There's no way to change international flights at SFO without entering the United States: everyone clears the border and collects their bags. So the paperwork is the same whether you stay or go into town. Most travellers need an approved ESTA or a US visa before boarding; Canadian and US citizens need only their passport.
You can't connect at SFO without entering the US, so every international layover there needs a US entry document. Visitors from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and most of the EU apply online for an ESTA (US$40.62) before boarding. Travellers from India and other countries outside the Visa Waiver Program need a visa: a B-1/B-2 to go into town, or a C-1 that covers the connection. Canadians and Americans just show their passport.
If you stay airside
There’s no airside transit for international arrivals at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Whatever your next flight, you leave the plane, go through US passport control, pick up your checked bags at reclaim and take them through customs.
- To connect, leave the arrivals hall through the doors marked “Connecting Flights”, hand your tagged bags in at the baggage desks just outside, and go back through security. Walkways behind security join every terminal, so from any checkpoint you can reach any gate.
- So everyone needs permission to enter the US, even if they never see the city: an ESTA, a US visa, or a passport that needs neither. The US has had no visa-free transit since 2003; for travellers who need a visa, the transit document is the C-1.
- Arriving on a US domestic flight, from Los Angeles, say, you land at Terminal 1, 2 or 3 with no border to clear.
- Cleared US border control before you boarded? Some airports abroad have US preclearance. If yours did, you land at SFO as a domestic passenger and walk to your next gate.
If you want to leave the airport
The paperwork is the same as for a connection: once you’re through the border, a few hours in San Francisco is a visit like any other, so what counts is your passport.
| Passport | What you need to leave SFO |
|---|---|
| US | Your US passport |
| Canada | Your Canadian passport, with no ESTA or visa |
| UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore | An approved ESTA (US$40.62) |
| Most EU and Schengen countries, among them France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain | An approved ESTA (US$40.62) |
| Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania | A US visitor visa (B-1/B-2) |
| India and other passports outside the Visa Waiver Program | A US visitor visa (B-1/B-2), US$185 to apply |
Check your passport’s expiry date too. The US asks for six months beyond your stay, but many countries are exempt, among them the UK, Canada, Australia and India, and those passports need only be valid for the visit.
The ESTA
The Visa Waiver Program lets citizens of 42 countries visit the US for up to 90 days without a visa. The ESTA is the online approval that goes with it, and it covers a few hours between flights as well as a holiday.
- Where and how much. On CBP’s official site, esta.cbp.dhs.gov, for US$40.62. Other sites charge more to fill in the same form for you.
- When. As soon as you book. No decision time is promised, and your airline won’t let you board for the US without an approval.
- How long it lasts. 2 years, or until your passport expires, for as many trips as you like.
- Who needs one. Every traveller, babies and children included.
- When it won’t do. If you’ve been to certain countries, such as Iran, Iraq, North Korea or Syria, since March 2011, you need a visa instead. If you’re unsure you’d be approved, apply for a visa in good time rather than risk a refusal close to your trip.
The B-1/B-2 visitor visa
This is the visa to hold if your passport isn’t in the programme: India, China, Brazil and Mexico among many others. It lets you leave the airport like any visitor. You apply online, pay US$185 and, in most cases, go to an interview at a US embassy or consulate, so start well before you fly.
The C-1 transit visa
A C-1 is for passing through the US on the way to another country, and it costs US$185 too. The State Department describes transit as a prompt onward journey “without any unreasonable layover privileges”, so if yours is a C-1, check with your airline or a US consulate before planning to leave the airport. Past security, SFO has a free yoga room and museum exhibitions to fill the wait: see at the airport.
Canadian and US citizens
On a Canadian passport you need no ESTA and no visa for a short visit, and US citizens need only their passport. Both still go through passport control when they land from abroad.
If you’re on separate tickets
Separate tickets change less at SFO than at most airports, because everyone landing from abroad clears the border and collects their bags anyway. The difference comes after customs. On one ticket your bags go back in at the connecting baggage desks. On separate tickets you keep them and check in again: at the International Terminal for a flight abroad, or at Terminal 1, 2 or 3 for a flight within the US, all linked by the free AirTrain. If your first flight is late, the second airline doesn’t have to wait for you, so leave a wide gap.
At the border
Passport control is in the International Terminal’s arrivals hall, where an officer checks your passport and your ESTA or visa. Then you collect your bags and take them through customs.
- Mobile Passport Control, CBP’s free app, may be open to you; check the app. SFO is one of the airports where it works. It covers US citizens, Canadian visitors and Visa Waiver travellers with an approved ESTA who have been to the US before, and it has its own line in the hall.
- Queue times aren’t published for SFO. Allow about 90 minutes from landing to sitting on a BART train, and more when several long-haul flights land close together.
- Customs comes after baggage reclaim, before you hand your bags back or walk out.
Before you go landside
- Bags. On one ticket, your bags are tagged to your final destination: hand them in at the baggage desks outside the “Connecting Flights” doors, then go up to the Departures level for BART. On separate tickets, the Airport Travel Agency in the International Terminal stores bags from 6am to 11pm, priced by size.
- Boarding pass. Keep your onward boarding pass on your phone or on paper.
- Coming back. Leaving the US there’s no passport check, only security. Be back at the airport 90 minutes before departure, which means leaving downtown 2 hours 40 minutes before your flight: getting into the city.