Our service fee pays for work that starts as soon as you pay: your file is created, your information is reviewed, your documents are checked and an agent is assigned. Because performance begins immediately, the service fee is earned from that point and is not refundable, whether or not the application has been submitted.
By confirming your order you expressly ask us to begin straight away and accept that the right of withdrawal is lost once the service has been performed. This is set out in our legal notice.
The government fee
The government fee is collected by the US government and is not refundable once your application has been submitted. We cannot recover it. The one exception is the approval guarantee, below.
When a refund is not due
You changed your mind after processing had begun
Your trip was cancelled or postponed
You realised afterwards that you could have applied yourself on the official site
Your application was denied and you did not buy the approval guarantee
The authorities were slow, or asked for more information. A delay or a request for documents is not a denial and gives rise to no refund
You were refused entry at the US border, which is a separate decision made after our work is finished
When a refund is due
You bought the approval guarantee and your application was denied. You are refunded 100% of what you paid for the application, service fee and government fee, minus the $30 price of the option.
You paid twice by mistake. We refund the duplicate.
You cancelled before processing had begun. Because processing starts immediately after payment, this is exceptional, and the refund is made less any transaction fees we cannot recover.
If your application was denied without the guarantee
No refund is due, but we may offer a new submission free of charge or at a reduced price. That is a commercial gesture at our discretion, decided case by case, and never something you are entitled to.
How to ask, and by when
Send your request to [email protected], quoting your file number, within 30 days of your payment date. After 30 days a request cannot be reviewed.
Approved refunds go back to the payment method you used, and usually appear within 5 to 10 business days depending on your bank.
Before you contact your bank
Please write to us before opening a dispute or chargeback. We contest unjustified chargebacks with the full record of the work done on the file, and a dispute can suspend access to the service, so it slows down the thing you actually want. A message to us is faster.
Whatever happens, your application continues
Asking for a refund does not stop your ESTA application. It is still checked, filed and followed up, and you will still be told the decision.
Your local consumer rights
Where the consumer protection rules of the country you live in give you rights that cannot be waived, those rules apply and take precedence to that extent.