Up through today, the ESTA cost people like my husband $21:
$17 went to promote U.S. tourism
$4 went to cover operational costs.
With the Big Beautiful Bill this summer, Congress legislated an increase to $40:
$17 will still go to financing tourism promotion;
$10 will now go towards covering operational costs;
$13 will go directly to the U.S. Treasury.
I tried to get online tonight to get a new one for my husband (his expires 11/01), buy the site is down due to everyone trying to do the same.