What Happens When You Accidentally Check “Terrorist” on Your Visa Application

The United States Customs and Border Protection Visa Waiver Program allows eligible travelers from 38 countries to visit the US without a visa, instead granting travel authorizations through ESTA (the Electronic System for Travel Authorization). One woman found her application flagged when she accidentally answered a key question incorrectly.

Travelers from countries covered by the United States Visa Waiver Program might chuckle when they reach a certain question on the automated questionnaire that determines their eligibility for authorization to travel to America without a visa.

The question on the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) form reads: “Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?” It would appear to be a self-defeating question, since no one intending to engage in terrorism would actually check yes.

But Mandie Stevenson, a UK citizen with travel plans to New York City, found that Customs and Border Protection treats this question with dead seriousness. Her online application for ESTA status was rejected when she accidentally checked “yes” as her answer.

She spoke to the BBC about the mistake, saying she believed it occurred because her tablet crashed as she was filling out the application, perhaps causing a glitch. “I believe I ticked ‘no’ and then when I have scrolled down to click confirm, I think it has nudged and moved,” she says.

Stevenson ended up having to make an appointment with the US embassy in London for a full visa application in order to correct the mistake, an expenditure of time and money that ESTA was originally supposed to help bypass. Adding to Stevenson’s stress was the fact that she is currently in treatment for breast cancer and has a strict schedule of scans every 12 weeks. Because the embassy could not expedite her visa after it was approved in time for her original trip, she ended up having to rebook her arrangements, which cost nearly £800.

According to the embassy, “it was the worst box you could have ticked.” Stevenson reports that she is happy the misunderstanding is cleared up and excited to finally make her New York City trip.

[Image Source: Nick Youngson]