Anyone got any idea is travel to USA on UK refugee passport possible, I want to know if UK issued Refugee passport holders (as per 1952 convention known as Blue passport) are normally eligible for the US’s Visa Waiver Program ? And if that is possible does it require visa or not require visa, just ESTA as British passport holders?
Secondly, has this changed because of Covid presidential proclamations?
Thanks for any advice/info in advance.
RESPONSE To Is Travel To USA On UK Refugee Passport Possible
This is Unlikely.
The US embassy in the UK websites specifically excludes even British non-citizen nationals (BOTCs, BOCs, BNOs, British subjects and BPPs) with British passports from applying for ESTA. So a Refugee Travel Document issued by the UK will also likely not count.
This aside, the document issued to refugees for the purpose of international travel are not passports, but travel documents. A passport is a form of travel document, but not all travel documents are passports (i.e. passports are a subset of travel documents). Other forms of travel documents that are not passports are UN issued laissez-passers, for instance.
The US ESTA seems to specifically require passports and I am not sure whether that includes other travel documents or not.
Even after one becomes a British citizen and acquire a British passport, their past travel history and your citizenships may also be relevant.
Since 2016, those who have previously travelled to Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen on or after March 1, 2011, or who are dual nationals of Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan or Syria, are not eligible to travel under the VWP.
Also Read – Cost of Relocating to Canada from Nigeria – Express Entry
More On Is Travel To USA On UK Refugee Passport Possible;
If a biometric British passport issued to a British Overseas Citizen (or any other British non-citizen national) is not valid for an ESTA/VWP, I doubt that a British issued Refugee Travel Document would be valid for that purpose.
That link above even explicitly states that passports with a Right of Abode endorsement in it (which also generally, meanwhile not always, denotes British citizenship) does not count for the purpose of ESTA/VWP.
Simply, the only British issued travel documents valid for ESTA/VWP are biometric British passports issued to British citizens.