ESTA for the United States: official fee, who needs it, where to apply
Independent site, not a government service: you apply only on the official CBP site, esta.cbp.dhs.gov.
Pick your passport and the number of travellers: the checker tells you whether you need an ESTA or a visa and gives the official total.
Official total, 1 traveller
€0.00
Nothing to pay for these destinations
United States–
No authorisation needed
Citizens enter with their own passport.
Euro amounts: our conversion at the ECB reference rate of October 23, 2026; you pay in the official currency.
The ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) is the online permission that citizens of the 42 Visa Waiver Program countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Japan and Australia, must hold before boarding a plane or ship to the United States, or before arriving at a land border, for visits of up to 90 days. The official fee is USD 40.62 per person since October 16, 2026, set by the Federal Register notice of October 1, 2026; if the application is refused, USD 10.62 is kept. Children pay the same as adults. The only official application site is esta.cbp.dhs.gov, run by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). An approved ESTA lasts two years or until the passport expires, and it requires an e-passport with a chip. An ESTA is not a visa and does not guarantee entry: a CBP officer decides at the border. Anyone who has been in Iraq, Syria or a designated country since March 1, 2011 cannot use the ESTA and needs a visa.
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Who needs an ESTA
The ESTA is for citizens of the 42 countries in the Visa Waiver Program, listed on the DHS page, among them United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea. They can visit the United States for tourism, family visits or business for up to 90 days without a visa, provided they hold an approved ESTA and an e-passport. Everybody needs their own ESTA, babies included. Citizens of other countries apply for a visa at a US embassy; Canadians and US green card holders need neither.
What the ESTA costs
The Federal Register notice of October 1, 2026 sets the fee at USD 40.62 per approved application from October 16, 2026: USD 17 for travel promotion, USD 10.62 for the cost of running the system and USD 13 added by the 2025 budget law. If CBP refuses the application, only the USD 10.62 system fee is charged. A family of four pays USD 162.48, about €145.16 at the ECB rate of October 23, 2026.
The only official site
CBP runs the application at esta.cbp.dhs.gov. Every other address that offers an ESTA is a private intermediary, whatever its design or its use of the US flag. These sites fill in the same form and add a service charge; the decision still comes from CBP. If a site has already quoted you a price, enter it below to see the mark-up.
Check a price you were quoted
You would pay on top of the official fee
€42.71
2.2 times the official price
| Official, per person | USD 40.62 ≈ €36.29 |
| Official, whole group | €36.29 |
| Price asked, whole group | €79.00 |
Apply only at esta.cbp.dhs.gov
The test is the domain: the official form ends in .dhs.gov. If you paid an intermediary, you can still look up your application on the official site with your passport details to check that it was actually filed.
Who cannot use the ESTA
Federal law, at 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)(12), excludes from the Visa Waiver Program anyone who has been present in Iraq, Syria or a country designated as a state sponsor of terrorism since March 1, 2011, with narrow exceptions for official duties. Those travellers apply for a visa. A previous refusal, an overstay or certain criminal records also lead to a visa application; the status page explains what to do after a refusal.
Validity
An approved ESTA lasts two years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first, and covers any number of trips. A new passport, a change of name or of citizenship means a new application; the validity page has a checker for your own dates.