The ESTA fee changed on 30 September 2025 and doubled overnight. Older UK travel guides quote £15-16 - that number is dead. Here are the current 2026 numbers: what it costs, how long it lasts, when to reapply.
What ESTA actually costs in 2026
US$40 total per person. Charged as a single card payment at esta.cbp.dhs.gov. Card processing fees on a UK card are typically £0.30-1.50 on top; travel-optimised cards (Monzo, Chase, Revolut, Starling, First Direct) charge zero FX so the total lands as approximately £31-32 on your statement at current FX.
The $40 breaks down internally (per the US Department of Homeland Security fee schedule): - $17 travel-promotion fee (funds the Brand USA marketing programme) - $6 operational fee - $17 authorization fee (introduced by Public Law 119-21 in 2025)
If a site charges you £60, £80, £100 or more for "ESTA assistance", "ESTA facilitation", or "expedited ESTA processing", you're paying a copycat middleman. The form is 15 minutes long. Only esta.cbp.dhs.gov is the real portal.
What changed on 30 September 2025
The ESTA fee doubled overnight. Under Public Law 119-21, signed in 2025, the ESTA authorization fee rose from $4 to $13 and the total ESTA charge rose from $21 to $40. The change took effect for all applications submitted on or after 30 September 2025.
Older travel guides, hen/stag operator brochures and even some UK Foreign Office archive material still quote the pre-2025 numbers ($21, £14-16 equivalent). Those numbers are wrong for any application after 30 September 2025.
If a friend tells you "it's about £15 - I paid last year", they applied under the old fee. The new $40 is the current cost.
The fee is expected to stay at $40 through at least 2027 based on the Public Law 119-21 review cycle. Any future change would be published in the US Federal Register.
How long ESTA is valid
2 years from the date of approval, OR until your passport expires - whichever comes first.
If you apply for ESTA on 2026-08-14 and your passport expires 2027-05-15, your ESTA is valid until 2027-05-15 (not 2028-08-14). The passport expiry cuts the window short.
If you apply on 2026-08-14 and your passport expires 2030-01-01, your ESTA runs the full 2 years to 2028-08-14.
What the 2 years covers: - Multiple trips to the US during that window (unlimited entries) - Up to 90 days per trip - Tourism, business meetings, transit - Entry at any port (LAS, LAX, JFK, MIA, ORD, all others)
What the 2 years does NOT cover: - A trip longer than 90 days (needs a proper visa) - Any paid employment in the US - Study at a US school for a degree (F-1 visa) - Marriage-based entry with intent to stay (K-visa or CR-1)
Practical for the wedding/stag/hen crowd: if you're going to Vegas twice in one year (bachelor party in spring plus wedding in autumn, or F1 weekend plus NYE), one ESTA covers both. Apply once, use twice.
When you must reapply (and pay another $40)
Passport renewal or replacement. ESTA is tied to a specific passport number. When you renew your UK passport (£102 online, £115.50 paper as of 2026), the ESTA on the old passport becomes invalid at the moment the new passport is issued. You must apply for a fresh $40 ESTA against the new passport number.
2-year mark. ESTA does not auto-renew. When the 2-year window closes, you apply again from scratch at the same $40 fee.
Legal name change (marriage, deed poll). Once your passport reflects the new name, the old ESTA is invalidated. Same $40 fresh application.
Immigration status change. New nationality, dual citizenship confirmed, or renunciation of another nationality all trigger a required reapplication.
Correcting a mistake. If you filed the ESTA with wrong passport number, wrong date of birth, or wrong name spelling, you cannot edit - you file a new one and pay another $40. This is the most common way UK travellers end up paying twice. Triple-check the passport number character-by-character before submitting.
The old ESTA cannot be transferred to the new passport. There is no "port over" workflow. Every reapplication trigger is a full new application at the full fee.
When to apply and when to renew
When to apply for a first-time ESTA: at least 72 hours before your US-bound flight. Officially that's the CBP minimum. Practically, 3 weeks is the safe lead time for a group trip. About 1% of applications get flagged for manual review that can take 7-10 days - during that window the applicant cannot fly.
When to renew: the day your existing ESTA expires. There's no benefit to renewing early - a fresh 2-year clock starts from the new approval date, so renewing 6 months early wastes 6 months of validity.
How to track expiry: CBP does not send a reminder email. Check your existing ESTA status at esta.cbp.dhs.gov (click "Check ESTA Status", enter application number + passport number + DOB). The expiry date is on the approval screen. Add a phone calendar reminder for 2 months before expiry.
Airline consequence for lapsed ESTA: the airline checks ESTA at boarding pass scan. If your ESTA has expired, they will refuse boarding. Airlines are fined US$3,300 per passenger by CBP for boarding without valid documentation, so they enforce this hard.
Questions
Frequently asked
- Is the £15 ESTA fee still valid in 2026?
- No. That was the pre-30-September-2025 fee. Since Public Law 119-21 the fee is $40 USD (about £31-32 depending on FX). Any UK guide still quoting £15 is out of date.
- Do children pay the same $40 ESTA fee?
- Yes. There is no discount for children. Every individual traveller including infants requires their own ESTA at the full $40 fee. A family of four is $160 total.
- What's the cheapest way to pay the ESTA fee in GBP?
- Travel-optimised debit cards charge zero FX at the interbank rate: Monzo, Chase UK, Revolut, Starling, First Direct. On any of these a $40 ESTA lands as approximately £31-32 on your statement. Standard high-street bank cards add 2.75-3% FX which pushes the total to £33-34.
- Can I get an ESTA refund if I don't travel?
- No. The $40 is non-refundable regardless of whether you use the ESTA, whether you're denied, or whether the trip is cancelled. Approved ESTAs remain valid for future trips within the 2-year window.
- How do I know when my ESTA expires?
- Check status at esta.cbp.dhs.gov. Click 'Check ESTA Status', enter your application number + passport number + date of birth. The expiry date is on the approval screen. CBP does not send email reminders.