I applied for an ESTA 2 weeks ago, wanting to travel to the USA for Christmas, to see my American spouse. It was approved, but today, one day before my flight leaves, I get an email saying that the status of my application has changed. When I log in to
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ and click on "check ESTA status", the website says "Application expired". No explanation, no nothing........ It is supposed to last for 2 years. I suspect it is covid related, but can't find anything about tighter travel restrictions when googling. It does not say "cancelled" or "revoked", but only "application expired". On the webpage it says "the 3 possible responses to an ESTA applications are: "authorization approve", travel not "authorized" and "authorization pending"". It says nothing about "expired". I tried calling the US embassy, but they are closed on weekends......My plane leaves tomorrow morning. Should I get on it? Will they let me board? Help! : )
Edit:
On
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/faq?lang=en
It says "Details entered to retrieve an application must exactly match the information entered in the ESTA application. Any discrepancy between information entered to retrieve an application and the information entered in the application itself will result in a No Application Found or Application Expired message."
I am positive I am using the same numbers though (tried both the application number and the passport dates), and in any case, this does not explain why I got an email about a change of status.