I am an Australian citizen. My ESTA 90 days runs out on the 1st of October, where is the closest place "out of the US" to renew it? I know I cant just travel across the border to Mexico so where is the closest flight or cruise destination I can go to? Not flying all the way back to renew just yet!
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You seem to be confusing a number of things:
- An ESTA is just an authorisation to travel to the US, it does not guarantee entry. It is valid for 2 years, and everything is done online, so you can renew it anytime, anywhere, though you don’t need to until the 2 years are up or the answers to some of the questions have changed. The ESTA needs to be valid only on the day you enter the US, it doesn’t matter if it expires while you are in the US.
- One you have an ESTA and you travel to the US, you are admitted under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). You can stay for up to 90 days, cannot extend your stay, and travel to neighbouring countries and adjacent islands will usually get you readmitted on the same 90-day allowance.
Now, while there is not clear-cut rule like Schengen’s 90/180 rule, you are not supposed to use repeated or successive visits under the VWP to live in the US. The usual rule of thumb is that you should stay out of the US at least as long as you stayed in.
This is not set in stone, and this is in the hands of the CBP officer who will handle your case when you land in the US. But quite obviously, the first questions that will come to their minds are: how come you can afford to stay in the US that long without returning home? Will you actually return home? Are you not working in the US? Depending on your circumstances, they may let you in for another 90 days, let you in for only a limited time, or send you back home on the next flight after a few hours in detention. Not a pleasant experience, and that makes future travel under the VWP impossible, requiring a visa.
The VWP (like visitor visas) is for.m visitors. While B-1/B-2 visas are also only for visitors, they do allow for visits up to 180 days, and can even be extended, but imply more scrutiny and a longer and more complex process. If you want to stay in the US longer than 90 days, you probably need to consider applying for one. But remember, you should still have credible evidence that you are a visitor, with good reasons to return home.
jcaron
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Following the rules Europe, Iceland will do, Asia, with Japan as one of the nearest ones or South America, maybe central America will also do.
And you should stay out of the USA for as long as you have been in.
If you only want to get back into the USA to catch a flight home they will often allow you back in after a shorter time and when you have not been as far away, but they do not have to.
Some people have reported to have done some visa runs successfully but we have also seen enough reports of people being denied after keeping to the rules as the officer at the airport did not believe their plans did meet their rules.
If you want to be in the USA longer than 90 days in one go (or with short breaks abroad) you have to apply for a visa and you can not change your current approval to be in the country to a visa which allows longer stay.
