Some family from the EU will be visiting me in Seattle this summer, for a fun USA vacation, however they also want to see Vancouver BC while they're over. Does anyone have experience with EU visitors entering USA via air and then driving into Canada for a visit and coming back into the USA - is this OK to do? Would they need a visa or something other than their EU passports, in order to return successfully to the USA? A long time ago I heard stories about overseas visitors doing this, and being denied reentry to the USA for paperwork reasons. I tried finding out online but the more webpages I looked at, the less clear it has become. Thank you in advance!
Citizens of most EU countries ( check online for those EU countries not eligible) require an ESTA for entry into the US, in addition to their passports. The ESTA is good for multiple entries during the validity period (2 years, I think). In addition, they would need an eTA in order to visit Canada.
Thank you so much for the reply! Having the keywords you provided helped me to find the relevant web pages. In case it's helpful to others, here are the links, below. There are slightly different requirements for different countries (as noted) so do check the rules for the appropriate one:
- https://ircc.canada.ca/english/visit/visas.asp
- https://www.usa.gov/visa-waiver-esta