FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - US reopened on 8 November 2021 (& subsequent entry restrictions for non-citizens)
Old Sep 14, 2021, 6:13 am
  #2233  
NWIFlyer
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Originally Posted by nick_n
So it seems that Qatar Airways forwarded my passport details to DHS. I have just tried to apply for a new ESTA, but so far the status is still on "Pending". My GE status however is still "Approved". Does anyone here have any experience of how to best deal with the situation? Should I contact the DHS and describe the situation?
QR will almost certainly have forwarded your passport number and personal details around 72 hours before your flight. The process, in normal times as well, is that the US analyses the API data the airlines send, and then sends an "okay to fly" notification back. The 72 hours is a US requirement to enable the analysis to take place in time.

The US would therefore have expected you to be on the flight, they would have determined you were trying to enter when not entitled, and their method of preventing you doing that was to cancel your ESTA.

You could have written to US CBP after your originally intended flight had landed, explaining the situation as by then they would know you didn't fly anyway. They might well have just restored your existing ESTA. Now you've re-applied it would probably be more sensible just to let it roll through the system - there's no reason to suppose it'll be refused.
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