ESTA or Visa for the USA

Immigrate To United States — Types of US Visas — Conditions for immigration to America? ✈️ ✈ 👇👇👇👇👇👇 You wish to go to the United States for your next vacation. You are still hesitating between obtaining an ESTA or a mandatory visa (such as the L1 visa or a B1/visa B2 visa)? To answer this question, you have to take into account the particularities of your trip. The ESTA is not a visa, it does not allow you to do the same things in the United States.

ESTA: the simplest authorization

If you meet certain criteria, we strongly advise you to apply for ESTA authorization. This is a visa waiver, greatly simplifying the steps and formalities to travel to the USA.

Eligibility requirements are as follows:

    A stay not exceeding 90 days;
    Plan a stay for tourism or unpaid professional purposes;
    To have a return travel document;
    Have an electronic or biometric passport;
    Be a national of one of the countries participating in the ESTA program (of which France is a part).

If you meet all these conditions, you can apply for ESTA online and will receive a response within 72 hours maximum. Compared to a visa, the ESTA form is much easier, quicker and cheaper to acquire. The price of the ESTA is sometimes variable depending on the sites and services provided.

VISA USA: for special trips

If your trip does not meet the criteria required to obtain an ESTA, you will have to take the necessary steps to obtain a visa corresponding to the characteristics of your stay. Unlike the ESTA authorization, the process of issuing a visa is much longer and more complicated.

As an example, here are some existing visas:

    B1 visa for business trips ;
    Visa B2 for tourism ;
    F1 Visa for students;
    J1 Visa for internships;
    Visa O for artists;
    And maybe soon the Start-up Program Visa.

Be aware that there are many variations of the Visa because there are almost as many reasons to travel to the United States. In order to obtain one, you will need to contact the American embassy, which will provide you with information on the travel documents for the United States that you will need to provide in order to prepare your application file. Be prepared to be interviewed as well!