Esta - Middle name not included

[littlelish0544]

Originally Posted by tspill

I did the same - no middle names.
There have been zero reported issues with this and I am not re-applying. And there will have been tens if not hundreds of thousands of people travelling with no middle name on their ESTA.
The worst that can happen is possibly a bit of a delay getting through immigration if they ever enforce this. No big deal.

See more...

But as they now advise you need minimum of 72 hours between application and approval, it could be a three day big deal. I applied for ours, didn't put middle names on as never had before, then a few days later saw the threads about the October change and the names needing to be the same as on passports. Now I may have risked it if you could still just do them at the airport, but as they warn for 72 hours the risk for me wasn't worth it. To have to pay again or face the sorry, not flying today situation was a no brainer. And even worse, imagine then having to get another flight if they were not approved quickly enough? No thanks.

[Miss_Shell]

I have also redone ours and approved second time with no issues

[Miss_Shell]

Originally Posted by PPM

As for getting refused entry. As you have an authorised ESTA you won’t get refused at this time, but you MAY get extra questions. That will be about it.

See more...

ESTA does not guarantee entry. I just wanted to clarify that.

[ManCity]

Originally Posted by myaquarium

The question first given name ...

See more...

But you are not asked for 'first given name'. You are asked for 'First (Given) Name' - which is different - the brackets change the meaning. 'First (Given) Name' means 'First Name, i.e. Given Name'. 'Given' here qualifies 'First' and explains what is meant in this context.

Your name has 2 parts: Given Name and Family Name. All the family automatically has the same Family Name. The Given Name is the part you were given to distinguish you from all the other family members.

So, if your name is 'John Henry Smith', your Given Name is 'John Henry' which distinguishes you from 'John William' etc. Yes, 'John' and 'Henry' on their own are valid names, but your parents didn't want you to be 'John Smith', they wanted you to be 'John Henry'. Of course, in day to day use, names get abbreviated, e.g. to just 'John' (or maybe in some cases to 'Henry' or 'Harry'), but on an official form it should surely be expected that your full name is required, particularly when it is related to your passport, where 'Henry' is not separated from 'John'.

There has been speculation in the past couple of days as to how Michael Gove fills in his ESTA. You might think his 'first name' is 'Michael', but his Given Name is actually 'Michael Andrew'. However, he was adopted and his name at birth was different: Graeme Logan. So his 'first name' was (obviously!) 'Graeme Logan' and his 'first given name' is 'Graeme'! Words can have different meanings to the one you expect, depending on the context, so reading all the instructions carefully is essential.

This is a US form, not a UK one, so needs to be interpreted as such. The US has a different version of English to the UK. They don't put 'petrol' in a car, they put 'gas', even though it is obviously a liquid and not a gas. Always read the pop-up instructions behind every '?'.

[tspill]

Originally Posted by littlelish0544

But as they now advise you need minimum of 72 hours between application and approval, it could be a three day big deal. I applied for ours, didn't put middle names on as never had before, then a few days later saw the threads about the October change and the names needing to be the same as on passports. Now I may have risked it if you could still just do them at the airport, but as they warn for 72 hours the risk for me wasn't worth it. To have to pay again or face the sorry, not flying today situation was a no brainer. And even worse, imagine then having to get another flight if they were not approved quickly enough? No thanks.

See more...

When they talk about delay I suspect this is not what they mean. I expect it will be a few extra questions. No one is going to have to re-apply and wait 72 hours.

The DIBB has now unfortunately just become a total scaremongering forum on this topic and has created completely unnecessary panic in many.

It is not an issue anywhere else on the internet nor at immigration.

[Lily8]

Originally Posted by ManCity

But you are not asked for 'first given name'. You are asked for 'First (Given) Name' - which is different - the brackets change the meaning. 'First (Given) Name' means 'First Name, i.e. Given Name'. 'Given' here qualifies 'First' and explains what is meant in this context.

Your name has 2 parts: Given Name and Family Name. All the family automatically has the same Family Name. The Given Name is the part you were given to distinguish you from all the other family members.

So, if your name is 'John Henry Smith', your Given Name is 'John Henry' which distinguishes you from 'John William' etc. Yes, 'John' and 'Henry' on their own are valid names, but your parents didn't want you to be 'John Smith', they wanted you to be 'John Henry'. Of course, in day to day use, names get abbreviated, e.g. to just 'John' (or maybe in some cases to 'Henry' or 'Harry'), but on an official form it should surely be expected that your full name is required, particularly when it is related to your passport, where 'Henry' is not separated from 'John'.

There has been speculation in the past couple of days as to how Michael Gove fills in his ESTA. You might think his 'first name' is 'Michael', but his Given Name is actually 'Michael Andrew'. However, he was adopted and his name at birth was different: Graeme Logan. So his 'first name' was (obviously!) 'Graeme Logan' and his 'first given name' is 'Graeme'! Words can have different meanings to the one you expect, depending on the context, so reading all the instructions carefully is essential.

This is a US form, not a UK one, so needs to be interpreted as such. The US has a different version of English to the UK. They don't put 'petrol' in a car, they put 'gas', even though it is obviously a liquid and not a gas. Always read the pop-up instructions behind every '?'.

See more...

That's an interesting theory, but having completed dozens of American forms in the last 10 years (immigration as well as tax), I have yet to come across a form where the requirement to include a middle name (or indeed initial) has been phrased in this way. If anything the ESTA online form is quite un-American :-)

[PPM]

Originally Posted by Miss_Shell

ESTA does not guarantee entry. I just wanted to clarify that.

See more...

Of course, I expected the corrections it happens all the time

I have edited my post to reflect that you aont get turned around at immigration if all that is wrong is an inaccuracy with your middle name.

[PPM]

Originally Posted by Lily8

That's an interesting theory, but having completed dozens of American forms in the last 10 years (immigration as well as tax), I have yet to come across a form where the requirement to include a middle name (or indeed initial) has been phrased in this way. If anything the ESTA online form is quite un-American :-)

See more...

But the ESTA application form is phrased that way, so you have now.
It’s the way it is we just have to live with it, or email the DHS advising them that their form is very confusing.

[Drivinginmoray]

Many thanks to everyone for the replies! I've redone my ESTA and got it approved within 10 minutes. 3 things ive learnt today ...1) 10s of thousands will have missed off there middle name(s), 2) it probably will never matter but 3) if you worry like me and can live with losing 11 quid more, re-do your ESTA and, voila, peace of mind. Thank you all again.

[Kellea]

I did the same yesterday. Ive never done middle names before but was flapping. It was for peace of mind and I feel much better today x