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According to information received from the MSC cruise line, the regulation on ESTA visas applied for and issued after August 1, 2023 has been repealed. According to the new regulation, passengers will have to apply for a new visa after entering the U.S., reports Turizmus.com.
The new regulation applies to Hungarian passengers on cruises from the U.S., and travel agencies selling cruises should also be prepared for the change during the peak season.
Based on the latest guidelines from the U.S. authorities, passengers with a Hungarian passport will have to present a new ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) at the port terminal when boarding the cruise. “We first learned about the change last week from our passengers who were out of the country, but on February 20, the official information about the change arrived at our office,” said Csaba Balogh, head of the tourism department of the IBUSZ travel agency. Only the MSC cruise line has so far drawn the attention of Hungarian travelers to the change, but the new rule applies regardless of the company, as it is required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, he stressed.
Photo via Facebook/MSC Cruises
The previous regulation was much more permissive. From August 1, 2023 until now, with a single-entry ESTA for closed itineraries – i.e. when the ship departs from and returns to the same port –
a second ESTA was not required to embark, with a few exceptions.
Because of the tightening, IBUSZ now requires all passengers to apply for a new ESTA immediately upon entry into the United States.
There is no practical obstacle to this, as the old permit will officially expire immediately upon entry.
“However, it is advisable to prepare travelers for the fact that in practice an expired ESTA will disappear from the system within 24-48 hours. The online interface can warn of this, but it does not block the process of applying for a new ESTA once the old one has been cancelled,” explained the travel specialist. The new entry permit is usually ready within 24 hours and experience over the past week has shown that shipping companies are already allowing boarding with the ESTA application in hand. There are no restrictions for passengers with B1 and B2 visas for a six-month stay in the U.S. as tourists or for professional reasons.
Via Turizmus,com; Featured image via Pixabay
