Public Transport
We will be getting married in Long Island, NY. The venue is in Woodbury, approximately a 30-minute drive north-east of JFK airport, and the church and Bride’s home are both around 25 minutes north of the venue.
The nearest train station to the venue is Syosset, which is part of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). Trains to Syosset are reasonably frequent, though you may find it easier to get a train to Hicksville and pick up a local taxi or Uber from there if you are coming from NYC / the airport.
Hicksville trains run directly to and from Jamaica station (JFK airport AirTrain terminus). Manhattan is accessible from Hicksville by taking a direct train to either Penn Station (42nd St, near Times Square) or Grand Central. The AirTrain is FINALLY OMNY enabled, so you can pay for the AirTrain contactless. LIRR tickets must still be purchased from a machine or on the MTA TrainTime app. Londoners are allowed to lament the Oyster system whilst in NY.
Visas
Note that the following does not constitute legal advice, and if you are unsure you should speak with an immigration lawyer ASAP!
Those travelling into the United States for the wedding will require some paperwork. There are broadly two ways that non-U.S. residents will enter the country: VWP/ESTA and a B visitor visa.
Visa Waiver Program / ESTA
If you are from a country on the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) / ESTA list, you should be able to enter the U.S. with just an ESTA. An ESTA is valid for unlimited entries into the U.S. within a two-year period for up to 90 days each time, for the purposes of business, tourism, and visiting friends and relatives. 41 countries, including the United Kingdom and Italy, are participants of the ESTA scheme. A full list is available from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Applying for an ESTA takes around half an hour, and you’ll typically receive an answer within a few hours. The latest recommended time to apply for an ESTA is 72-hours before you fly.
Note that there are many websites that aim to exploit you into paying more for an ESTA by “helping” you to apply. There is no need to pay an external firm for an ESTA! You should only use the official DHS ESTA website: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/. As of the time of writing, an ESTA costs $21.
B-1/B-2 Visa
If you are from a country that requires a visa to enter the United States as a visitor, or you are not eligible for an ESTA because you have connections to a restricted country (such as Iran), please get in contact with us so that we can give you enough details to apply. The U.S. visa process is notoriously lengthy, so we recommend you start this process as soon as possible.
If you only think you’ll need to visit the U.S. for tourism purposes, you can apply for a B-2 tourism-only visa; that said, most B visas are hybrid B-1/B-2, meaning you can visit for both business meetings (B-1) and tourism (B-2) purposes, much like the VWP/ESTA scheme. B visas will last between a single visit and several years depending on your assessed risk to the U.S.
Wait times for a B-1/B-2 visa appointment can be up to six months, so please ensure you start the process immediately if you require one of these. They cost $185 upon application. More information can be found on the U.S. Department of State Travel website: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html.