We, US citizens, were living in the Netherlands in 1986 and we traveled to France, by train, that year. We didn't get or need a visa.

If it's like the ESTA, you get it online. You need an email address, so they can email their confirmation. You need to pay for it by credit card. They ask you some questions, you enter your passport number, and in short order you have it.

No one has ever asked to see my husband's ESTA, but they ask before he boards in Europe whether he has one. I assume US immigration doesn't need to see it; they scan his passport and it would probably be flagged if he didn't have one. Just in case, he printed it and carries it with you is passport.

No one is going to ask to "see" an ESTA. It's Electronic. US Immigration are the ones who issue the ESTA, so of course they can see if he has one or not. He would never even be allowed to board the flight to the US without one, there would never be a situation where he arrives in the US, passport scanned and then flagged if he didn't have one. Airlines get hefty fines for allowing passengers into flights without correct entry documentation.

Odin, I believe that's exactly what I said.

Here's an article in the New York Times that explains the process and makes it clear that this is not a visa. As I expected, it can be obtained easily and quickly online. Just don't forget to do it before your trip!

When the US first instituted the ESTA in 2010, we knew about it but totally forgot to get it for my husband before our next trip to the US. At the airport in Ancona, they asked if my husband had it and we slapped our foreheads. That small airport had no computers we could use, and we didn't have data services on our phones. The desk agent didn't want us to board the plane, which was making a connection in Rome. I talked her into letting us try to find a computer in the Rome airport. Reluctantly, she let us board. In Rome, the only computer they had was a strange contraption that looked like a public telephone, on a column. It was painfully slow and had an old teletype printer. Still, I managed to register my husband and printed out the confirmation. (I didn't realize at the time that he didn't need to show it to immigration in New York.) We made our flight by the skin of our teeth.

My husband always carries his ESTA confirmation with his passport, just in case. We've renewed it several times since then.

Here is an article in the New York Times, which explains the process well, and makes clear that this is not a visa.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/t...er=rss&emc=rss

When the US first instituted the equivalent ESTA in 2010, we knew about it but forgot to register my husband before our next trip to the US. At our local airport, when the desk agent asked my husband if he had the ESTA, we slapped our foreheads. That small airport had no computer we could use, and we didn't have data services on our phone. They didn't want to let us board, but I talked them into allowing us to go as far as Rome so we could try to find a computer in the airport there.

At Fiumicino, there was a computer, a strange contraption on a column that looked like a public phone. It was painfully slow, but I managed to register my husband and print out the confirmation on the incorporated teletype printer. (I didn't realize at the time that he didn't have to show it to immigration in New York.) We made our flight by the skin of our teeth.

My husband carries the confirmation with his passport, just in case there's a problem.

​​​​​This was not irresponsible or lucky on my part. It was a different time back then. This was the norm and it was encouraged, at least implicitly.

Unless you could visit the French embassy in DC, getting the visa in London was actually the safer method. The alternative was to mail away your actual passport to the French embassy. The study abroad program warned us that if we didn't get out passport back in time, we would have to pay individually for a later flight to London.

Most American students took the ferry/train when going to the continent from Great Britain. Flying was not cheap like now. The bulk of American students visiting the continent would have to go through France. Turning back lines of students who just crossed the Channel would not look great.

But again, it was a different time.
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actually its not a visa -the headling is wrong -.Its instead of a visa just like the ESTA we all have to get to enter US. Its instead of a visa.
USA is one of the 60 nations this applies too-Australia and New Zealand being 2 of th eothers.

I keep seeing newspaper articles that call it a visa. I said above myself that it's not a visa, but the misunderstanding keeps getting perpetuated.

It seems to be more like a "registration." But yes, I keep seeing it referred to as a "visa." Since it can be done easily & quickly online it seems that it should not be a problem for most. The problem will be all the people who don't know about it in 2021. Although it's getting so much press now, hard to imagine it wouldnt be a big deal before it starts in 2021.

We were living in W. Berlin at the time, got the visa and were glad we did as they made a point of checking for it at Orly. When my parents visited with us later we drove in and no one bothered checking. Just one of those things: you needed it if someone decided to ask. Kind of like an IDP.