If you want to enjoy the benefits of an ESTA visa to the USA then first you need to check out whether your country is being enlisted within the list of ESTA-eligible countries or not. If it is not on the given list then you will not be able to receive an ESTA visa for your travel to the United States.
Eligibility requirements:
If any country wants to be a part of the visa-waiver program then it needs to prove its eligibility first. Some of the most vital eligibility criteria that should be essentially fulfilled by the concerned country are as follows:
- The country should issue electronic passports for travelers. These passports can be easily accessed online and they are being used for serving temporary stays at United-States.
- The country should have enhanced and upgraded law enforcement and it should share data with the USA in quite a secure manner.
- The refusal rate of visitor-B visas should be below three percent and this percentage should be maintained in a consistent manner.
- Whether issued or blank but stolen or lost passports should be reported timely.
The country should be capable of maintaining improved document-related security standards, border control, law enforcement, and counter-terrorism.
After fulfilling the above requirements, the US government will ultimately decide whether the country should be included in the visa-waiver program or not. To be more precise, VWP designation is not guaranteed by the fulfillment of these objectives rather government’s decision is the main thing out here.
- ESTA-eligible countries receive innumerable advantages with participation in the visa-waiver program. These countries can now get a golden chance of establishing a healthy relationship with the United States. Every year, these countries send a lot of people to the United States for various reasons like education, business, or just for recreation.
- Healthy relation with the USA also plays a great role in improving the economic condition of these countries. Maximum people from these countries are now moving to the USA for job offers. This is how the employment rate of these countries is continuously going on increasing like anything. Moreover, trade-relation with the USA is also getting stronger day by day due to this amazing program.
- Countries eligible for ESTA can now allow native fellows to move to the USA freely without experiencing any hassle of having a visa. Now, without a visa, you can move from your country to the USA as many times as you wish. This is really quite a great advantage for any country. Moreover, the tourism or travel industry of these countries also gets highly benefited from a visa-waiver program.
- Since travelers from these countries can now move to the USA in a hassle-free manner for recreational-trips therefore the tourism industry out here has received great success as a result of the same. Electronic travel authorization has made USA-tour more convenient and easier than ever. Under the visa-waiver program electronic-visa, the approval rate is higher and this is why travelers can easily get eligibility for moving to the USA without any hindrances.
Some of the ESTA-eligible countries are Greece, Germany, France, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Chile, Brunei, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Andorra, Italy, Japan, Ireland, Hungary, Iceland, Singapore, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, South-Korea, Taiwan, United-Kingdom, Netherlands, Monaco and many more.