lonelycrowd

Looks like we have the first report of a honest Flyertalker disclosing his travel to Iran to a US consulate in a VWP country in the Destinations>USA forum, and it apparently didn't go so well. It's not clear from the post how much travel to Iran contributed to the conoff's decision - insufficient ties to Norway were cited by the officer - but the fact that s/he was questioned extensively about the Iran trip in Oslo suggests that at least some US officials are seeing Iran's inclusion in HR 158 as something more serious than election-year political signaling.

mpkz

I'll have a report tomorrow of how the interview goes

alanR

Perhaps Iran is friendlier to foreigners

Many of them were supporters of the US in the era of the Shah - so doubly ironic

mpkz

No problems for me. They asked me "when did you visit", "how long where you there", "what was the purpose,of your visit" and "how did you find it?" (the first two probably because the visa was in my old passport) and granted me a visa.

GUWonder

Is the property in which you reside legally listed with you as the owner of home?

Tell me about it. Actually, no need. I used to see it myself during and after the era of the Shah, including that coming from the Persian Brits and Persian French now denied the ability to again use the US VWP. The irony indeed.

GUWonder

Some in Congress are looking to add more countries to the US VWP blacklist; additional countries making the rounds in Congressional water cooler talk: Libya and maybe Somalia.

mpkz

Yes, but I did not have to prove it with any documentation nor was it asked in the visa application. I'm not sure how public this information is in Finland so I'm not sure if they looked it up somehow.

jms_uk

Do you know if they'll give you a 10-year one?

Small upside is that stay allowed under B1/B2 is usually longer than the one under VWP.

mpkz

Yep 10 years, I asked about it

HasteFlier

They would actually make more sense than Iran! I hope for me they either don't include Somaliland, or don't go beyond the current 2011 something date

Out of curiosiy, is there any restriction to people having travelled to North Korea ?

mpkz

No, and neither to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan or Pakistan, countries that actually regularly produce terrorists and that are much rarer legitimate tourist/business destinations than Iran

None of this makes any sense - I don't care that much, I got my 10 year visa, just annoyed that I'll have to queue at immigration now. But it doesn't help the US as a tourist destination or in terms of national security in any way I can imagine.

akb8812

I'm traveling from Iceland to the US in late March and I just saw that there have been changes to the ESTA program where people that have been to certain countries are now required to have a travel visa.

Now, I should mention that I have NOT been to any of the countries mentioned. I do have an ESTA from 2014 which is valid until late June and I've been to the States twice since it got approved. But now the ESTA process has changed and there are new questions and all that so I'm worried that I need to re apply for a new ESTA because of this. Has anyone seen any info about if everyone needs a new ESTA or do current and valid ones still apply? It seems unlikely that they would make thousands of people reapply but you never know I guess.

Thanks for the help

Kiwi Flyer

While some people may have ESTA authorisation revoked you will be okay.

akb8812

Well I haven't been to any of the affected countries. Basically for some reason my concern is that since they don't know everyone that has been to these countries that they could make people reapply with new questions. Am I just being crazy? lol

http://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/01/21/u...waiver-program

This site says that "Beginning January 21, 2016, travelers who currently have valid Electronic System for Travel Authorizations (ESTAs) and who have previously indicated holding dual nationality with one of the four countries listed above on their ESTA applications will have their current ESTAs revoked." That's not me and I've not recieved any notification that my ESTA is invalid. Looks like the main focus to start with is with the dual nationalities.

"Current ESTA holders are encouraged to check their ESTA status prior to travel on CBP’s website "
I checked over the weekend and it's approved and in good standing.

Fredrik74

Don't worry.

I know a case where a Swedish-Iranian got his ESTA revoked. He received a mail about that so unless you're notified your ESTA is still good to go.