Monaco was designated into the Visa Waiver Program in 1991. Citizens of the Principality holding a biometric Monégasque passport can spend up to 90 days in the United States with an approved ESTA, typically flying from nearby Nice.
90 days
Maximum stay per visit
2 years
ESTA validity
Multiple
Entries permitted
72 hours
Apply at least this far ahead
100% online
No embassy visit
Overview
The link between Monaco and America is personal as well as diplomatic. Princess Grace was a Philadelphian, the reigning Prince studied in Massachusetts, and the Principality's small community of nationals has long looked across the Atlantic for education, business and sport. Monaco has been part of the Visa Waiver Program since 1991.
That membership benefits a very specific group: the Monégasque nationals themselves, who number under ten thousand among a resident population several times larger. For them, a visit to the United States requires a biometric passport issued by the Principality and an ESTA from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, obtained online and checked at the airport in Nice.
Most people living on the Rock or in Monte-Carlo are French, Italian, British or of another nationality entirely, and they must apply according to their own passport. If you are a Monégasque citizen, the guidance below is addressed to you; if you are a resident, look instead for the page that matches your nationality.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. Monégasque citizens need an approved ESTA for every visa-free journey to the United States, whether they arrive by air or by sea. Yachts and cruise ships arriving at American ports are covered, and so are land crossings from Canada and Mexico, which were brought within the requirement in 2022.
Nationality, not residence, is what counts. A carte de séjour issued by Monaco, however long held, confers nothing for these purposes. An Italian banker resident in the Principality applies as Italian, a Swiss resident as Swiss, and only those with Monégasque nationality select Monaco on the form.
The general exclusions apply to Monégasques as to everyone. If you have been in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen or North Korea since 1 March 2011, or in Cuba since 12 January 2021, the waiver is not open to you. A second nationality from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, North Korea or Cuba has the same effect and must be stated.
Permitted purposes are generous for a typical Monégasque itinerary: board meetings in New York, a tennis tournament in Florida as a spectator, medical consultations in Boston or a family holiday in Los Angeles. Salaried work for an American firm, enrolment in a degree programme and assignments for the press fall outside it.
Stay & validity
An approved ESTA is ordinarily good for two years and any number of visits, none of which may exceed 90 days. It lapses earlier if your Monégasque passport reaches its expiry date first, so look at the booklet before applying and renew it at the Mairie beforehand if little time remains.
Frequent travellers should note that the 90 days are generous but not elastic. Time spent in the Bahamas, in St Barts by way of a US airport, in Canada or in Mexico during the same journey is added to the American days. A winter that begins in Miami and moves around the Caribbean on a boat needs to be planned with the calendar in hand.
There is no procedure for staying longer once admitted under the waiver. A Monégasque who wishes to spend a whole academic term near a child at an American university, or to oversee a lengthy property project, should obtain a B-1/B-2 visa in advance.
Pricing
Live fees for Monégasque passport holders, shown all-in — the US government charge and our service fee together, with nothing added later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Monaco
Requirements
Everything Monégasque passport holders need before starting an application. The first five items apply to every applicant; the rest are specific to your nationality.
A biometric e-passport from a Visa Waiver Program country, carrying the chip symbol on its cover
A valid email address, which is where the decision is sent and which you should keep accessible while travelling
A credit or debit card to pay the government ESTA charge and our service fee together
Your home address, phone number and an emergency contact
Employer details and, if you have them, the address of where you are staying in the United States
Simple process
Four steps, entirely online, with our team checking every field before anything reaches U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Enter your passport details exactly as printed, your contact and employment information, and answer the eligibility questions. Most applicants finish in about fifteen minutes.
Our team checks your passport number, name spelling, dates and declarations against CBP requirements before anything is submitted.
Your application goes to U.S. Customs and Border Protection with the government charge paid, and we track its status until a decision is issued.
There is nothing to stick in your passport. The authorisation is held electronically against your passport number, and the airline verifies it when you check in.
Monégasque applications are generally resolved within a day, and often far sooner. The 72-hour recommendation from CBP is nonetheless the standard to work to, as individual cases can be held for review without any reason being given at the time.
Travellers from the Principality often decide on trips at short notice. That is workable with an ESTA already in place, which is the strongest argument for obtaining one before you have a specific date in mind. Once approved, it remains ready for two years' worth of spontaneous departures.
If the waiver is declined, a visa is the alternative, and Monaco has no American embassy of its own. The Principality falls within the consular district of Marseille, while visa interviews for France and Monaco are arranged through the US mission in France. Confirm the location when you book an appointment.
On arrival
An approved ESTA gets you on the plane. This is what happens once you land, and how to make the arrival as quick as possible.
Visa Waiver travellers are seen by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the first American airport they land at, even when connecting onward. The officer takes a photograph and, for most adults, fingerprints.
There is no paper form to fill in on the aircraft. Your arrival record, the I-94, is created digitally and shows the date by which you must leave. You can look it up online afterwards.
Expect to be asked where you are staying, for how long and what you do for a living. A return ticket and the address of your first night are usually all it takes.
Queues at the busiest gateways can run past an hour at peak arrival times. If you are connecting to a domestic flight, leave a generous margin, since you also reclaim and recheck your bags.
Getting there
Monaco has a heliport but no airport, so international travel means Nice Côte d'Azur, about half an hour along the coast by road or a few minutes by helicopter shuttle. Nice has nonstop flights to New York that are busiest in the summer season, and year-round one-stop options through Paris, London, Frankfurt, Zurich and Amsterdam. Some Monégasques prefer to drive to Milan Malpensa for a wider choice of direct services.
Best time to go
Monaco's own calendar is crowded in late spring, when the Grand Prix takes over the streets and many nationals either work around the event or let their apartments. The weeks immediately afterwards are a popular time to leave, and June in the north-eastern United States is warm and settled.
School holidays in the Principality broadly track the French pattern, with a long summer break in July and August and shorter ones around All Saints, Christmas, February and Easter. The February fortnight is well suited to Florida or to skiing in Colorado and Utah, both at their best then.
Autumn brings the Fête du Prince on 19 November, after which a number of Monégasque families head to New York for the run-up to Christmas. Bear in mind that Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of that month and that American domestic flights are extremely full in the days around it.
The time difference is six hours to the East Coast and nine to the Pacific. Daytime flights from Nice reach New York in the early afternoon, which makes a same-day dinner engagement feasible, whereas the overnight return lands on the Riviera the following morning.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Monaco — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The most frequent error from the Principality is a resident choosing Monaco as country of citizenship. The form is asking about the passport. If yours is French, Italian or British, that is the nationality to enter, with Monaco as your home address.
Jean-Baptiste is sometimes typed as one word, sometimes as two, and sometimes with the second half dropped. Whichever arrangement the machine-readable zone uses is the correct one, and inventing another can prevent the airline from finding your record.
Many Monégasques also hold French or Italian nationality through a parent or spouse. The question about other citizenships expects it to be listed. Leaving it blank is an avoidable inconsistency if the other passport is ever presented at a border.
Arriving in Fort Lauderdale or Newport aboard a vessel does not remove the need for prior authorisation where the Visa Waiver Program is being used. Owners, guests and family members should each check what their mode of arrival requires before the crossing.
Travel to a restricted country
Anyone who has been in Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia or Yemen on or after 1 March 2011, or in Cuba on or after 12 January 2021, is generally not eligible for the Visa Waiver Program and needs a visa instead.
A previous visa refusal or overstay
An earlier refusal of a US visa, a denied entry or a past overstay must be declared. Each one commonly leads to an ESTA being refused and the traveller being directed to apply for a visa.
Passport details that do not match
A single wrong character in the passport number, or an expiry date typed in the wrong order, produces an authorisation the airline cannot find at check-in.
Conditions
These conditions are set under the Visa Waiver Program and do not vary by nationality. The 90-day limit and the passport-linking rule catch out a great many otherwise well-planned trips.
Your authorisation is held electronically against the passport number you enter. If you renew or replace that passport, change your name or change citizenship, the ESTA no longer applies and you need a new one.
Every person travelling under the Visa Waiver Program needs their own ESTA, including babies and children, each linked to that traveller's own e-passport.
An approved ESTA generally lasts two years from the date of authorisation, or until the passport it is linked to expires, whichever comes first.
Within its validity you can make repeated trips. Each stay can be up to 90 days, and time spent in Canada, Mexico or the nearby Caribbean islands during a trip counts towards those 90 days.
A Visa Waiver stay cannot be extended and cannot be converted into another immigration status from inside the United States. Anyone who needs longer must apply for a visa before travelling.
An ESTA lets you board a carrier bound for the United States. Admission is decided by a CBP officer at the port of entry, who can ask about your plans, your funds and your ties to home.
Consular services
No American mission is located in Monaco; the Consulate General in Marseille is responsible for the Principality. Neither it nor the embassy in Paris has any role in ESTA decisions, and Monégasque travellers need them only for visas or consular assistance.
FAQs
The questions Monégasque passport holders ask most often about travelling to the United States.
No. Citizens of Monaco can travel to the United States visa-free for up to 90 days under the Visa Waiver Program, which the Principality joined in 1991. They must obtain an ESTA before departure. A visa is needed for employment, credited study or longer stays.
You apply as a French citizen, using your French passport details, and enter your Monaco address under residence. Only holders of Monégasque nationality and a passport issued by the Principality select Monaco as their country of citizenship.
No. Monaco is covered by the American Consulate General in Marseille, with the embassy in Paris heading the mission. An ESTA is arranged entirely online, so most Monégasque travellers never need to contact either office.
Yes, Nice has nonstop flights to the New York area, with the fullest schedule in summer. Outside those months, or for other American cities, the usual approach is a single connection in Paris, London, Frankfurt or Zurich.
Up to 90 days on each visit, with as many visits as you like while the authorisation is valid. Days spent in Canada, Mexico or adjacent Caribbean islands during a trip are included in the total.
Yes. The programme accepts only electronic passports, identifiable by the small chip symbol on the front cover. If you hold an older or temporary document without it, renew before applying.
Not for a course that earns academic credit; that calls for a student visa. An ESTA is suitable for campus visits, admissions interviews and short recreational classes, and parents commonly use one when accompanying a child to enrol.
Yes. The authorisation is attached to a single passport number and does not transfer. Once the Mairie issues your new passport, submit a fresh application with the new details before your next trip.
Your nationality is already set to Monaco. Complete the form in about fifteen minutes, and our team will check every detail before it reaches CBP.
Other nationalities
Routes, passport rules and the practical details differ by country. Here are the guides for other Visa Waiver Program nationalities.
