Anyone who is going to travel and/or overland in the country for a long period of time USA and / or Canada In most cases, an ESTA with a maximum duration of three months (90 days) will not suffice. Those who want to stay in the United States for longer than 90 days will therefore have to apply for a so-called B1-B2 tourist/business visa so that you can travel freely for 6 months to a maximum of one year.
But that is not everything. Many people who travel for a long time in America also want to travel through Canada (just like us). You will also have to deal with the Canadian visa rules. In this article we will therefore tell you all about the various options you have as a tourist. We list everything for you. Everything about VISA, ESTA, B1/B2 & eTA for America and Canada.
This article is part of a large one-year tour the United States en Canada, with a Dutch 4×4 camper that we shipped ourselves… It is a bucket list worthy and an once in a lifetime experience that will never be forgotten.
We wrote almost 100 articles about this ultimate tour. Visit our North America page for more information.
Visa options for America
Below we list the various visa options for America for you. From a simple ESTA to a B1/B2 visa for long-term travel up to one year.
Apply for ESTA
What exactly is an ESTA and who is it for? An ESTA is intended for citizens of the EU, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. The ESTA allows citizens of these countries to travel around the United States visa-free for 90 days.
The entire procedure is digital and you will therefore also receive your ESTA digitally (via email) when it has been approved. You then print this out and take it with you when you fly to America. Piece of cake!
Tip:: Are you going on holiday to America? Then in almost all cases will be the default ESTA Authorization for the United States are already enough for you. You can request this quickly and easily online at VisaBuitenland.nl. The average delivery time is three days, so you quickly know where you stand.
Apply for B1/B1 visa
Are you planning to go overland or make another long-term trip in America? Then you probably want to stay in the United States for longer than 90 days. Those who want to stay in the country for more than 90 days need one B1 / B2 tourist & business visa necessary. A B1/B2 visa for the US can be obtained from the US embassy in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich or Berlin.
D160 form
The visa process for America is unfortunately old-fashioned and cumbersome and starts with filling out a D160 form + paying 160 dollars (per person). To start with you follow this link, the link takes you directly to the official government page of the US where you can start your visa application.
Note: if you thought that they already asked a lot of you when applying for an ESTA, get your chest wet. By filling in the D160 form you are just like that three hours on.
They really want to know everything about you. Think of your online presence, travel history, education, family members and employer(s). They also ask if you are a terrorist, if you trade in organs and/or people, if you know how to make bombs and more of those bizarre questions.
Make sure that you fill in everything truthfully, no matter how logical it may be. Take your time and do it accurately. Errors in the forms can cause a lot of delay and even lifelong refusal to enter the country. Even if this goes wrong accidentally.
Make an appointment at the Embassy
When you have successfully completed and paid for the D160 form, you must make an appointment at the American Embassy, for example the one in Amsterdam. There you will have to schedule a 1 on 1 interview (also via this link). A consular employee of the American embassy will put you to the test to see what your purpose is during this trip in America and whether you do not want to stay there secretly. You can also apply for your visa in Belgium or Germany (more info at the bottom of the article). These are the three official websites of the respective US embassies.
- American Embassy The Netherlands: https://ais.usvisa-info.com/nl-nl/niv/
- American Embassy Germany: https://ustraveldocs.com/de/
- American Embassy Belgium: https://be.usembassy.gov/
If your application goes smoothly, your visa will be issued. You will have to leave your passport and it will then be sent to your home within two weeks, with the necessary papers and stamps.
Important to know: A B1 / B2 visa for the United States is Valid for 10 year. This does not mean that you can stay in the US for 10 years, this stays for 6 months up to a maximum of one year. However, the validity means that you can arrange your visa well in advance and then plan your trip when and how you want. For example, you can travel to the US for 4 months (total of 12 months) for three years, as long as you do not exceed the 12 months (maximum duration of visa) or 10 years (maximum validity of visa) going.
Long waiting times and alternative options
Unfortunately, applying for a visa for the United States in recent years has not gone as you would like. Online payment and completion of the D160 form is still possible, but then comes the biggest challenge: making an appointment at the American Embassy in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich or Berlin.
Tip:: I mention the embassies in Germany above for a reason: they are possible alternatives if it is not possible to schedule an appointment in time in the Netherlands and/or Belgium.
In 2021 and 2022 it has proved almost impossible to obtain a visa for the US within a reasonable period of time (say 1 to 3 months). Fortunately, things look a lot better in 2023: currently (January 2023) the waiting time is only a few days!
Move appointment
Tip:: Are the waiting times very long? Then schedule an appointment as soon as possible, even if you can't go for another year. After that you can try to reschedule the appointment. I explain how that works below.
The image below shows the message you see when you try to schedule or change an appointment at the Embassy in Amsterdam: there are no options available. Not even in a year, everything is full!
But who, like us, perseveres and daily (yes, really) logs in to see if there are new appointment opportunities, you might be in luck. Places become available regularly in the short term. This happens when, for example, they hire extra staff, or someone cancels an appointment. So it took us several weeks. We checked daily if we could reschedule the appointment! After 4 weeks we were lucky, we could suddenly go to Berlin at short notice! More information about that below.
Apply for your visa in another country
Is it taking too long in Amsterdam and do you want to look at other options? Then you can possibly apply for your American visa in another country. For those wondering if it's allowed: yes, it's allowed. You may apply for a visa for America in another country, for example in Belgium or Germany. But it does have some hooks and eyes.
First of all, you must be physically in the country for the visit to the Embassy. Your passport will also be sent by post with the visa stuck in it afterwards. The only problem is: they don't send them 'abroad'. So if you apply in Germany, you will have to provide a German address where you can collect your passport afterwards. Fortunately, we had a family member living in Germany who could receive our passport.
In addition, you must also have 'ties' with the country where you are visiting the Embassy. I found this a rather vague concept, so I decided to contact the customer service of the US Embassy in Germany. I specifically asked if I, as a resident of the Netherlands, could apply for a visa in Germany or America.
After e-mailing back and forth with customer service from ustraveldocs.com ([email protected]), she explained again that normally is not possible (exceptions left), but at the same time that they are much more flexible nowadays. They do this to relieve the other embassies, such as those of Amsterdam.
See one of the emails I received back from the US government below:
Tip: Visa Appointment Wait Times
Once I had that in writing, I proceeded to make a deal across the border. In both Amsterdam and Brussels it was still said that I could only go after '999 days', so I went to Germany.
In Germany, waiting times in Munich and Frankfurt were also quite considerable (2 to 3 months). Fortunately, there were still a few places available in Berlin, only 3 to 4 weeks later.
Tip: If you want to see for yourself what the waiting times are, you can go to this page see for yourself what theVisa Appointment Wait Timesfor US embassies around the world.
You enter an embassy of your choice and you will immediately see what the average waiting time is there. Currently it is 285 days for Amsterdam.
Tip: Germany has three US embassies and/or consulates. You can apply for a visa at all three. These are Berlin (embassy), Frankfurt (consulate) and Munich (consulate).
Payment cannot be converted
The American embassy in Germany is completely separate from the embassy in Amsterdam (and that also applies to all embassies in other countries). You can therefore pay the paid fee (160 dollars / 144 euros per person) for making an appointment at an embassy in a certain country, never transfer it to another country. You would think so, but alas…
You can, of course, avoid this by first looking at the waiting times per country and then immediately submitting your application in the country with the shortest waiting time.
D160 transfer form
Fortunately, your D160 form is possible be transferred to another embassy in another country. You can add the code you receive after completing the D160 form to your new account. And speaking of your new account, for the German embassy you also have to create a new account on a completely different website than that of the Netherlands… For Belgium, ditto. Each country has its own US Embassy website that looks and works differently. Not nice, but it's no different... Below I've added the three websites again:
- American Embassy The Netherlands: https://ais.usvisa-info.com/nl-nl/niv/
- American Embassy Germany: https://ustraveldocs.com/de/
- American Embassy Belgium: https://be.usembassy.gov/
Visa options for Canada
While in America you are 'only' allowed to travel visa-free for 90 days, in Canada it is 6 months. This is of course very pleasant for world travelers like us. In Canada they call the visa-free travel form the etcYou can also request this online.
apply for eTA
For citizens of the EU, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, Canada allows 6 months of free travel. The form is called the eTA in Canada and is here can be found online. There are some conditions attached to the Canadian eTA.
- You are traveling to Canada By plane.
- Stays maximum six months inCanada.
- You are traveling to Canada for vacation or transit.
Another important condition is that you have one return ticket or other ticket with which you will also leave Canada.
eTA not suitable for border crossing
At first I thought we would simply get away with an eTA. We are not planning to stay in Canada for longer than 6 months. But because we by land traveling from the US to Canada with our motorhome, we cannot claim the eTA. After all, we don't just fly to Canada.
Those traveling to Canada overland from America have two options: one Tourist Visa or simply drive to the border crossing and ask what the conditions are for entering the country.
Apply for tourist visa
Those who want to be sure of entry to Canada and/or who want to travel in Canada for more than 6 months will have to apply for a Tourist visa. This visa is issued to individuals who wish to temporarily visit Canada for tourism purposes. You can get the Tourist Visa for Canada apply here.
eTA / Obtain Visa at border crossing
As mentioned above, you can also drive from America with a European passport to the Canadian border and try to enter the country that way. We also did this (consciously, by the way), because in 2021 and 2022 due to all corona measures and restrictions, different rules and conditions were drawn up every few months. We found this difficult to oversee during our trip.
We therefore drove without any preparation and without filling in anything with our 4×4 camper to the Canadian border. After a short conversation with the Customs agent, we received a form that we had to fill out. This form actually only related to the corona vaccinations!
After filling in our vaccination info online (via the QR code on the form) we went back to the border crossing again. Some questions were asked about our plans in Canada. After a short explanation about our tour, we were allowed to drive on.
In short: if you travel by land and don't feel like making hugely extensive visa applications for Canada in advance, you can also just drive to the border and try it that way. We also hear from other overlanders that this goes well in almost all cases.
Visa hopping in America and Canada
There are also overlanders who 'visa-hopping' in America and Canada. That actually means that they do not apply for a visa and simply try to enter at the border. in America you always need at least an ETA that is valid for 90 days. But you can apply for this ESTA several times.
Basically this works as follows:
- You arrive in America on an ESTA (which is valid for 90 days).
- You start your tour of up to 90 days in America.
- You enter Canada via land at a border crossing within 90 days at the latest.
- You then travel around Canada for a maximum of 6 months.
- In the meantime, you are applying for a new ESTA for America.
- You will return to America on a new 90-day ESTA.
Which is good to know: getting a 2nd ESTA is never guaranteed. There is also a rule that after obtaining an ESTA that is valid for 90 days, you must leave the country for at least 91 days after your visit to America.
This is a rule that is not very strictly enforced. There are several overlanders who have managed to return to America on a new ESTA after only a few weeks in Canada.
Remark: It seems that the US customs have become quite lenient in recent years for Overlanders visiting both countries. Often people also travel to Alaska, so you first have to drive through Canada and again when you come back.
Closing comments
We are now back in the Netherlands after traveling for almost a year in 2022 in America and Canada with our own Dutch 4×4 camper. More information about shipping, insurance and of course dozens of bogs with thousands of tips, we wrote spread over almost 100 articles. Below you will find a summary. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments. Have fun reading!
This article is part of a large one-year tour the United States en Canada, with a Dutch 4×4 camper that we shipped ourselves… It is a bucket list worthy and an once in a lifetime experience that will never be forgotten.
We wrote almost 100 articles about this ultimate tour. Visit our North America page for more information.
