There's no need to panic, but U.S. Customs & Border Protection has been cancelling some already-approved ESTAs where a passport photo was uploaded instead of a selfie. In May 2025, it became a requirement to provide a selfie when applying for an ESTA. Since then, some travellers have uploaded their passport photo or another existing photo instead of a current selfie. U.S. Customs & Border Protection appears to have reviewed applications that were approved but did not correctly include a selfie, and has cancelled them as a result. The selfie must be taken during the application process (or very recently) and must not have been used - or intended for use - for any other service.
ESTAs that were approved before the selfie requirement was introduced are not affected and can continue to be used until they expire and need to be renewed.
While this will only affect a small number of travellers, if you're due to travel to the US in the near future it's worth logging in to your ESTA application to confirm it's still showing as approved. If it isn't, you'll need to upload a new selfie and resubmit. The last thing you want is to arrive at the airport and discover it's been cancelled.
Apply for a new ESTA or check your current one only through the official website at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov.
