How to apply for ESTA (U.S. Visa) with Privacy in Mind
Assumingly you are a foreigner and you want or have to visit the United States of America. People usually have to apply for an ESTA, short for Electronic System for Travel Authorization (look it up online if it is not yet clear to you what this means and if you actually need it).
However, the ESTA form requires you to enter a lot of personally identifiable information, such as:
- First and last name
- City and date of birth
- Full address
- Parent’s names
- Passport number and dates (of course)
- Email address
- Social media accounts, e.g., Facebook, Twitter and many more
- Emergency contact information
- Employer information
- Credit card information
You will be greeted by predications such as “There is no expectation of privacy when you use this computer system” which is far away from European privacy standards. Your data will likely be synchronized with a number of lists and added to databases belonging to the many U.S. secret services and institutions and eventually gets shared with cooperating countries.
Disclaimer: this is no legal advice, use the information of this article with caution! There are no guarantees this will work in future. It is the view of an EU citizen.
So how to protect some of your data while still attaining the travel authorization?
If your address is not printed in your passport, you could stick to a fake address (of an existing address) or use an old address. If your passport tells the city you are living, stick at least to the city. If you assume the US already has your address in any way, better use to your correct address.
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Parent’s names can be altered (first names), but remember them when being asked at the airport.
Do not use your main e-mail address or even your main spam mail address. Use an extra address, but not a throw-away address. There are e-mail providers that offer free mail accounts with aliases that can be enabled in seconds. These are really helpful in such situations.
Do not give any information on social media or any other online accounts, just tick the check box “I do not have an online presence”.
For emergency contact information just enter “UNKNOWN” in every field as suggested by the tooltip help.
They ask for your current or the most recent employer. I chose to tick the “no” check box. I am not sure if this could cause some trouble. One could argue that one is self-employed building websites or stuff, right after school/university.
Credit card data is a valuable identifier. Ask relatives or friends if they would help you out or call the bank later that your card is lost and get a new one for a few bucks (sometimes even for free).
Information I chose to stick to the true values: full address, birth date+place and passport data. At least they do not ask you for any other first names if there are any. I received the confirmation within one hour after the application has been sent.
UPDATE: I had no trouble with the border control, there were no questions regarding ESTA.
Happy and privacy aware travelling!
