ESTA country code

Question

My ESTA has been approved but I wanted to clarify a small detail.

As my travel plans have not been finalised and I am still deciding on which hotel to reserve, for the section regarding US point of contact, I typed 'UNKNOWN'.

When it asked for 'country code', I selected the US country code (+1) and for 'Phone number', I just typed a series of zeros.

For the 'country code', I could not find 'unknown' from the dropdown list and nor could I type any zeros for this section. Therefore, I just selected the US country code (+1).

Would this be ok or have I done something wrong?

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Thanks

Answer

For the US point of contact section on the ESTA form, it is common for travelers who have not yet finalized their accommodation to enter “UNKNOWN” or a hotel name that is tentative. Since the form requires a phone number and country code, it does not allow a completely blank or zero entry for the country code, so selecting the US country code (+1) is standard practice in this situation.

Here’s how this works in practice:

Entering “UNKNOWN” for the point of contact is acceptable if you do not have a confirmed address or hotel yet.
Selecting the US country code (+1) is required because the form needs a valid international dialing code; there is no “unknown” option.
Entering a placeholder number, such as zeros, is a common workaround. While the phone number may not be real, the main purpose is to satisfy the form validation.

Additional notes:

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) understands that travelers may not have finalized accommodations at the time of ESTA submission, so this typically does not cause issues for entry.
Once your travel plans are confirmed, you can update your ESTA with the actual hotel or point of contact and valid phone number, although it is not strictly required before travel.
At the port of entry, officers may ask where you will be staying. Having a tentative hotel reservation or general plan is sufficient.

In summary, what you have done is generally fine and should not affect your travel or ESTA approval. Just make sure you have a place to stay and can provide details to CBP if asked upon arrival.