US ESTA Services
This idea has been put forward by the Department of Homeland Security by which a person can get hold of an electronic authorization before boarding a flight or cruise to get in the Unites States of America. This does not mean that a person can get inside the country but rather this authorizes them to get on a plane coming to America. This was first effective from January 2009 and it was available as early as august 2008. People have to get hold of a visa waiver program and then go through the ESTA to get in the country. This should all be done before travelling.
Electronic Visa Waiver
The visa waiver is only the first step and once you get hold of this you need to get on the ESTA website and put all the information required by the US law. Some of them are do you have any contagious disease, are you a drug addict, do you suffer from any kind of mental and physical disorder, have you ever committed any criminal activity, have you ever been involved in any kind of terrorist activities, have been deported earlier from USA due to fraud charges, has your US visa ever been cancelled and many others. It should be noted that not all kind of arrests are taken into consideration. Suppose you were arrested for failure of paying parking tickets will not prohibit you from using this facility, but if you were ever arrested for moral turpitude then it is a different story all together. It should be noted that you must not visit the US embassy to clarify this as there are customer service who are trained to clear all your queries.
Electronic Visa Vetting
It has been stated in the official website of ESTA that it is highly recommended that you must apply at least 72 hours in advance of travelling as some of the process takes 72 hours to complete. Once this is done you will receive a travel authorization which will be valid for use for up to a maximum of 2 years or until your passport expires. But, it is necessary to update your destination place and your itineraries with the ESTA website when asked. Since, everything is done using the electronic media you will not be required to carry any paper work. But at the same time it is highly recommended to carry a copy of everything with you and also make a note of the US ESTA services number handy.
The electronic system for travel authorization is a boon for those people who need to travel to US on a short notice. Electronic visa waiver or electronic visa vetting is a service that cannot be used by everyone and it could be only used by the citizens of those countries who are eligible for this service as per the norms of the US government.