Exclusive: Australian travellers returning from the United States on an ESTA waiver are disputing accusations they have illegally overstayed their visa by months or even years.
US immigration appears to have failed to record some outbound Australian passengers on cruises and planes after travelling on an Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA), potentially exposing a hole in the country’s exit checks for foreign nationals.
Lismore man Aaron Drooger’s holiday was ruined in April.
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Do you have a story? Contact reporter April Glover at april.glover@nine.com.au
He had flown out of Hawaii in 2011 and didn’t realise something was amiss until he returned to the US again this year, 14 years later.
Drooger said he crossed the border on a cruise ship in April, disembarked the ship and entered Canada, before attempting to fly back into the US.
He was then denied boarding on his flight from Vancouver to Las Vegas.
US immigration claimed Drooger had been illegally staying in the US for over 10 years.
Drooger thinks his departure wasn’t correctly logged with US immigration back in 2011.
“All of these errors forced me to spend thousands of dollars extra and ruined my holiday,” he said.
He was also stuck for days at Vancouver Airport after being told to wait 72 hours to escalate his issue.
But there was no solving this visa debacle.
“I was forced to book a flight from Canada direct to Brisbane, Australia,” he added.
“They say my ESTA is again approved, but who knows.”
Despite having all the correct evidence to prove he has never overstayed his ESTA, Drooger is still waiting for answers from US immigration.
An email from the ESTA team cited by 9news.com.au noted ”we are unable to confirm your departure on what appears to be on 11/14/2011″.
Drooger never recouped the money for the flight he couldn’t take to Vegas.
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Queensland couple Julie and Phil Lawton left the US in May this year after a cruise.
They had safely arrived back in Brisbane when the emails came flooding in.
“On the 10th of July, we got the first notice that we’ve got 10 days to leave the country,” Julie told 9news.com.au, despite the fact they’d been back in Australia for weeks.
“We almost made it junk mail.”
Julie said she needed to jump through multiple hoops to try and convince US immigration she and her husband did not overstay their ESTA.
They also contacted the Department of Home Affairs in Australia to confirm their record of return in Australia but haven’t heard back.
The couple have visited the US around 10 times but said they have never faced this issue before.
The Lawtons are now concerned they’ll never be able to visit the US again.
“I have no confidence, and I don’t think Julie has either, that unless we actually got written confirmation from the US Border Protection they have made a mistake and we did leave the US on the 21st, that we could ever return to the US,” Phil said.
They’re still getting regular emails informing them of their so-called visa breach.
“We check it every day and it’s still showing us as still being in the US,” Julie added.
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NSW woman Vicki Robinson was also due to leave and re-enter the US on a cruise with her husband and friends in April.
She was told her ESTA had been cancelled due to the same problem.
Her last visit was in 2024, leaving from Florida on a cruise.
“I was on the Royal Princess with a number of other women who had exactly the same issue. All the husbands were OK but the wives’ ESTAs had been cancelled,” Robinson explained.
After sailing to Vancouver in Canada, Robinson had planned to cruise Alaska, take a train to Seattle from Vancouver and then visit Hawaii with her group.
But the same ESTA error derailed her holiday.
“This meant that my husband and friends sailed off to Alaska and I boarded a flight home to Australia,” Robinson said.
“I think these are scary times for Australians travelling to the USA.
“We leave home with an approved and valid ESTA just to have the rug pulled out from under us without warning.”
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Robinson attempted to resolve the issue with the Department of Homeland Security Traveller Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP).
In an email, officials told Robinson that complaints often arise because a traveller’s personal information is similar to the name and personal information of another person “which contain information from federal, state, local and foreign sources or because the traveller has been delayed in travel for reasons unrelated to such data, such as by random screening”.
She was told to provide an ID number to any future flights into or within the US.
”Despite these positive efforts, we cannot ensure your travel will be delay-free,” the email noted.
“I thought of going back to them to ask for clarification but decided that it probably wouldn’t achieve anything,” Robinson said.
She is still trying to claw back the money she lost with her travel insurance.
In many cases, money losses aren’t covered by travel insurance due to it being considered an avoidable visa issue.
The fine print of many travel policies note a claim won’t be honoured if there are “errors, omissions in any booking arrangements, or failure to obtain the relevant visa, passport, or travel documents”.
Melbourne-based immigration lawyer Sherwin Noorian previously told 9news.com.au this issue sometimes impacts non-US citizens attempting to re-enter the US.
“Customs and Border Protection relies on various data sources such as flight manifests to record departures from the US,” he said.
“At times, they fail to record departures for foreign nationals and this may result in an ‘overstay’ being recorded for the traveller that is not accurate.”
9news.com.au contacted the US Customs and Border Protection for comment but have yet to receive a reply.
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