It is oft said that the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.

That said, the ESTA process is the present form for the statutory waiver of the visa requirement. And a Visa Waiver admission is under the B-1/2 categories.

Australia has a similar system but they call it an Electronic Visa. The EU (minus Ireland) is in the process of setting up a similar system called ETIAS.

We hit 30 weeks next week, looks like the August ones are taking longer than the average. Anyone from August apart from the one on the spreadsheet hear anything yet? Losing hope now.

No. You don't need ESTA, because you have VISA already. You can't have both.
ESTA is only for people who do not require visa to enter US. The fact that you have visa proves that you need visa.

Small point, but you can totally have both. Lots of people have a Visa for a specific purpose and an ESTA at the same time. However, in this context yes the B1/B2 replaces the need for an ESTA, which due to the ineligibility issues they have wouldn't be approved anyway.

I don't accept "the small point", because here on this forum is absolutely... IRRELEVANT. If he is eligible for visa free travel he won't be here.
Of course you can have both if you are eligible but you need longer then the max of 90 stay or study, work etc. Then ESTA for your fun travel and VISA for your other purpose. But again, you can use only one at the time. Even risking to loose the other one... pray for officer who has had his breakfast...
I used to have two visas at the same time perfectly legally issued. But that's not the case.

No, nothing yet.
At this rate we'll be the longest of those currently shown, and a week later than I would have expected. But a week or two variation from the mean, after 6-7 months of waiting, isn't all that surprising.
I'm expecting to hear in a few days.

I’m sept so definitely residing myself to the fact I won’t make travel by April 16th I just hope it turns up way after that as I’ll be super peed off it turns up a week after I’m supposed to have gone 🤣

I'm at the 31-week mark (2nd visa) and heard nothing so probably sensible to plan for a delay.

I'm getting a bit worried myself to be honest as I travel Weds 20th March. I had the email to send them my passport which I did and the tracking confirmed that it was handed to the embassy on the 29th Feb. On the 6th March my DS-160 status check updated from 'Refused' to 'Approved' but i've heard nothing since! I assumed that once it had been approved then I'd get it shipped back pretty quickly.

Not sure if delay of over a week since it was approved is normal??

It normally changes to 'issued' when it's actually been printed and put in your passport. Are you picking it up or having it couriered back?

mine took 22 elapsed days to get the passport back. Albeit that included 6 weekend days. Though looking at the spreadsheet mine was one that took a while to get posted back vs the norm.

Thanks for the response. Can I just ask a couple of questions?

When you did finally get the update that your passport was being sent back, how long did it take to arrive? I paid extra for the premium deliveyr service.
Also, did you notice the date your DS160 status changed from 'Refused' to 'Approved' and if so how long from that date did it take for your passport to be sent out? Mine chaged to approved on 6th March so wanted to guage how long it may be.

Thanks a lot.

Couriered back, paid for the quicker delivery method.

This previous post may help - Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver of Ineligibility Application

This is great - thanks.