Do I Need a Visa If My Transferring Flight Is Through the U.S.?

Flight transfers through the United States can be much more affordable than transfers through other countries, and sometimes offer the most direct routing to international destinations. However, before you book those tickets, you should check to see if you will need a U.S. visa for your brief stop in a U.S. airport, and if so, whether you will have enough time to obtain one before your scheduled travel.

Do You Need a Visa Even If You Won't Leave the U.S. Airport Before Catching Your Connecting Flight?

If you would normally require a visa to travel to the United States for business or tourism, then you also need a visa to transit the U.S. en route to your final destination in another country. (See I.N.A. § 101(a)(15)(C), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(C).) This is true even if you don't intend to leave the airport in the United States.

In the past, there was an option called Transit Without Visa (TWOV,) but it has been suspended indefinitely.

The good news is that if you already have another type of permission to travel to the United States, such as a B-1 visa for business or a B-2 visa for pleasure/tourist visits, or a valid ESTA through the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), you can almost always use that to transit the United States on a connecting flight.

(As an aside to cruise-ship travelers: The same rule applies if you are taking a cruise that is not destined for the United States but has a requirement for you to be in possession of a transit visa in case some emergency requires docking at a U.S. port.)

Canadian citizens are an exception: They do not need a transit visa, as long as they are otherwise eligible to enter the United States as a tourist.

Flight crew or crewmembers on ships that are traveling through the U.S. for work purposes are, however, one of the few categories of travelers who cannot use a B-1/B-2 or the like. They are specifically required to obtain a C-1/D transit visa.

What Type of Transit Visa Do I Need?

Which type of visa you should apply for depends on whether you already have a workable one in hand and what kind of future flexibility you would like.

You Might Already Have an ESTA or B-1/B-2 Visa You Can Use

If you are just transiting the United States and you already have a valid ESTA or B-1/B-2 (business/tourism) visa, then unless you are flight or ship crew, you do not need a special transit visa. You can use the ESTA or your B-1/B-2. However, take a careful look at your travel itinerary: If you are traveling with ESTA to a final destination in Canada or Mexico, and you plan to transit back through the U.S. at the end of your trip, the total duration of the trip generally cannot exceed 90 days.

If you are a citizen of a VWP-participating country and you have not already received ESTA authorization, you can apply online for ESTA and use the authorization for your transit, as long as you will not be in the United States, Canada, or Mexico for more than 90 days total if you are transferring back home through the United States at the end of your trip.

Options If You Don't Already Have an Appropriate Visa

If you are a citizen of a country that does not participate in the Visa Waiver Program and you don't have a handy B-1/B-2, you have some options, including applying for:

• a B-1/B-2 visa for business, pleasure, or medical travel, or
• a C-1 visa for travelers in immediate and continuous transit through the United States.

If your intention is simply to change planes, the C-1 would seem the obvious choice, even if you're worried about delays—for example if bad weather or a missed connection forces you to spend a night in the United States. The C-1 doesn't have a set number of hours by which you must leave, though your departure must be "reasonably expeditious … in the normal course of travel as the elements permit." You will also need to show a preset itinerary without any unreasonable layover privileges.

Before you choose, however, let's compare these two options.

For both a C-1 transit visa and a B-1/B-2 visa, you must convince a U.S. consular officer that you have sufficient ties to your home country and sufficient resources for your planned travel, along with meeting all the other requirements of the visa. There is not a lower standard of proof for the C-1 transit visa and the application fee is the same as the B-1/B-2. Therefore, most applicants just decide to apply for the B-1/B-2 visa, so that they can use for future potential tourist travel.

However, another factor to consider is visa appointment wait times. The wait times for approval of a C-1 can be substantially less than for a B-1/B-2, depending on where you are applying. Some embassies and consulates have a separate, shorter queue for C-1 visas and some do not.

Also bear in mind that C-1 transit visas cannot be utilized if the primary purpose of your trip is to engage in tourism or business in the United States. Therefore, if you plan to stay in the United States longer than the period of a normal layover, perhaps in order to visit friends or sightsee, a B-1/B-2 tourist visa is the more appropriate one.

Remember, whether you are entering on ESTA, a B-1/B-2, or a C-1, even if you are just transferring through the United States, you will need six months' validity on your passport—including at the time you are transiting the U.S. on your way back home from another country.

What Limits Affect What I Can Do in the U.S. With a Transit Visa?

You can leave the airport! In fact, technically speaking, you are permitted to stay for as long as the CBP officer admits you into the United States for. However, C-1 transit visas are issued only to applicants with a stopover of 29 days or less, and a duration of stay of this length would typically be viewed as necessary only for someone like a ship crewmember, who will have to wait for another ship to arrive.

For most airline passengers traveling on a transit visa, with transit as their primary purpose of travel, any proposed stay longer than 24 hours, or long enough to make the connection, would likely bring into question whether transit was really their primary purpose of travel. However, many people do leave the airport on a transit visa, perhaps because the connecting flight does not leave until the next day, or they want a day of rest between long flights.

How to Apply For a C-1 Transit Visa

Before you start the C-1 application process, check the visa appointment wait times to make sure that it is feasible to receive a U.S. visa prior to your anticipated travel date. If you decide that a transit visa is the best option for your purpose of travel, or maybe based on wait times you choose to apply for the transit visa instead of a B-1/B-2 visa, you will need to complete the form DS-160 online, pay the MRV fee (the visa application fee,) and schedule your in-person interview. The website for the Embassy or Consulate where you plan to apply will have instructions for how to pay the fee and schedule the appointment, as this process varies depending on the location.

If you need a C-1 transit visa only because you have a connecting flight in the United States (not because you are an airline or ship crew member), the required documentation is similar to that of a B-1/B-2 visa. It is recommended that you bring proof of your employment or income source, documentation of your purpose of travel, bank statements, or any other documentation to show financial and social ties to your home country. For the transit visa, you also need a copy of your prospective itinerary.

As with any visa, planning ahead is key. And again, since the standards of evaluating your ties to your home country are no less stringent for a C-1 transit visa, you might want to consider applying for a B-1/B-2 visa instead, unless other factors, such as wait times, weigh into your decision. While you can use a B-1/B-2 for transit, you cannot use a C-1 visa for any purposes other transit.