5

Asking on behalf of a family member, who is a British citizen, permanently resident in the UK, but who also has a Russian citizenship. The plan it to travel to the USA in April 2023. In the current political climate, anything related to Russia or Russian citizens is viewed with suspicion, so I'm looking for some confirmed cases of ESTA actually being issued to those that have Russian citizenship.

Of course the idea is to fly with the British passport, but the ESTA application does ask about other citizenships.

The question is not about "what are the chances of getting/not getting it", but rather "are there confirmed cases of ESTA being issued to those with Russian citizenship".

Updated: application was submitted - and approved the next day. Initially it did say "could not be approved automatically", which caused some anxiety, but then it was approved, so all good there.

Improve this question
4
  • 8
    Just pay 21$ and find out?
    – xngtng
    Feb 8 at 13:46
  • 2
    If someone answers ‘yes’, it doesn’t necessarily mean that other applicants would be successful
    – Traveller
    Feb 8 at 15:46
  • This is rather opinion based, I agree with @Traveller comment.
    – Ozzy
    Feb 8 at 17:11
  • 1
    There are second nationalities (currently Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria) that would disallow you from using the Visa Waiver Program with a VWP-eligible nationality. Russian nationality is not currently one of them.
    – user102008
    Feb 9 at 2:51

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
8

The current political climate aside, having one citizenship from an ESTA eligible country and another from a non-ESTA eligible country is not unusual. Of course, you must declare this.

Being Russian is not going to lead to an automatic refusal, just like being British will not lead to an automatic approval. It's worth noting that Russian nationals may still enter the US, provided they have the correct documentation. In your relative's case, that would be an ESTA, through their British nationality.

Personally, I would just apply.

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    Application was submitted - and approved the next day. Initially it did say "could not be approved automatically", which caused some anxiety, but then it was approved, so all good there.
    – Aleks G
    Mar 9 at 21:21
  • "Being Russian is not going to lead to an automatic refusal" - I'm not so sure about this, considering my recent experience when my visa application was refused for purely made up reasons.
    – user626528
    Mar 9 at 22:24
  • @user626528 I can't comment on your case. It's not official policy to ban Russian nationals from entering the US, or from requesting documentation to enter the US.
    – async
    Mar 11 at 10:48
  • @async there is no official policy, exactly. But having much more supporting docs than what was enough to get a visa some 5 years ago, is not enough today.
    – user626528
    Mar 12 at 18:23

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .