Yesterday I got a big surprise: apparently in January, our government decided to change the way they treat member nations of the Visa Waiver Program. My darling needed to apply electronically for permission to travel using the new ESTA system.
50 percent of the application area was dedicated to checking the status of applications, leading me to believe there might be significant time required to process. With less than a month left I got a little nervous, but remembered my Philippians 4 and stayed calm.
Today we filled out the form together and approval came back instantly. At first I misunderstood and thought it was explaining the process of receiving approval. Of course, this is only approval to travel to the customs desk, at which point a visa will have to be granted as usual.
One step closer to the big trip!
Tags: Customs and Border Protection, ESTA, Homeland Security, Japan, passport, peace, Seattle, US, visa, Visa Waiver Program
