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It is not compulsory to print and bring your ESTA butit is recommended as a precaution. When your ESTA form is processed and authorised, you can see thisimmediately by checking your form. The procedure is normally complete withinminutes, but may occasionally take longer.
Your authorisation is based on your passport number, and will be immediately updated in the electronicsystem so that Border Control recognize you are authorized to enter trong the U.S.as soon as you present your passport on your check in. The process has been designed by theU.S. governmentto make the system simple, efficient, paperless, and fully online.
No official document will be sent to you. YourESTA applicationfor travel authorisation will simply be updated to state that it is pending, that is has been approved,or that it has been denied.
TheU.S. border controlwill have the relevant information available to them when you land in the United States,but yourairline may not necessarily have access to this, and may choose to request a physical copy of yourauthorisation. Therefore, it would be best to check with your chosen airline to see whether or notyou need to bring a print out of the ESTA with you for the flight.
Generally speaking, although it is not essential to print theESTA authorisation to travel to the U.S., it is considered good practice to keep acopy of the printed form showing the granted authorisation for your own records, and forthe unlikely event of any emergency.
Keeping a record of your reference number will be useful, as yourESTA authorisation is validfor 2 years and for all trips to the U.S. you may complete in such period. However, in order toreuse your ESTA, you must ensure all the information within your file remains correct.
If your passport, address, or situation changes, then you should modify your file to renewthe authorisation. To do so, you need to visit the website where you originally submitted yourapplication and connect to your file using the reference number you were provided. This is thesame as when you make a mistake during the completion of your application form. Therefore, itis a good idea to keep the form and your reference number somewhere safe after printing the document.