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I recently used this website to apply for an ESTA. Having submitted my details I realised that this was not the official ESTA site so I did not pay the 60 euro fee.

However I am concerned that the site was illegitimate and are going to use my information for fraud purposes.

Are they legit?

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – Willeke ♦
    Jul 12, 2018 at 15:57

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No, the only official ESTA form is https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov. When talking about the US, you should be wary of official-looking sites that don't end in .gov.

As far as I understand it, the business model of those sites is just to rip you off (charging you 60€ instead of ~$15). I wouldn't be tooo concerned about them abusing your information.

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    To add to this answer, the ESTA process is generally simple and straightforward. In general there is no need to use an agent to apply for an ESTA.
    – Jacob Horbulyk
    Jul 12, 2018 at 10:29
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    That being said, just by the vary nature of the ESTA process, you must give those third-party sites pretty much all information they would ever need to completely steal your identity and impersonate you in a very convincing manner. And you do that for no reason at all, since you could just have entered that exact same information into the official form directly, and saved money in the process.
    – Jörg W Mittag
    Jul 12, 2018 at 14:06
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    Note that "legitimate" and "official" aren't the same thing. The question asks about the former; your first paragraph talks about the latter.
    – David Richerby
    Jul 12, 2018 at 15:49
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While this is clearly not the official ESTA website and their business model may be questionable, I believe that this is a legitimate business website and I see no reason to worry that your personal data may be used illegally. If you're concerned that you've given them your consent to process your personal data in a way you wouldn't like, you can write to the e-mail address listed on their privacy policy page and revoke your consent:

Revocation of your consent to data processing

Some data processing procedures are only possible with your express consent. A revocation of your already given consent is possible at any time. An informal notification by e-mail is sufficient for the revocation. The legality of the data processing up to the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

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    I'm not sure I'd expect a scammy company to necessarily follow their privacy policy.
    – ceejayoz
    Jul 12, 2018 at 15:49
  • @ceejayoz I think they earn enough money as it is, so they won't risk screwing it all over a private data issue.
    – Dmitry Grigoryev
    Jul 13, 2018 at 6:15

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