Applying for ESTA knowing it will be refused?

Good day everyone,


One of the questions one has to answer while applying for ESTA is
“Have you travelled to, or been present in Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen on or after March 1, 2011?"
I have visited one of the countries on the list several times in recent years for business purpose. So I know applying for ESTA will likely be refused even with my British passport. A colleague of mine, also British that was with me on a couple of the business trips was refused ESTA and had to apply for a Visa and attended an interview.

I am planning to visit the US this year and now not sure if I should still apply for ESTA knowing that it will be refused, and then go in for an interview for a visa or should I just apply for a visiting visa straight?

I will appreciate a response from anyone who might have experienced a similar thing

Hello

it's your call really. But I for one, never ever under any circumstances apply for anything immigration-related if refusal risk is high. Because it's something you will drag for life. Even in 25 years, you will fill an application somewhere and will have to disclose that refusal with its details.

In your case, if you know for a fact and colleague experience that ESTA is dead-money, just go directly and apply for a visa. Bring all documents justifying what type of business you had in these countries.

Zerubbabel wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 27, 2020 2:47 pm

Hello

it's your call really. But I for one, never ever under any circumstances apply for anything immigration-related if refusal risk is high. Because it's something you will drag for life. Even in 25 years, you will fill an application somewhere and will have to disclose that refusal with its details.

In your case, if you know for a fact and colleague experience that ESTA is dead-money, just go directly and apply for a visa. Bring all documents justifying what type of business you had in these countries.

Thanks for the response. I think I will opt for the visa application. I am 99.9% sure that an ESTA application will be refused because of a Yes anwser to the question about visiting one of those countries. In fact, Carrie Symonds , Boris Johnson's girlfriend was caught in the middle of this issue last year when her ESTA application was refused because she had visited Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia, which is on the list. She had to apply for a visa and attended an interview same way my colleague did, and was granted a long term visiting visa.
I have all the necessary documents to show what I was doing in the country and a supporting letter from the organisation I was working for to confirm the business activities I was engaged in and the duration of time spent for each of my business trips.