[Burgmeister]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

I think you are just being picky if I’m honest . It clearly means what it says on your passport in that box . My mum has only one name but it still days given names . So basically the esta is pointing you to the same box on your passport and it’s suppose to match it .

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No, I wasn't being picky I was just pointing out that the passport nomenclature and the ESTA site are different. Your post implied they were identical - that's all.

It appears that you are very keen that everyone adds their middle name to the ESTA despite no evidence from anyone travelling that it really is required. Obviously, you have added your middle names to your ESTAs and that is great - you definitely won't have any issues getting in (as far as that requirement anyway). However, if people are happy that they will still get in despite not havng their middle names on their ESTAs (as has been the case with everyone so far) then that is their choice.

Although this is just conjecture, I would expect that the requirment is to reduce the number of false flags of people on the "No fly" list causing unneccesary work for CBP and unnneccesary delays for passengers. If you include all of your middle names then it is less likely that you will match someone with the same first name and surname that is on the "no fly" list. This actually happened to an old boss of mine that was delayed for 3 hours due to his first and last names matching someone on the list. He still got in but it was inconvenient for him and wasted a lot of time for the CBP officers dealing with it.

It would be a lot easier if the ESTA website simply said "All given names" rather than relying on someone to hover over the "?". After all, most people are aware of what their first given name is so wouldn't necessarily bother to seek further assistance.