US entry fee rip-off revealed

Some Kiwi travellers are paying up to 8 times the price of entering the United States because of a confusing Google search quirk.

Rather than a visa, New Zealanders can get into the US through the Visa Waiver Programme called ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation).

The application should cost only US$14 ($21.52), but Auckland photographer Evotia Tamua almost paid about $180.

She needed an ESTA to travel to a wedding in Hawaii. When she entered the term “USA ESTA visa” into Google, she was showed a number of misleading ad results ahead of the official site from the US Government.

“I was trying to discover which looked like the official one,” Tamua said.

She became aware she had been scammed when she was told by a friend what it should have cost.

She emailed the site and received an automatic reply saying a refund would be processed within the next 14 days. She then contacted her bank and the transaction was cancelled.

After applying through the official site Tamua was granted an ESTA immediately and made it to Hawaii with no issues.

She said it was her first experience of being scammed.

“I suppose everyone says the same thing but I like to think I am sensible person, but it looked like the official site and the description and the wording on the URL looked like it should be.”

While many of the sites can be confusing to individuals, they are not necessarily fraudulent, said Sean Lyons, Netsafe’s Director of Education & Engagement.

“It’s usually in the fine print. They’re acting as agents, or a third party provider, to get your visa. But all they’re doing is processing your details through the same channels you could on the official ESTA site — but they’re charging you an absolute fortune for doing it.”

In that case, he said, the harm was just financial, but some sites also used the process to steal personal information.

A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in New Zealand warned people to apply through the official website: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/