What is a transit visa?

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A transit visa is permission to pass through a country on the way to somewhere else. It is granted by the country you stop in, not the one you are travelling to, and it is more limited than a visitor visa in how long it lasts and what it lets you do.

It is easy to miss, because it applies to a country you never planned to visit. If you fly from Lagos to Toronto with a stop in Frankfurt, a Nigerian passport holder needs a Schengen airport transit visa for the German stop as well as permission to enter Canada. Two applications, for one journey.

This guide covers what a transit visa is, when you need one, how the main hub countries handle transit, what it costs and how to apply. Fees and country lists are correct as at September 2026, and the sources are listed at the end.

What a transit visa is

A transit visa lets you be in a country for one purpose: continuing your journey.

Immigration control is territorial. What matters is whether you are on that country’s soil, and in most systems the international area of an airport counts, even though it sits before the border.

That is why transit permissions are so limited. They are usually single entry, valid for hours rather than days, and granted on proof that you are leaving again. They never allow you to work, study or stay on.

There are two kinds.

Airport transit, or airside transit, lets you wait in the international area between connecting flights without formally entering the country. The Schengen type A visa and the UK Direct Airside Transit Visa both work this way.

Landside transit lets you cross the border for a short fixed period, usually 24 or 48 hours, so you can collect bags, change airport or wait overnight. It is closer to a very short visitor visa.

Airside or landside: the question that decides it

Nearly every transit question comes down to whether you cross the border.

You are airside if you walk from one gate to another, your bags are transferred for you, and you never see an immigration officer. Most countries want nothing from you in that situation. The ones that do only ask it of certain nationalities.

You are landside the moment you cross the border, for any reason: to clear immigration, collect bags, move between terminals that are not connected, change airport, or leave for the night. That usually means the same requirement as an ordinary short visit.

The catch is that this is not always your decision. Whether a connection keeps you airside depends on the airport layout, the airlines, how the ticket was booked and how your bags are handled. Some airports have no airside transit route at all, so everyone who lands goes through the border.

When you need one

Six things decide it.

Your nationality. Every country publishes a list. This is the first thing to check.

Whether you cross the border. Airside and landside are treated differently almost everywhere.

Whether you change airport or terminal. Moving between airports in the same city, or between terminals that are not connected inside security, means entering the country.

What happens to your bags. If you have to collect and re-check them, you enter the country to do it. Separate tickets are the usual reason.

How long you are stopping. Some concessions only cover connections completed within a set time, and airside areas at some airports close overnight.

Where you are going next. Some schemes only apply if you are continuing to a third country rather than heading home, and several countries waive the requirement if you hold a visa or residence permit for a particular set of countries.

Three ways countries handle transit

Approach What it means Where
Nothing needed airside You connect without any document from that country, as long as you stay in the international area Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey and the Gulf states, for most nationalities
Transit visa for listed nationalities Airside transit is free for most people, but a published list has to apply first The Schengen area, the United Kingdom
Everyone enters There is no airside route, so every passenger goes through the border and needs what a visitor would need The United States, Canada

How the main hubs handle it

United States

The United States has no airside transit. If you change planes there you clear immigration and customs, collect your bags and check them in again, even when both flights are international and the connection is short. The Transit Without Visa scheme that once allowed an exception was suspended in August 2003 and has not come back.

So transit needs the same permission as entry: a C-1 transit visa, a B-1 or B-2 visitor visa, or an ESTA if you hold a Visa Waiver Program passport. Your airline checks this before you board.

Fifteen airports outside the country run preclearance, where you clear US immigration before you get on the plane and arrive as a domestic passenger. They are Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Victoria in Canada, Dublin and Shannon, Nassau, Bermuda, Aruba and Abu Dhabi. Preclearance does not change which document you need, only where you are checked.

More detail in our United States entry requirements.

United Kingdom

There are four ways through, and which applies depends on whether you cross the border.

Direct Airside Transit Visa. You need one to stay airside if you hold a passport from a country listed in the Immigration (Passenger Transit Visa) Order 2014. The list is Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cameroon, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Moldova, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe. Venezuelan passports without biometric data and travel documents from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are also covered. It costs £41.50.

When you do not need one, even if you are on the list. You are exempt if you hold a valid visa or permanent residence for Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States, a common format category D visa for an EEA country or Switzerland, an Irish biometric visa, or a UK ETA or visitor visa. Some diplomatic passport holders are exempt too. Check this before you pay for anything.

Transit Without Visa scheme. If you need a visa but want to cross the border, you can do it without one provided you arrive and leave by air, your onward flight departs before 23:59 the day after you arrive, and you hold one of the qualifying documents. Those are a valid visa for Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States, a visa for one of those countries that expired in the last six months and was used to enter, permanent residence for Australia, Canada or New Zealand, a US I-551 green card, an EEA or Swiss residence permit or category D visa, or an Irish biometric visa if you are travelling to or from Ireland. Syrian nationals with US B-1 or B-2 visas cannot use the scheme.

Visitor in Transit visa and the ETA. If you cross the border and do not qualify for the scheme above, you need a Visitor in Transit visa and must leave within 48 hours. If you do not need a visa at all, you need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, which costs £20. You do not need an ETA to stay airside.

More detail in our United Kingdom entry requirements.

Schengen area

The EU Visa Code sets a common list of nationalities who need an airport transit visa, known as a type A. It covers Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka. It costs ninety euros for adults, the same as a short stay visa.

Individual countries can add to that list, so the answer changes depending on where you connect. France also requires one from ordinary passport holders of Angola, Bolivia, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mali, Mauritania, Nepal, the Philippines, Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Togo and Uzbekistan, and from Russian nationals arriving from certain countries. Connect through Amsterdam or Madrid and the list is different, so check the country whose airport you are actually using.

The exemptions are wide. You can normally transit without a type A visa if you hold a valid visa or residence permit for an EU or EEA country, Canada, the United States or Japan, or if you are the family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss national.

Leaving the international area needs a standard short stay visa instead. It also means biometric registration, because the Entry Exit System has been fully operational since 10 April 2026. Staying airside does not, since you never formally enter.

Canada

Canada wants an eTA or a visa from transit passengers whatever the length of the stop and whether or not you leave the airport. There are three exceptions: aircraft refuelling on the way to or from the United States, the China Transit Program, and the Transit Without Visa Program. The last two only cover particular airlines, routes and airports. More detail in our Canada entry requirements.

China

China allows visa free transit of up to 240 hours, which is ten days, for passport holders from more than fifty countries, at designated ports across two dozen provinces. You need a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region rather than a return to where you came from, and you have to stay within the regions your entry port covers.

Gulf hubs

Airside transit through Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi is open to most nationalities without anything arranged in advance. If you want to leave the airport, the stopover visa is usually sponsored by the airline rather than applied for at a consulate.

Transit by land and sea

The same logic applies at every border, with some differences in how it works.

Driving or taking the train through a country is landside by definition, because you are processed at a staffed border. You need what an ordinary visitor needs. Inside the Schengen area that is simple, since a standard short stay visa covers the whole zone. Elsewhere it is not, and some countries, Russia among them, issue a separate transit visa for road and rail with a short fixed validity.

Cruise passengers usually get something lighter for the time the ship is in port, and Japan’s shore pass is the best known example. If the cruise starts or ends in that country, that is an ordinary arrival or departure and needs ordinary permission.

Seafarers and aircrew have their own categories almost everywhere, because joining or leaving a ship or aircraft means entering the country. If you are travelling to join a vessel, look for the crew or seafarer route rather than the standard transit one.

What a transit visa lets you do

The conditions are tighter than a visitor visa, in four ways.

How long. Hours, not days. Limits of 24 and 48 hours are the most common, and the clock usually starts when you land.

How many entries. Single entry is the norm, and it is used up the moment you travel. A return journey through the same country needs a second application or a separate exemption.

Where you can go. An airport transit visa only covers the international area. A hotel on the other side of passport control is out of reach.

What for. Transit means transit. It does not cover a day of sightseeing, a meeting or a family visit, even one that would fit inside the time limit, unless the scheme specifically allows it.

Bookings that turn a transit into an entry

Several ordinary booking decisions push you landside without making it obvious.

Separate tickets. Book the legs independently and your bags are not checked through, and the second airline owes you nothing. You have to enter the country to collect and re-check them.

Self transfer itineraries. Some booking sites combine flights that are not connected under a single contract. They look like one journey and are treated as two.

Overnight stops. Airside areas at plenty of airports close overnight, so a connection you could make airside at midday needs you to enter at 1am.

Two airports in one city. Landing at one and departing from another is an entry, everywhere.

The way home. A single entry transit visa does not cover the return leg.

Missed connections. If a delay strands you, the airline can ask for you to be admitted while it rebooks you, but that is the border authority’s decision, not an entitlement.

Passport validity. Each transit country applies its own passport validity rules, and airlines check them at the start of the journey.

How to check before you book

List every country your itinerary touches, including any you never leave the plane in, and including the way home.

For each one, answer two questions. Does your nationality need permission to transit, and will this connection keep you airside? If you are not sure about the second, assume you are entering.

Check the exemptions before you apply for anything. If you hold a visa or residence permit for the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan or an EEA country, you may be exempt from a requirement that applies to your passport on paper. Both the UK and the Schengen countries work this way.

Then confirm with the immigration authority of each country and with your airline. The government sets the rule and the airline enforces it at check in, so you want both to agree. Our visitor entry requirements guides cover the transit position for each destination.

How to apply

Apply to the country you are passing through, not the one you are going to. The German consulate decides your Frankfurt transit, not the Canadian one. If your route touches two countries that both require a visa, that is two applications.

You will normally have to show a confirmed onward ticket, and in most cases the visa or authorisation for your final destination too. A transit visa is granted on the basis that somewhere else has already agreed to take you, so if the destination visa is still pending, the transit application usually has to wait.

Fees as at September 2026 are £41.50 for a UK Direct Airside Transit Visa and ninety euros for a Schengen type A. The United States charges its standard non immigrant visa fee for a C-1. Where you need biometrics or an interview, getting an appointment is usually the slowest part, and at some posts interviews are booked months ahead. Work backwards from your flight, not forwards from today.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a transit visa if I never leave the airport?
Sometimes. Many countries ask for nothing from airside passengers. The United States and Canada require permission from everyone who lands. The UK and the Schengen countries require it from listed nationalities. Staying airside is not an exemption in itself.

Where do I apply?
To the country you are passing through. Two countries requiring a visa on one route means two applications.

Can I apply before I have my destination visa?
Usually not. Most transit applications ask for proof that you will be admitted at the other end.

Is a transit visa cheaper than a tourist visa?
Not always. A Schengen type A costs the same as a standard short stay visa. Where there is a saving it is usually in the paperwork rather than the fee.

Can I leave the airport on a transit visa?
Not on an airport transit visa. Leaving the international area needs whatever a short visit would need.

Does it cover my journey home?
Usually not, because most transit visas are single entry.

I have a visa for my destination. Does that help?
Often, yes. Both the UK and the Schengen countries exempt holders of certain visas and residence permits, which is why a US green card holder can usually transit London or Paris without applying for anything.

What if I miss my connection?
Talk to the airline as early as you can. Airlines can request temporary admission for stranded passengers, but if you need a visa to enter, the border authority decides.

Do children need their own?
Yes. The rules apply to every passenger separately, including infants.

Does the Entry Exit System apply if I am only transiting?
Only if you cross the border. Airside transit is not registered, because you never formally enter the Schengen area. Landside transit is.

Related guides

Official sources

Transit rules are set by the country you pass through and enforced by your airline at check in. Check both before you travel.