Onward Travel
I have done a fair bit of traveling, but I'm looking at a situation I haven't yet encountered. My wife and I are going to be flying into Paris next week and spend a few days there after which we will be heading to England to stay with friends for a while. It is going to be an open ended stay that could be up to 8 weeks after which we will be flying down to the DRC to meet our new daughter.My concern is that I don't currently have any kind of proof of an onward travel since we don't have tickets booked yet for that last leg yet. While I have never been asked to produce evidence of onward travel in any other trip I've ever taken, I don't want to run into an issue here.
With all the backpackers and folks that spend significant time travel around Europe, have you ever run into a problem with having an open ended itinerary. If so, what have you found the best way to get around it? We are going to be doing a bunch of quick trips while we are there, but don't want to commit to anything too far out.
Thanks is advance for the responses.
1
what have you found the best way to get around it?
I don't know what the best way is. I've done the following, in descending order of workability:1. Have an open return ticket and book the date later
2. Have source of funds to show someone at immigration if they make a fuss
3. be presentable/neat and polite. I don't know if this is 'politically correct' to say this, but I have noticed that appearance and behavior makes a difference. Maybe behavior even more. I've seen people kick up a fuss about their 'rights' and they get no sympathy at all.
2
Sorry, no edit function ..In the few times I've entered England, my experience is that immigration is a bit tighter with their questions than average. What I mean by point 3 above is that you should have answers for questions they might ask. If you're visiting friends, then have address and contact information handy. If they ask why, if you're plannng to go elsewhere later, you don't already have a ticket (see my point #1 above). Just keep in mind that you're there to answer their questions, you have to satisfy them one way or the other.
4
I'm a US citizen. I have been looking at tickets for some quick trips out of England, so maybe it would be best to book a ticket just to have something to show if I run into a problem. If anyone else has experiences to share, please continue to comment.5
Well, yes, the two most obvious solutions are 1) a cheap onward-travel ticket to another country that you'll write off a travel expense, as you're considering, or 2) a very expensive but fully refundable (or nearly so) onward travel ticket to another country--if you can afford the up-front costs.If you go with 1), I'm guessing Dover-Calais ferry tickets could be had quite cheaply if booked well in advance.
6
I suspect it's 99% certain that you will have no problems whatsoeverThe UK has no absolute requirement for a return or onward ticket - post 1 sums it up. A respectable looking middle aged couple are unlikely to be questioned closely - a scruffy looking backpacker may be.
If you get into a situation where they are doubtful about you a cheap throwaway ticket won't help - it will be viewed as the ruse it is.
Perhaps decide roughly when you want to come back - book a ticket. Get one that is semi flexible (ie can be changed for a fee) rather than something fully flexible or totally non flexible. Remember that last minute tickets can be mega expensive anyway - open endedness can cost you
8
Just a quick update. I've gone through immigration in both France and England without need for am onward ticket. In France it was just a quick stamp of the passport and sent on through. In England they did ask a few questions, but nothing too intense. I just old them we would be training to Brussels to catch a flight to the DRC in a few weeks and tha was enough to satisfy. We'll see what happens going forward.
