ESTA for the United States: price, deadline, validity and official application

The ESTA is the electronic travel authorisation required of every French traveller who enters the United States without a visa, and it has cost $40.62 per person since 16 October 2026. You apply for it on the official website esta.cbp.dhs.gov or in the official ESTA Mobile app, preferably as soon as you book your tickets and no later than 72 hours before departure. It remains valid for two years, or until the passport expires, and allows stays of 90 days at most.

It is neither a visa nor a right of entry: the decision rests with the border officer, on arrival. Every rule can change: the table shows where to check it again before you leave.

ESTA at a glance: price, deadline, validity and official source

Question	Answer	Official source
Who has to apply for an ESTA?	Every traveller from a visa-exempt country, France among them, children included	esta.cbp.dhs.gov, cbp.gov
How much does the ESTA cost?	$40.62 since 16 October 2026 ($40.27 before)	Federal Register, esta.cbp.dhs.gov
Where do you apply?	On esta.cbp.dhs.gov or in the official ESTA Mobile app	diplomatie.gouv.fr, Federal Register
When should you apply?	As soon as you book, no later than 72 hours before departure	cbp.gov
How long is it valid?	Two years, or until the passport expires	esta.cbp.dhs.gov
How long can you stay?	90 days at most per stay, with no extension	esta.cbp.dhs.gov, cbp.gov
Which passport?	Electronic or biometric, valid for the whole stay	cbp.gov, diplomatie.gouv.fr
When do you need a visa?	More than 90 days, work, studies, or time spent in certain countries including Cuba	cbp.gov, diplomatie.gouv.fr

Entry requirements for the United States: who needs an ESTA?

France takes part in the US visa waiver programme, as do Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Monaco. A French citizen therefore does not need a visa for a tourist or business stay of 90 days at most, provided they obtain an ESTA before leaving. Canadian citizens, for their part, are exempt from it.

The requirement applies to every traveller and to all arrivals: by air, by sea and, since 1 October 2022, by road. It also covers Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

How much does the ESTA cost in 2026?

$40.62 per application since 16 October 2026, an amount set by an official notice from US customs dated 1 October 2026. It was $40.27 until 15 October, and $40 before 1 January 2026. It breaks down into two parts:

• a $10.62 processing fee, charged for every application, even a refused one, and reassessed each year;
• a $30 authorisation fee, added only if the application is approved: $17 for tourism promotion and $13 for the US Treasury.

Payment is made by card (Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover) or by PayPal, within 7 days of submitting the application.

Watch out: The price has just changed: if you still read $40.27 or an older rate, the amount that counts is the one esta.cbp.dhs.gov displays at the time of payment.

Which is the official ESTA website, and how do you spot the intermediaries?

The only authorised site is esta.cbp.dhs.gov, run by US customs (CBP), which also offer an official app, ESTA Mobile. The form is filled in in English, with instructions in French.

Private websites offer to submit the application on your behalf, for an extra fee. This is allowed, but the US administration warns: these sites are neither approved by nor affiliated with the government, they do not speed up the answer, and customs do not refund what you have paid them. Two checks are enough:

• the address: the official site ends in “.gov”, the extension of the US administration;
• the price: above $40.62 per person, you are dealing with an intermediary.

Tip: Already gone through a third-party site? Check on the official website, with your application number, that your ESTA is actually there: US customs cannot know whether the intermediary passed on accurate information.

When to apply for an ESTA, and what does the form ask for?

US customs recommend applying when you book, and no later than 72 hours before departure. The answer is no longer given in real time: an application submitted on the day of the flight may not come through in time, and without an approved ESTA, you do not board.

To fill in the application, have ready:

• your passport, whose identity page must be photographed and uploaded;
• an email address, which will be verified;
• the contact details of your employer, current or previous;
• the address of your first accommodation (the name of the hotel is enough) and an emergency contact;
• a means of payment.

Three answers are possible: approved, refused, or pending review. Printing the authorisation is not required, but keep a copy of it with the application number.

The question about your social media is optional according to the official FAQ, reread in October 2026. A customs notice of 10 December 2025 plans to make it mandatory, over five years, and to restrict applications to the mobile app: check both points when the time comes.

ESTA validity: two years, but 90 days per stay

These are two separate durations. The authorisation is good for two years and several trips, with no new application. Each stay, however, is limited to 90 days:

• no extension or change of status is possible once there;
• detours count: a trip through Canada, Mexico or a neighbouring island does not restart the 90-day count;
• no fixed interval is imposed between two stays, but the officer must not think that you are trying to live in the United States;
• any overstay leads, according to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to removal and as a rule to an entry ban of several years.

For two or three weeks of holiday, the limit is a long way off. It becomes the constraint on a very long trip: which is why our two great routes, the American West in 89 days and the East in 88 days, stop just under that bar.

When do you need a visa instead of the ESTA?

You need a visa, to be applied for at the United States embassy, in the following cases:

• a stay of more than 90 days;
• a trip that is neither tourism nor business: employment, internship, studies, but also wwoofing, au pair stays or babysitting, even unpaid;
• a stay in Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen since 1 March 2011, or dual nationality of some of these countries;
• an emergency passport, or a passport that is neither electronic nor biometric;
• a refused ESTA.

Watch out: A trip to Cuba since 12 January 2021, or planned just before your American stay, forfeits the benefit of the ESTA, even one already granted. You then need a visa.

The visa application goes through the DS-160 form and an interview at the embassy. The French ministry advises submitting it several months before departure.

Which passport do you need to enter the United States?

Since 1 April 2016, the visa waiver programme has required an electronic passport, recognisable by the international symbol printed on its cover. US law asks for six months of validity after the date of exit, but an agreement exempts French citizens from this: a passport valid for the whole stay is enough. The French ministry nonetheless advises keeping that six-month margin.

At the US border: what the ESTA does not guarantee

The ESTA authorises you to board, not to enter. On arrival, a customs officer takes your fingerprints and your photo, and can refuse admission, with no possible appeal under the visa waiver. Three habits:

• have a return or onward ticket;
• declare all food: meat, fruit, vegetables, plants and seeds, bearing in mind that unsterilised cheese and cured meats are banned;
• declare any sum above 10,000 dollars.

A last piece of advice from the French ministry: do not joke with the officers.

So, ESTA or visa for your trip to the United States?

For two or three weeks of holiday, with a French biometric passport and no stay in one of the countries listed above, it is the ESTA: $40.62, on esta.cbp.dhs.gov or in the official app, applied for on the day you book your tickets. In the other cases, it is the visa, to be started several months ahead.

That leaves the most enjoyable part: choosing what to see in the United States and when to go. Our region-by-region itineraries are on the United States page. For the practical side, preparing your trip to the United States brings together the paperwork and logistics.