Onward/return ticket needed for US?

No. An onward ticket is needed for the visa waiver. Since you have a visa, it is not required.

Ask a stupid question....

Apparently you convinced the visa officer at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate that you would return to the UK. Immigration officer at your port of entry could also ask about your plans. You might check out the total prices for two one-way tickets (a one-way ticket often as much as a roundtrip), vs. a roundtrip ticket (plus fee if you change your return date).

The breathtakingly unclear US Government websites do not say you need an onward ticket for a B1/B2 visa (at least not anywhere obvious, or even semi-obscure). It just says you need to show that your circumstances are such that you will cheerfully leave the country prior to the expiry of your visa, and that you have the money to support yourself in the country without working.

Then they advise sternly (with a straight face and without any apparent irony) that whatever they say, it's up to the Immigration Officers at the airport really - and if they had a fight with the kids that morning, or the tap is leaking again, or the dog died, or whatever, you could be in deep trouble. Great way to run a railway.

Then they advise sternly (with a straight face and without any apparent irony) that whatever they say, it's up to the Immigration Officers at the airport really. . . . . Great way to run a railway.

I suspect you are just trying to provoke with that comment, but maybe not. So if not, are you suggesting that an immigration officer should have no discretion at the port of entry to deny entry to a visa holder? Are you saying that holding a visa should confer an irrevocable right to enter the country? If so, is that system (no discretion/irrevocable right to enter) the practice in other industrialized countries? That doesn't seem like the way to run a railroad to me.

And I am not being argumentative, but have you seen any empirical data about the number of B2 visa holders who are denied entry at the time of inspection? Do you know whether there is any procedure for review if the visa holder protests ?

Are you suggesting that an immigration officer should have no discretion at the port of entry to deny entry to a visa holder?

What the heck, I'll bite.

Somebody who's holding a visa, as opposed to asking for a visa waiver, has already seen a consular officer. I don't think that an immigration officer at the border should be given complete discretion to deny entry--basically--by second-guessing the decision of the original officer that granted the visa.

Obviously, officers at the borders have to have some discretion, but I'd say that the threshold should be higher for visa holders than for waiver candidates. In general, I think the admitting officer should have to see new evidence that wasn't available when the visa was granted. (e.g. the guy is carrying contraband or says "glad I pulled one over on the guys at the embassy.") The admitting officer shouldn't be allowed to deny entry just based on his own evaluation of facts that were available to the embassy.

I'm not sure whether this could ever be practically implemented. But denial of entry based on a gut feeling seems unfair to somebody who's already had to prove his good intentions.

It's actually worse - there are three or four different agencies, backed by legislation, that authorise their officers to make a decision about the entry or someone or not, and the length of stay. The Department of State issuing the visa can be gazumped by other agencies operating quite independently (ie, possibly contradictorily). I appreciate the US Government is necessarily a vast machine, possibly with a lot of internal competition and communication lapses, but spreading such authority so widely doesn't make good reading for the traveller, to say the least.

I appreciate that few B2 hopefuls are likely to be denied (I have never been, for example), it is just the fragility of the authority of the visa when there are all these other mysterious agencies lurking around ready to pounce, that caught my attention. In our humble little nation, the agency issuing visas also employs the punters at the ports of entry who check them, which seems sensible to me. They certainly have authority to be tough - but they are not sharing it with people in different uniforms.

The State Dept. says that a visa is not permission to enter the US; it is permission to apply for entry.
>A visa doesn’t permit entry to the U.S. A visa simply indicates that your application has been reviewed by a U.S. consular officer at an American embassy or consulate, and that the officer determined you’re eligible to travel to the port-of-entry for a specific purpose. The port of entry can be an international airport, a seaport or a land border crossing.


>At the port-of-entry a U.S. immigration officer of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decides whether to allow you to enter and how long you can stay for any particular visit. Only the U.S. immigration officer has the authority to permit you to enter the United States.

Edited by: nutraxfornerves, because I found a better version of what I wanted to quote

I'm not denying it, #7. I'm just chattering about the way things would be if I Ran The Place...

Joff,
You might find it cheaper and easier to get the return ticket (its probably a $100 change fee), despite the legality. SFO is not the worst (LAX, IAD and JFK can be a nightmare), but border/immigration folks can be carpicious, having no ownward ticket despite your visa status will open up a whole Q&A as to your intentions

As an honest UK passport holder, who has entered the US on visa waiver/J1/ H1-B/permanent resident legal and compliant statuses, and a frequent traveller I've suffered it all. If they think something is amiss you are in for a rough time.

On the bright side these days, I think they usually don't let you even board the plane and pre-clear many passengers for the US (I saw a couple from Denmark last month denied boarding as the onward ticket had an unclear departure date).

It may be unfair, but its the way it works under GWB