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by mahkeiro 1052 days ago
What is the real difference between the 2? One is manual while the other one is highly automated? Given the number of question on an ESTA application, visa to other countries are a piece of cake (and I don’t even talk about visa on arrival).

This is just a semantic trick to make people that there is still a visa free travel but this is no more the case.
1 comments
Scoundreller 1052 days ago
Not just a semantic trick, but a legal one. A lot of euro countries have treaties with US, Canada, etc. for mutual visa-free travel that pre-date EU.

Soooo, they just create something that walks and talks like a visa without calling it one because the treaties never bothered to define what a visa is or isn’t.

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EduardoBautista 1052 days ago
> walks and talks like a visa

The requirements for the travel authorizations to Canada, the EU, and the USA are not comparable to an actual visa application. Visas are more expensive, more privacy invasive, and you have to go to an embassy/consulate to get it.

All these travel authorizations are really doing is telling the governments "Hey, I am coming over".

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mahkeiro 1052 days ago
visiting an embassy is not mandatory to get a lot of visa (even a Chinese one) most of the time you just ship your passport with a form that has less invasive question than an ESTA. Nobody but the US require you to give the handle of all your social network account…
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Scoundreller 1052 days ago
So what dollar threshold makes it a visa? If it’s free, is it not a visa?

Over what number of questions makes it a visa?

If it’s electronically attached to your passport number, is it no longer a visa?

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EduardoBautista 1052 days ago
If they ask you the questions on the travel authorization form at the port of entry instead, would it be better?

If you get denied the travel authorization, there is a chance you would have been denied in person after a long flight instead without this initial step.

They are just asking questions ahead of time.

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Scoundreller 1052 days ago
EU border police has never seemed very interested in asking Canadians or Americans any questions at all in my experience.

France and other countries even let us use their e-gates nowadays.

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