice of this requirement. And so that’s for the last, you know, multiple months. We would expect that those individuals who are fully aware of the program have their ESTA and are applying. So if they aren’t, that begins to raise a question, certainly. First-time travelers, others that we have not yet reached or that the airlines haven’t yet reached should continue to, you know, make their plans, but when they become aware of it, apply for the ESTA. And we’ll continue to work that through and make sure that we get the information out there, both through our paid media campaign, which is actually beginning, as well as the continued outreach we’ve done with you, with the U.S. embassies in these countries, and with foreign embassies here to make sure that the foreign governments are, as well, informing individuals to apply. So we’re aware of the communications needs and are – are pushing out to address them.
And then the second half, just about concerns about you individually or potential hits against the watch list, the biggest challenge that we have is with domestic aviation, because the only information we have about a traveler is part of their name. And so that causes all kinds of issues. Obviously, if they are someone we are looking for, we don’t want to let that person board a flight without ensuring ourselves that that’s not a person of concern.
In the case of ESTA, in the case of international entry, we do have more information about the person, and that makes it easier to separate, you know, the person who is of concern from the person who is not of concern. And that’s something we weighed when we looked at the information that we need to effectively process an ESTA. We do also have a redress system called DHS TRIP, and that is available to anyone who is feeling as though they’ve had a challenge multiple times in entering the United States or in traveling domestically that they think may be related to watch list issues, misidentification, or potentially, you know, real identification. But that individual can apply through DHS TRIP, and we’ll handle each of those cases individually to see what we can do to mitigate that.
MODERATOR: Next question right here.
QUESTION: Hi. Gonzalo Espariz of the German Press Agency. I’ve got two questions. (Coughs.) Excuse me. This period of informal compliance, is there any date for it to end, to finish? When are you planning to enforce it fully? And the second question is, what will happen once you start enforcing it fully? What will happen to the people? People will not be allowed to board the plane in their country, or will it be stopped at the port of entry over here? Thank you.
MS. KRANINGER: We are actually working with the airlines, because they have a requirement to submit manifest information for those individuals who are flying to the U.S. prior to actually taking off, and certainly prior to boarding, in most cases. So that situation allows us to also send back an answer to them as to whether or not a person has an ESTA. And that is an authorization to travel, and that is part of our process. There are a couple of airlines that are already able to get that message back. We’re able to send it to any airline that’s ready to receive it. So we’re working with the airlines to get that information to them. So that will be an enforcement mechanism and there will be a point at which individuals will not be boarding if they do not have an ESTA, and that is not for reasons that are valid. So for example, if you have a VISA, obviously you don’t have an ESTA: you still have a valid authorization to travel to the United States already, through that VISA.
In terms of when exactly we’re going to move in an enforcement posture on this, it depends on a number of factors. I know everyone wants clarity on this. We have the interest, of course, to continue to push the traveling public, once they know about this requirement, to actually apply for the ESTA. And so that’s our interest, is to make sure that the information is available, that people apply, and that we have a high compliance rate. So we’ll continue to balance the compliance rate we see of people entering with the communications efforts we’ve put out there with when the airlines are all ready, you know, to be able to verify this. And then we’ll move forward in that – in that manner towards a full enforcement posture.
MODERATOR: Next question.
QUESTION: Could you name those two airlines which are able to receive already your messages?
MS. KRANINGER: No, I can’t actually. And part of that is just again the timelines of dealing with the different carriers, who can do it and – or, we’re happy to go back and check and see if we can provide that information and how or what, but it won’t affect the traveler.
QUESTION: Sorry, a follow-up which just brings to mind now: I mean, you’re working with the airlines, but do you have to work with all the airlines in the world? Because I might come from a country that doesn’t need a visa, but I might be traveling from Sudan over here on a Sudanese airline, right?
MS. KRANINGER: Any airline that carries passengers to the United States actually has requirements on them under their carriage relationship with the United States. So Customs and Border Protection is the agency that deals with all of those airlines. Part of the requirement is to know if a person they’re carrying is eligible to enter. So they have that incumbent upon them already, and that’s the carriers that we are dealing with. Those are also the carriers that have a manifest requirement on them already and are already electronically submitting that information to us.
MODERATOR: Any other questions? Okay. Well, thank you very much for coming today.
MS. KRANINGER: Thank you.
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