Visiting The USA On An ESTA? No More Instant Approvals

Not sure what is new. May be the processing time for ESTA has slightly increased? I've had ESTA since it has been introduced and, of course, had to renew it every two years. Firstly, is was free, for a couple of years now it comes at USD 14, which seems pretty steep given it's an automated process. However, it was never "instantaneous". It always took at least half an hour, sometimes a few hours - but never more than 24 hours to get approved. I never had any issue with it, but I would never had expected to do it at the airport during check-in. So the only possible difference seems to be that it now can take up to 72 hours. But does it really take any longer? As regards the immigration lines upon arrival, this varies tremendously between airports and even between terminals. Worst in my experience is IAD (Washington Dulles) where the minimum (!) was 3 hours, best ATL where I never waited more than 5 minutes.

@Too Much Flying: The best comment ever! @Dennis: Just another data point, From JFK T1arrival to LGA TB gate within 45 minutes in total time (no check-in luggage). As a person with global entry and TSA-pre travel in the US is not hard and difficult, bad apples are everywhere, my worst experience was in LHR Indian agent, rude and unprofessional.

It's pretty disheartening and somewhat ridiculous to read the asinine comments from Robbo, Phil Duncan, Elijah and others slamming the U.S. I find the U.S. to be really no more onerous, nor easy to deal with Immigration than basically every other nation I've visited on earth. That includes "friendly" places like Canada, U.K., and Mexico. I can regale you with my story about exiting Mexico City after a business trip, only to have Mexican Immigration in the airport grab my garment bag from me, feel the shoes inside and start yelling at me about "tequila". After calmly explaining that they were zapatos and offering to show them, they relented. Have also dealt with dicey immigration in several places in Europe. That doesn't make me hate those countries - it just means I caught a lousy government worker having a bad day. Bottom line is that we all should respect every nation's right to patrol their own borders in whatever way they see fit. You need to turn off your television and stop believing the utter garbage the media spews. America and Americans love immigrants and tourists from abroad (we are a nation made completely of immigrants from somewhere else after all), but really hate the idea that some people think it's perfectly acceptable to flaunt our laws and borders and storm in however and whenever they see fit. Immigration (from anywhere) = good. Illegal immigration = bad.

1) There are no exit formalities leaving the US because we have either the manifest or data exchange with Canada and Mexico for the land borders. 2) Most of the time, CBP officers are polite and professional. There are some bad apples. The US does not have a monopoly on this (looking at you, CBSA). 3) When my husband moved to the US, immigration formalities took about 15 minutes. It all depends on having paperwork in order and arriving when it isn't too busy. 4) A number of foreign citizens can get global entry. Most of Europe and the Americas can get 10-year B visas. ESTA is absolutely a convenience for people who don't travel to the US often, but since visas get higher scrutiny upon issuance they usually result in an easier entry.

@ALPHA: Something else you can blame the President for... it has nothing to do with him, give yourself an almighty upper-cut mate.... you should be thankful tourism is up in the USA, more jobs, more wealth, better for the economy... do you give credit to the President for that? I thought not, in fact, instead of one upper-cut, give yourself a triple upper-cut you goose