Overnight Hotel stay with VH-1 visa with single entry

[bhargava_v]

I am traveling from London Heathrow through Toronto Airport to United States. I have applied and got VH 1 transit visa with single entry. My connection to US flight is overnight so I booked an hotel room in the Mariott in T3 where I land and board the flights. Will I be allowed to go past immigration to stay in the hotel overnight and come back and catch my connection the following day. I searched for posts about VH 1 visa and all were pre Covid posts so want to know any recent experiences or examples.
Thank you for your time to read and respond.

 

[Naturgrl]

I am traveling from London Heathrow through Toronto Airport to United States. I have applied and got VH 1 transit visa with single entry. My connection to US flight is overnight so I booked an hotel room in the Mariott in T3 where I land and board the flights. Will I be allowed to go past immigration to stay in the hotel overnight and come back and catch my connection the following day. I searched for posts about VH 1 visa and all were pre Covid posts so want to know any recent experiences or examples.
Thank you for your time to read and respond.

You need a visitor visa. A transit visa only allows you to get transfer between flights. You cannot leave the immigration area. You stay in the transit area overnight.

 

[scylla]

I am traveling from London Heathrow through Toronto Airport to United States. I have applied and got VH 1 transit visa with single entry. My connection to US flight is overnight so I booked an hotel room in the Mariott in T3 where I land and board the flights. Will I be allowed to go past immigration to stay in the hotel overnight and come back and catch my connection the following day. I searched for posts about VH 1 visa and all were pre Covid posts so want to know any recent experiences or examples.
Thank you for your time to read and respond.

You cannot pass through immigration. You have to stay in the transit area of the airport. Unfortunately the hotel won't be possible.

 

[bhargava_v]

I am traveling from London Heathrow through Toronto Airport to United States. I have applied and got VH 1 transit visa with single entry. My connection to US flight is overnight so I booked an hotel room in the Mariott in T3 where I land and board the flights. Will I be allowed to go past immigration to stay in the hotel overnight and come back and catch my connection the following day. I searched for posts about VH 1 visa and all were pre Covid posts so want to know any recent experiences or examples.
Thank you for your time to read and respond.

You need a visitor visa. A transit visa only allows you to get transfer between flights. You cannot leave the immigration area. You stay in the transit area overnight.

I saw some posts from 2018/2019 saying they were allowed to leave do you know if the rules were changed recently?thank you both for your quick responses in other web forums like quora and trip advisor there are posts suggesting we can go to the hotel but I assume they are not trustworthy. I have one other question hopefully you can answer. My connection between Toronto and Chicago is landing in a Domestic Terminal (American Airlines) so I assume the immigration and customs will be done in Toronto if so do I have to claim the baggage for customs and return to the airlines or will the customs be done via a computer similar to Abu Dhabi so I don’t have to claim the baggage and return it.

 

[scylla]

I saw some posts from 2018/2019 saying they were allowed to leave do you know if the rules were changed recently?thank you both for your quick responses in other web forums like quora and trip advisor there are posts suggesting we can go to the hotel but I assume they are not trustworthy. I have one other question hopefully you can answer. My connection between Toronto and Chicago is landing in a Domestic Terminal (American Airlines) so I assume the immigration and customs will be done in Toronto if so do I have to claim the baggage for customs and return to the airlines or will the customs be done via a computer similar to Abu Dhabi so I don’t have to claim the baggage and return it.

I'm not at all aware of the rules having changed.

Immigration will be done in Toronto. Yes, you will need to claim your baggage since this is your first port of entry into Canada.

 

[bhargava_v]

Hi I completed my travel and back here to share my experience so it might help others in future.
After landing in Toronto as we had overnight connection they said I cannot go to connections terminal instead asked to go to Arrivals where we entered our details in the electronic machines before the immigration. As we have overnight connection I just entered number of days of stay as 1 day it printed a slip took it and then did baggage claim and passed through immigration and went to the Terminal 3 Hotel. So they did allow us out of security area and into the hotel from where we could free to go to anywhere. They didn’t checkin back my luggage as the connection flight is the following day. So took it with us to Hotel and stored there.
The following morning took the baggage and went to ticketing counter and gave the baggage back went through airport security followed by American CBP and then to the gate. As expected landed in domestic terminal in USA and came out picked baggage and left.
So biggest learning don’t have to be inside the airport if we have transit visa.

 

[Copingwithlife]

Hi I completed my travel and back here to share my experience so it might help others in future.
After landing in Toronto as we had overnight connection they said I cannot go to connections terminal instead asked to go to Arrivals where we entered our details in the electronic machines before the immigration. As we have overnight connection I just entered number of days of stay as 1 day it printed a slip took it and then did baggage claim and passed through immigration and went to the Terminal 3 Hotel. So they did allow us out of security area and into the hotel from where we could free to go to anywhere. They didn’t checkin back my luggage as the connection flight is the following day. So took it with us to Hotel and stored there.
The following morning took the baggage and went to ticketing counter and gave the baggage back went through airport security followed by American CBP and then to the gate. As expected landed in domestic terminal in USA and came out picked baggage and left.
So biggest learning don’t have to be inside the airport if we have transit visa.

“So biggest learning don’t have to be inside the airport if we have transit visa”

They cut you a deal . Transit is what it means . You transit . You shouldn’t assume it’ll always be that way

 

[canuck78]

Hi I completed my travel and back here to share my experience so it might help others in future.
After landing in Toronto as we had overnight connection they said I cannot go to connections terminal instead asked to go to Arrivals where we entered our details in the electronic machines before the immigration. As we have overnight connection I just entered number of days of stay as 1 day it printed a slip took it and then did baggage claim and passed through immigration and went to the Terminal 3 Hotel. So they did allow us out of security area and into the hotel from where we could free to go to anywhere. They didn’t checkin back my luggage as the connection flight is the following day. So took it with us to Hotel and stored there.
The following morning took the baggage and went to ticketing counter and gave the baggage back went through airport security followed by American CBP and then to the gate. As expected landed in domestic terminal in USA and came out picked baggage and left.
So biggest learning don’t have to be inside the airport if we have transit visa.

As mentioned you just got lucky. You could have also ended up in immigration detention until your connecting flight