Originally Posted by
cedricgerald
There are US DHS people at CDG but I don't believe they take care of ESTA.
Saw them at the boarding gate.
Originally Posted by
San Gottardo
Indeed, no US immigration officers at CDG. Would be nice do pre-clearance like in Canada, Ireland or Abu Dhabi, but no such thing in CDG.
The people that say they work "for the US government": maybe that has changed but the last time I dealt with someone like that it was a lady from greater Paris whom I guess has not seen the US more than three times in her life (if at all) and that barely spoke English. Still she wore a fancy uniform and said that she worked for the US government.
San Gottardo, I believe you are talking about the Securitas staff ?
Cedricgerald, I believe you are confusing with those Securitas people, and those are certainly not US official agents. I have never seen any US official agents (wearing uniforms) at CDG. I'm not saying you're wrong but I took so many flights ex-CDG to the US on AF, DL, UA, CO (at the time they were independent), that I think I could have sampled them at least a few times.
Those Securitas staff are just contracted by some airlines to ask you their so-called security questions (did you pack yourself, has your bag be out of sight since you packed, etc), to give you the custom forms at boarding and to do the additional random search at the gate.
Originally Posted by
cedricgerald
Assume OP did not OLCI.
It's my understanding that you can not OLCI if there is no ESTA for the passport number (this is at least true for AA, entered by mistake an invalid passport number and was asked to do an ESTA first).
You can OLCI without ESTA. You'll be blocked at boarding.
Originally Posted by
cedricgerald
Someone mentionned an ESTA made at the airport on departure date, I thought that ESTA MUST now be made at least XX day(s) before the flight. (Can't remember the number of day, could be 1 or 2).
Originally Posted by
orbitmic
On the question of timing, there is no such obligation to apply x day before. While the US government recommends applying 72 hours before departure (some applications imply a manual check of application credentials), they also explicitly say that one can apply at any time before departure to the US. So there is absolutely nothing preventing one from applying once at the airport, although of course, it cannot be guaranteed that their application will be approved on time for departure hence the 72 hours recommendation.
This (
Orbitmic) is correct.
Originally Posted by
San Gottardo
I think they advise 48 hours. But usually the confirmation pops up immediately. Maybe the 48 hours is to give them time to look a little closer at some applications, with 99% of others clearing immediately. Just a guess though.
You were quoting me for this answer, but that wasn't my remark but
Cedicgerald's
