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My stepson is 17 years old, and was born in Dubai to a Hungarian mother and a British father, so he is a dual citizen. He applied for an ESTA with his Hungarian passport and was denied. Can he turn around and apply for and ESTA with his British passport?

Thank you all for your replies.

We did disclose all information. Both on the Hungarian and British applications. We have applied on his British passport and are still waiting. The application has been pending now for a week, so we are just holding our breath and praying.

Thank you all again.

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    Did he remember to mention his British nationality in the application? If not - that may be why it was denied. If yes, then the other may also be denied. Commented May 20 at 18:50
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    You didn't get a visa for a passport but for a person. Commented May 20 at 19:39
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    @8192K: While that is the usual rule, ESTA is not a visa, it's a weird quasi-visa-but-don't-call-it-that for visa-free nationals. It is therefore much more heavily tied to a person's nationality or citizenship than a typical visa would be, and this can at times have odd or surprising consequences. Commented May 22 at 7:48
  • Thank you all for your replies. We did disclose all information. Both on the Hungarian and British applications. We have applied on his British passport and are still waiting. The application has been pending now for a week, so we are just holding our breath and praying. Thank you all again. Commented May 27 at 13:42
  • @WarrenJonesII Well, dual-citizen born in yet another country and with a previously refused ESTA is probably a good recipe for sending to manual processing and some head-scratching by the examiner :-) Hopefully it'll end up on a positive note. Commented May 27 at 14:12

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The VWP/ESTA program features a well-hidden special case for Hungarian citizens: only those born in Hungary are eligible (and the ESTA has a shorter validity). See this answer for details.

This is most likely the reason the ESTA was denied.

He can certainly apply again using his British passport. There’s a possibility that they’ll refuse it again if they make the link (they should make the link), but I think the probability of refusal is low given the reason for the original one (if that was the only reason of course) no longer applies.

Of course he should have included his UK citizenship in this original application, and he should include his Hungarian citizenship in the new one. The fact that he was not born in Hungary does not disqualify him altogether from ESTA, just from applying on the basis on Hungarian citizenship.

Worst case you’ll have lost a few dollars and have to apply for a visa instead.

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  • Thank You for that answer. Commented May 27 at 13:33

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