Many other countries have automated this now and it’s all on line, next will be the ETA and that will have risk attached to it as tourist tax will be collected when the eta is issued……I always check carefully when using any govt websites for visas and ESTA’s or ETA’s as scam sites abound - the upside of all this will be the end of queues at arrivals which will make travel more enjoyable
Try opening a bank account as foreigner in US without residency, let alone VISA - worldwide problem when I retired all my offshore accounts in Dubai, South Africa and Hong Kong were zapped they are all paranoid about illegal activities - get your retirement visa before you move here, then local account is easy.