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I hold the Canadian green card with an Asia's passport and currently in Asia. I will fly back to Canada with a short transit in LAX (Los Angeles, US).

Do I need to acquire a transit visa from the US Embassy?

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    Does this answer your question? Do I need a US visa to transit (or layover) through an American airport?
    – Jacob Horbulyk
    Commented Mar 9 at 16:58
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    The Canadian permanent resident card is not green.
    – Brian
    Commented Mar 9 at 17:40
  • @Brian The U.S. permanent resident card ceased to be green some decades ago but continued to be called a green card. The current one does have some somewhat greenish parts in the background.
    – Michael Hardy
    Commented Mar 9 at 20:12
  • @JacobHorbulyk that is related but not in my view a duplicate because it does not address the question of if Canadian PRs are exempt from needing US visas (they are not)
    – mlc
    Commented Mar 10 at 1:32

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Yes, you will require a visa, unless you are a citizen of a country which can enter the US through the Visa Waiver Program.

Per the US Department of State:

Permanent residents (landed immigrants) of Canada must have a nonimmigrant visa unless the permanent resident is a national of a country that participates in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), meets the VWP requirements, and is seeking to enter the United States for 90 days or less under that program.

Note that if you already have a US B-1/B-2 visa, you can use that to transit the US without applying for a separate C visa.

Otherwise, there are flights to Canada from many countries in Asia which do not pass through the United States; you may find it easier to rebook your ticket on one of these than to go through the whole hassle of a US visa just for a couple hours of transit.

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  • I do have an expired B1/B2 from a few years ago. Does it give me any advantages for the C-visa application? Something like not having to pay for the processing fee etc.
    – ken.ng
    Commented Mar 11 at 16:53
  • @ken.ng you will always have to pay the fees, but it may be possible to use the mail process to renew your B visa, which would let you avoid having to schedule and attend an in-person interview
    – mlc
    Commented Mar 11 at 22:24
  • Thank you. Appreciate all the help!
    – ken.ng
    Commented Mar 12 at 15:52

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