ESTA for the USA: cost, processing time and how to apply (2026)
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P. LauroreCo-founder & Travel and Credit Card Insurance ExpertLast updated: 25 September 2026Do you need an ESTA to travel to the United States?
Yes. With a full British citizen passport you need an ESTA for any trip to the United States of 90 days or less, whether for tourism, business or transit. The official fee is $40.27 and most decisions arrive by email within 72 hours, so you can apply below in about ten minutes.
An ESTA is not a visa. It is an electronic travel authorisation under the Visa Waiver Program, and it is required whether you arrive by air, by sea or overland from Canada or Mexico. It does not guarantee entry: the border officer decides when you land.
What this page adds to the usual ESTA guides: the exact conditions our visa partner applies to a British file, the legal basis of the fee, the entry rules that catch UK passport holders specifically, and our own measured prices for cover in the United States, in pounds, from a market that offers British travellers far less choice than most people expect.
Question | Answer for a British citizen passport |
Document | ESTA, Electronic System for Travel Authorization |
Nature | An online authorisation, not a visa |
Purposes covered | Tourism, business, transit |
Stay per entry | 90 days maximum |
Validity | 2 years from issue, or until your passport expires if sooner |
Entries | Multiple, throughout the validity period |
Official fee | $40.27 per traveller; $10.27 is still charged if you are refused |
Decision | By email; most arrive within 72 hours |
Apply at the latest | 2 days before departure in the box below; the US authorities recommend 72 hours |
Passport | A full British citizen e-passport, valid for your stay |
Where to apply | In the box below, with your file checked; or on your own via the official portal |
Sources checked | 25 September 2026 (Federal Register, GOV.UK, our visa partner) |
- My passport
- United Kingdom
- Stay per visit
- 90 days
- Valid for
- 2 years
- Entries
- Multiple entries
ESTA
- Government fee
- €40 (US$40)
- Service fee
- €39
Service fee refunded if refused
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Who can apply, and for what kind of trip?
The British passport is one of 41 nationalities our visa partner accepts for this authorisation, alongside your closest neighbours: Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Norway among them. It covers three purposes, tourism, business and transit, for a maximum of 90 days per entry.
One rule catches British travellers more than any other nationality, and it is the reason to read this section before you pay. GOV.UK is explicit that the Visa Waiver Program requires a full "British citizen" passport. The other British nationality classes do not qualify: British National (Overseas), British Overseas Citizen, British Overseas Territories Citizen, British Subject and British Protected Person all need a visa from the US embassy instead. Check the wording on the front of your passport before you start, not after.
Business means business in the strict sense: signing contracts, placing orders, attending a conference or meeting clients. Paid work, an internship or a course of study requires a consular visa, as does any stay beyond 90 days. Our partner applies no age limit: the authorisation is individual, and every traveller needs their own, infants included.
- A full British citizen e-passport: Every UK passport issued since 2006 is biometric; an emergency travel document does not qualify for the Visa Waiver Program.
- A stay of 90 days or less: Tourism, visiting family, business in the strict sense, or simply transiting to another country.
- Arriving by air, sea or land: The authorisation is required at the Canadian and Mexican land borders just as it is at airports.
- A ticket or itinerary out of the country: You must be able to show that you will leave the United States at the end of your stay.
- Travel to Cuba on or after 12 January 2021: GOV.UK is explicit: a visit to Cuba since that date rules out the ESTA and you must apply for a visa instead.
- Travel to Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen since March 2011: The same GOV.UK guidance applies, with narrow exceptions examined case by case.
- A British passport that is not a British citizen passport: BN(O), British Subject, British Overseas Citizen, British Overseas Territories Citizen and British Protected Person holders need a consular visa.
- Work, an internship, study or a stay beyond 90 days: These require the matching visa from the US embassy, applied for months in advance.
What does an ESTA cost: the official fee and an assisted application?
The official ESTA fee is $40.27 per traveller, whatever website you go through. It is the sum of three amounts set in American law: $17 for travel promotion, $10.27 for processing and $13 added by the 2025 budget act. If you are refused, the $10.27 processing share is still charged and the rest is not taken.
That figure rose twice in a year, from $21 to $40 on 30 September 2025 and then to $40.27 on 1 January 2026 through the annual inflation adjustment written into the law. The Federal Register notice of 19 November 2025 states it in those exact terms. A guide still quoting $21 has not been updated in a year. The official portal esta.cbp.dhs.gov, checked on 25 September 2026, is the only site authorised by the US authorities to collect that amount without a service charge, and you can file there yourself.
The assisted application in the box above adds a service fee, shown separately from the official amount and refunded if the authorities refuse your file. The total per traveller is calculated live, so we do not copy it here and let it go stale. What the service fee buys is not the authorisation, it is the file: a form in plain English rather than an American administrative questionnaire, a check by specialists before submission, and follow-up until the document arrives.
Applying on your own | Assisted application (the box above) | |
Government fee | $40.27, fixed in US dollars by American law and readjusted every 1 January | The same amount, shown separately in the box at the day's rate |
Service fee | None | Shown separately; refunded if you are refused |
Form | American administrative wording, on the government portal | Plain English, with the questions explained |
File check | None: a typing error costs a second application | Checked by our partner's specialists before submission |
Decision | You check the portal yourself with your application number | By email, most within 24 to 72 hours, with online tracking |
When you pay | On submission, by card | On submission, secure payment, total shown before you confirm |
If you are refused | $10.27 kept, the rest is not taken | Service fee refunded; the government fee is non-refundable, as on the portal |
A site that charges you £80 or £100 without showing the $40.27 that goes to the US government is hiding the only figure that matters. The test is simple: the official fee should appear, in dollars, next to the service fee.
How long does a decision take, and when should you apply?
Most decisions arrive in under 72 hours. That is the figure the US Department of Homeland Security uses when it recommends applying at least three days before departure. Some applications are approved within minutes, but nothing guarantees it.
Our visa partner applies two rules that are stricter than the portal: it will not accept a file within 2 days of departure, and it does not issue authorisations at the weekend. In practice, a Monday departure is prepared before the Friday. There is no paid fast-track on this route, whatever some sites suggest: the timing belongs to the US authorities.
The sensible rule fits in one sentence: apply as soon as your tickets are booked, and at the latest a week before you travel. An application can sit pending for up to 72 hours before it turns into an authorisation or a refusal, and a refusal leaves you time to apply for a visa at the embassy, which takes several weeks. No approval rate is published by the authorities; be wary of any site that quotes one.
How long does it last, and how many trips does it cover?
The authorisation is valid for 2 years from the date it is issued, which is 730 days in our partner's system, for an unlimited number of entries of up to 90 days each. It expires earlier if your passport expires first, because it is tied electronically to that passport.
A new application is required whenever your situation changes: a new passport, a change of name, of gender or of nationality, or a different answer to any of the security questions. For each new trip within the validity period you simply update your flight number and your address in the United States online, and travel with the passport named in the application.
Passport validity is the point the forms treat differently. American law generally requires a passport valid for six months beyond your intended departure from the United States, and our partner asks for those six months by default; GOV.UK states that a British passport need only be valid for the length of your stay. If your passport expires within six months, renew it before you apply rather than after: you will avoid paying twice.
The 90 days are counted per entry and cannot be extended from inside the country. A trip to Canada or Mexico and back does not reset the clock: time spent in either neighbour still counts against your authorised stay when you re-enter the United States. For a longer stay, the consular visa is the only route.
How do you apply, step by step?
An ESTA application is completed entirely online, in about ten minutes per traveller: you check your route and the price in the box above, you fill in a form in plain English, you attach a photo, you pay, and the authorisation reaches you by email once specialists have checked the file.
- Check your route and the price in the box above
British passport, destination United States: the total per traveller appears there with the government fee and the service fee shown separately. - Fill in the form
Your identity and passport number exactly as printed on the document, your contact details, your employer, the address of your first night in the United States, an emergency contact, then the security questions from the official form. - Add a photo for each traveller
One photo or selfie against a plain background per person, children included. It is the one mandatory attachment. - Pay online
Secure payment of the total displayed; it does not change after you confirm. - Let the specialists check the file
Our partner checks that your answers are consistent before sending the application to the US authorities, which avoids a refusal caused by a typing error. - Receive the authorisation by email
Most decisions arrive within 24 to 72 hours; you can follow the application online in the meantime. - Travel with the passport you declared
The authorisation is tied to it. Before you leave, check that your flight number and address are up to date.
The official portal exists and works: $40.27, no service fee, in American administrative English and with no one checking your answers. If you take that route, check the exact address of the site before you pay, because commercial copies of the form are numerous and rarely transparent about their charges.
What do you need before you start the form?
The file comes down to two mandatory items, a biometric passport and a photo of the traveller, plus the information the ESTA form asks you to type in. Get them together before you begin: the application is completed in one sitting.
- A British citizen e-passport
Valid for the length of your stay. Our partner asks by default for six months' validity beyond your departure from the United States, so check the expiry date first. - A photo or selfie of each traveller
One per person against a plain background, children included. It is the only mandatory attachment. - The address of your first night in the United States
The name and full address of the hotel, the rental or the person putting you up. - Your contact details and employer
Your UK address, email, telephone, and your employer's details where relevant. - An emergency contact
Someone reachable while you are travelling, in the UK or elsewhere. - Your answers to the security questions
Health, convictions, travel to the countries listed above. A yes does not bar you from travelling but points you towards the consular visa. - A payment card
To pay the total shown in the box at the time you submit.
The situations that fall outside the online file, a stay of more than 90 days, employment, an internship, study, a visit to Cuba or an earlier refusal, all require a consular visa. This page does not sell it: it is applied for at the US embassy in London, with an interview, and needs several months of notice.
What are the health and customs rules on arrival?
No vaccination is required or specifically recommended for the United States in our visa partner's data, which refers to the country fact sheets published by the CDC. Customs, on the other hand, sets precise allowances, recorded on 4 September 2026.
Item | Rule on arrival for a non-resident |
Alcohol | 1 US quart, about 0.95 litre, duty-free from age 21; some states tax quantities above that; absinthe and other drinks containing Artemisia absinthium are prohibited |
Tobacco | 200 cigarettes, or 100 cigars, or 2 kg of smoking tobacco, from age 21; Cuban tobacco is admitted only if bought in Cuba for personal use |
Currency | No limit, but any sum above $10,000 in cash or monetary instruments must be declared on arrival and on departure; gold coins and small quantities of gold must be declared on arrival |
Medicines and drugs | Narcotics, cannabis and other dangerous drugs are prohibited, even where bought legally elsewhere |
Two points worth knowing for a British traveller: US customs takes no interest in your medicine bag as long as the medicines are in their original packaging and in personal quantities, but cannabis remains prohibited at the federal border even if it is legal in the state you land in. And the $10,000 declaration applies to the total carried by the family, not per person.
What happens if your application is refused or delayed?
A refusal does not close the United States to you, it changes the procedure: the only route the US authorities provide is then a visa application at the embassy. On the money, the rule is clear: $10.27 stays with the government, the rest is not taken, and the service fee on an assisted application is refunded to you.
Reasons for refusal are not communicated, but the grounds for exclusion are public: a visit to Cuba on or after 12 January 2021, a stay in one of the eight countries listed above since March 2011, a yes to one of the security questions, or an earlier refusal. A simple typing error in a passport number can also block a file, which is exactly what our partner's check is there to prevent.
A pending application is not a refusal. The status can stay open for up to 72 hours; if you are travelling in less than three days, contact our partner's support rather than submitting a second application, which would be charged again.
The $10.27 processing share is not refundable, on the official portal or anywhere else. The service fee on an assisted application is refunded. Keep the refusal notification: you will need it for the consular application, and your insurer may ask for it.
What cover do you need once your authorisation is approved?
The authorisation covers nothing medical, and the NHS stops at the UK border. This is the part of the trip that can actually ruin you: a single emergency room visit in the United States runs to several thousand dollars, and a serious hospital stay into the hundreds of thousands.
Our own destination grid sets the floor for the United States at the equivalent of €1,000,000 of medical cover, because private care there is among the most expensive in the world and the legal system among the most litigious. Here is the uncomfortable part, and you will not read it on a comparison site: no policy available to a UK resident on our comparator comes close to that floor. The best of them covers well under half. We would rather tell you that than pretend the market is better than it is, and the cards below show each policy's own limit, converted to pounds at today's rate.
The UK market is also far narrower than the French one. On 25 September 2026 we priced 3 policies open to a UK resident for a week in the United States, against 15 for a resident of France. The contracts themselves are written in euros, so the limits on the cards below are converted to pounds at the day's rate and move slightly with it.
That leaves a genuine choice between three, and it is not really about the price. Safe Start carries the highest medical limit of the three and is the only one that covers pre-existing conditions, which matters more in the United States than anywhere else. WorldSecure Platinum is the only one with cancellation cover, set against the price of your trip, and the only one that includes extreme sports; it accepts travellers up to 65. WorldSecure Basic is much the cheapest at £22.76 for the week, but read its two limits before you take it: it is open only to travellers under 40, and it has no cancellation cover at all. Each policy's exact limits are on its card below.
Our pick for a trip to the United States
If you want the most medical cover a UK resident can actually buy for the United States, Safe Start is the one: the highest limit of the three, direct billing so you never advance a hospital bill, repatriation at actual cost, and pre-existing conditions covered, which neither of the others offers. It is the dearest of the three for a week, and on this destination that is the trade we would make.<br><br>If your trip is expensive and you would rather protect the money than the medical limit, WorldSecure Platinum is the only one of the three with cancellation cover, and it adds extreme sports. WorldSecure Basic is the budget option and genuinely cheap, but check two things before you take it: you must be under 40, and it pays nothing if you cancel. The cards below show today’s price and each policy’s limits for your dates.
Included coverage
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Prices for 1 traveller aged 34, 7 days in the United States (24 to 30 November 2026), departing from the UK, without the cancellation option. Real HelloSafe quotes captured on 25 September 2026 for a UK resident, in pounds sterling. Your own price depends on your age, the length of your trip and the options you choose.<br>Policy limits are set in euros in the contracts themselves, even though the premium is charged in pounds.
HelloSafe is available as an app inside ChatGPT. Install it from the Apps tab in ChatGPT, then type @HelloSafe followed by your destination and your dates to compare travel insurance.
What does cover for the United States cost, by traveller?
Cover for the United States runs from £22.76 for one traveller for a week to £340.36 for a family of four, on our quotes of 25 September 2026. Age and length of trip move the price far more than anything else, and the cheapest option disappears entirely once you turn 40.
Traveller | Cheapest | Median | Most cover | Key point |
Solo 34 years old, 7 days | £22.76 WorldSecure Basic | £50.93 | £85.09 Safe Start | WorldSecure Basic is limited to under-40s; Safe Start buys the highest medical limit on offer. |
Family 2 adults 35 and 34, 2 children aged 5, 7 days | £91.03 WorldSecure Basic | £203.74 | £340.36 Safe Start | The adults must both be under 40 for the cheapest option to apply. |
Senior 65 years old, 7 days | £85.09 Safe Start | n/a, only 2 policies | £170.18 WorldSecure Platinum | Only 2 of the 3 policies still accept a 65-year-old, and the cheapest is the one with the highest medical limit. |
Long stay 25 years old, 30 days | £77.17 WorldSecure Basic | £135.83 | £166.22 Safe Start | Thirty days costs roughly three times seven days, not four. |
Same prices as the table above: a UK resident travelling to the United States, departing 24 November 2026, 7 days except the long stay (30 days). Real HelloSafe quotes captured on 25 September 2026.
These are real quotes, calculated on the day this page was updated. The price you are shown depends on your age, how long you are going for and the options you add, so treat the table as the shape of the market rather than as your quote.
Your questions about travelling to the United States
$40.27 in official fees per traveller since 1 January 2026: $17 for travel promotion, $10.27 for processing and $13 added by the 2025 US budget act. If you are refused, only the $10.27 processing share is charged. The assisted application on this page adds a service fee, shown separately in the box and refunded if the authorities refuse your file.
No. The only official site is the US government portal esta.cbp.dhs.gov, where the application costs $40.27 with no service fee. The box on this page is an assisted application handled by our licensed visa partner: a form in plain English, a check of your file by specialists, follow-up until the document arrives, and the service fee refunded if the authorities refuse you.
For the file, not for the authorisation. The service fee pays for a form in plain English, a check that your answers are consistent before submission, email follow-up and support until the document is issued. A typing error on the official portal costs you a second application at $40.27; the check is exactly what prevents that. If you are comfortable with an American administrative questionnaire, the official portal is enough.
No, and this is the rule that catches most people. GOV.UK states that the Visa Waiver Program requires a full British citizen passport. British National (Overseas), British Subject, British Overseas Citizen, British Overseas Territories Citizen and British Protected Person holders are not eligible and must apply for a visa at the US embassy instead. Check the nationality printed in your passport before you apply.
You apply for a visa at the US embassy: that is the only route the US authorities provide after a refusal, with an interview and a wait of several weeks. On the money, $10.27 stays with the government, the rest is not taken, and the service fee on an assisted application is refunded. Keep the refusal notification, you will need it for the consular application.
Yes. The authorisation is individual, our visa partner applies no age limit, and the total in the box is per traveller. Every child needs their own biometric passport and their own photo against a plain background. A child included on a parent’s passport cannot travel under the Visa Waiver Program.
As soon as your trip is booked, and at the latest a week before you leave. The US Department of Homeland Security recommends a minimum of 72 hours, most decisions arrive within that time, and our partner will not accept a file within 2 days of departure and does not issue authorisations at the weekend: for a Monday departure, apply before the Friday.
Yes. The authorisation is tied to the number of the passport you declared. A new passport, a change of name, of gender or of nationality, or a different answer to the security questions all require a fresh application at the full price. If your passport expires before the two years are up, the authorisation expires with it.
Yes. Transit is one of the three purposes the authorisation covers, alongside tourism and business, and there is no transit-without-formality route through American airports: even without leaving the terminal you pass through immigration. A stopover on the way to Canada, Mexico or South America therefore needs the same $40.27 authorisation as a holiday.
Yes. The authorisation is required whether you arrive by air, by sea or overland, and our partner confirms it applies at the Canadian and Mexican land border posts. Note too that the 90 days do not restart after a trip into either neighbour: that time still counts against your authorised stay.
No. The stay is capped at 90 days per entry with no extension possible from inside the country, and the authorisation excludes all paid work, internships and enrolment at an educational institution. Those situations require a consular visa from the US embassy, which takes several months to arrange.
No. No insurance is asked for in the application or at the border. It still matters more here than almost anywhere else: the NHS stops at the UK border, and American private healthcare is among the most expensive in the world. Cover for a week in the United States starts at £22.76 on our comparator, and our own grid recommends the equivalent of €1,000,000 of medical cover for this destination, which no policy available to a UK resident currently comes close to.