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I have a valid US visa, no required Visa for Japan but my nationality requires a transit visa for Canada. I will be flying USA <-> Japan onboard Air Canada with layovers in Toronto for 1.30 each way. There will be 11 days between the two layovers/legs. My question is: do I need 2 separate transit visas for each leg? Should I opt for a tourist visa for the time in between (probably not?). Does the US-bound leg have some form of exemption from Candian transit visa?

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    Welcome to Travel.SE. How long is your trip— that is, how much time will pass between your outbound leg and your return? What is your nationality?
    – choster
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 23:30
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    You can apply for a multiple entry transit visa.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 0:04
  • You should answer choster's question about what your nationality is, because it's possible you can transit without visa.
    – user102008
    Commented Mar 10, 2016 at 22:15

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You do not need two separate transit visas. When you apply for your transit visa, provide your entire itinerary, noting that you hope to transit twice through Toronto. If the visa is approved, they will give you at least a dual-entry transit visa.

Applying for a tourist visa for the time you're in Japan would only confuse matters. Since you won't be in Canada for that time, it would not be right to ask for a Canadian visa, and your application would likely be refused.

As to the US leg not requiring a visa, there's no such exemption. US permanent residents are exempt from the Canadian visa requirement, but since you hold a US visa you must not be a US permanent resident. Some European countries have an exemption for airport transit visas when the traveler holds a valid US visa, but Canada does not have a similar policy.

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    Canada has limited TWOV, but only a very few countries' nationals are eligible, and it has quite a few other restrictions, such as requiring a valid US visa. Another of those restrictions is that TWOV passengers traveling to the US must use special airport transit areas in YYZ or YVR which bypass Canada immigration and go directly to US preclearance. Hopefully, eventually this program will be expanded for nationals of more countries. Unfortunately, India is not currently one of the eligible countries.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 3:49
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    @MichaelHampton I doubt the OP is Indian since Indians require visas to enter Japan.
    – phoog
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 5:31
  • You're quite right; I screwed that one up good!
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 5:37
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    @GGMU I'm afraid I do not have a great deal of familiarity with the visa application form, and unfortunately when I download it it says "if this message is not replaced with the proper contents of the document..." If you are really unable to indicate two times for your transit, then I suppose you might indicate the period of the entire trip and attach a letter explaining that you need a transit visa to cover the two transits at the beginning and end of the trip.
    – phoog
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 21:19
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    I had issues with the PDF on my browser. Had to download and Acrobat ended up displaying the actual fields. There is the option of adding an explanatory "cover letter" where I think I can indicate the dual-entry. Thanks so much for the help. (Also for the dual-account tip as I missed that)
    – GGMU
    Commented Mar 9, 2016 at 22:03

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