Getting into the US

[Homeless Turtle]

Hello again everyone,

I am 1 of 3 Belgians visiting the country and attending BM. We will be taking this opportunity to cross the US to see what it is about, mainly focusing on natural riches.
Now I have a couple of questions:

-We have been told we need to apply on https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/ to enter the US without visa. I have never heard of this, can anyone confirm that?

-My friends have bought return tickets, but I have not. Most likely, I will end up in eastern Canada after about 5 weeks and return home from there. Is there a chance this would turn out to be a problem?

Thanks in advance, I might come up with more questions...

[graidawg]

YES.
to get into america you need an esta or a visa.and you need to have your exit planed or they will NOT let you in. i am talking turning you away at customs not let you in.
you need an address where you are staying, an hotel will do ( the sands regency in Reno is a good address)
if you don't have a return ticket they will NOT let you in the country, as you don't book a hotel in canada so you can show intent to leave (america)

[VultureChow]

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/e ... ogram.html

But as you pointed out, Customs and Immigration generally likes you to have an exit plan.

[Homeless Turtle]

Merde.

I will be staying with friends in Canada, there's no way I can prove that "booking"...

In San Francisco as well, I will visit a friend... Would his address do? We'll be on the road/BM for the rest of those 5 weeks.

[Eric]

I will be staying with friends in Canada, there's no way I can prove that "booking"...

Find the cheapest hotel in the town you'll be staying in. Book a room for a night on the date you plan to arrive - you now have proof you'll be out of America. (this is theory, not fact, but it does show an out-of-US hotel booking, so it, again in theory, should show intent to leave)

[trilobyte]

As others said, you'd need to have the right forms and travel documents as the US gov't requires. It's a great big internet, you should be able to work out some search engine magic to ask those kinds of questions. In the time it took me to type the question into a search engine, this helpful page came up.

My understanding is that they are very wary of people coming into the country without having travel plans sorted out for the return trip. You might want/need to get that part figured out before you get here, or risk being turned away and sent home.

[Homeless Turtle]

Thanks Trilobyte, those websites are often full of jargon and with English being my fourth language, I was hoping to get some perspectives from other travelers/locals in plain English. Even in Dutch, which is my mother tongue, I get lost easily in the endless instructions.
I will definitely check that one out, though!


How about a train ticket from NY to Toronto? I hear it's a beautiful ride, so I was planning to take it anyway. I just hate having to pin a date on it...

EDIT Never mind, that website of yours answered my question:

Travelers with onward tickets terminating in Mexico, Canada, Bermuda or the Caribbean Islands must be residents of these areas.

[Bless]

Hey Homeless Turtle! I grew up in Belgium, lived there for eight years when I was a kid. Good luck with your travels! Hope to you see in the dust.

[AfricanFire]

You will need a ticket back to your home country at some point. It can leave from Canada but you must be able to show you will be leaving.

Once you have that ticket, you should be OK. You can also ask your friends that you will be staying with to write a letter saying something to the effect of "He will be visiting us in Canada and staying with us at (their address) before returning home on (return ticket date)."

They are strict and they WILL turn you away. Canada is also incredibly strict, they'll want to see it too.