Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing ESTA - that is the Electronic System for Travel Authorization - issues associated with ESTA and not being able to enter the United States and then subsequent K-1, K-3, CR-1 and IR-1 Visa applications. So these are the Fiancé(e) and Marriage Visas. What are we talking about here? 

Well I don't go in to ESTA very often because quite frankly it doesn't pertain to Thailand directly. Thailand is not a member of the Visa waiver program to the United States which I often wonder why, but okay, set that aside. Those in the Visa waiver program have to deal with ESTA. So the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, oftentimes referred to as a backdoor Visa because Visa waiver existed and then they sort of on top of it they added this thing called ESTA which they said "oh it's just a system online; you just fill it out." Well as a practical matter, it's travel authorization which what is travel authorization if not a Visa? I mean sort of different terms for the exact same thing. That said, if one is denied in the ESTA system to get into the United States and this could happen for a variety of reasons. One of the big ones is travelling to a country that is on a list that ESTA doesn't want you to travel into the United States after travelling to that country regardless of your own nationality. You don't have to be from that country but if you travel to a country that's on their sort of for lack of a better term, "Blacklist", it can result in you not being able to use ESTA to then travel into the United States. This then creates the imperative of "well how do I get into the United States?"

I have done another video contemporaneously with this one where in a tourism context or a short stay context, you are then basically compelled to go ahead and apply for a Tourist Visa. However, what if you have a significant other, a loved one from the United States who wants to sponsor you and bring you to the United States either as a fiancé(e) and then eventually adjusting status to Immigrant Visa status in the United States, so-called Permanent Residence, or those who enter in like a K-3 Non-Immigrant Marriage Visa or a CR-1 or IR-1 Immigrant Spouse Visa, what are the implications of ESTA problems on those later applications? Generally speaking probably nothing but it will depend on the nature of the underlying reason why ESTA is denying you. So again if it's just because you went to a country that's on the Blacklist, that in and of itself is not a legal ground of inadmissibility that would preclude one from being able to obtain a family-based visa to the United States. Meanwhile, other issues that may cause ESTA to deny further travel to the United States can have an impact on a subsequent Fiancé(e) Visa or Marriage Visa application. One example of a reason ESTA would deny you that could have implications negative or otherwise on subsequent family Visa applications is overstay; people will go into the United States on ESTA and then overstay. That can then have implications including grounds of inadmissibility requiring possibly an I-601 waiver to re-enter the United States. That may arise in the ESTA system where it finds "oh you overstayed, now we're not going to let you in." Now you're turning around and applying for Fiancé(e) Visa or a Marriage visa. That overstay is going to be looked at by the adjudicators for those later applications.

So that's something to bear in mind. Again it's going to be primarily driven by the fundamental facts of the underlying case in the reasoning why ESTA denied you. That will then have an impact on how it is adjudicated in a Family Visa context.