VISA requirements Proof onward travel.

Hi all.

Im about to make my first RTW trip, its something i have saved for, for years and im now ready.

I have in mind an open itinerary, although i know roughly what countries i wish to visit and for how long.

Because i am going to be on the road for at least a year (18 month max) and wish to travel where the wind blows me, i cannot appy for any entry VISA's before leaving as this could become a waste of money if i end up off the path set by my VISA's.

Second to this a good few countries start the VISA window at the moment of issue and i would not be able to visit before it expires if that trip is at the end of my 18 month journey.

So i have no choice but to organise my VISA's on the road and i plan to visit embassies and consulates of the country i wish to visit within the country that i am currently in before hand.

However..

Reading up on VISA advice sites i notice that a number of nations require 'Proof of onward travel' to allow you into the country on arrival if VOA applies, and many airlines will not allow you to board unless you can prove this.

My issue is that this means i need to show a ticket 'bought and paid for' for leaving the country im about to enter, but i would like to use my time within that country to plan my next move.

Now for most countries i can just buy my leaving ticket to my next probable destination when i buy my ticket into the country im visiting next and if i change my mind i could cancel the ticket, but that means i loose money.

I want to visit China and im told the best way to arrage your VISA on the road for china is within HongKong. but HongKong has the same requirement to show proof of onward travel. but without having my China VISA confirmed which im planning to do while in HongKong how am i supposed to enter without this proof.

As a backpacker this creates a chicken and egg situation which im just not able to find any great advice on.
Im aware of the tactic of creating a fake itinerary and/or plain ticket booking online and hoping that works as proof, but if you read any airlines small print they reserve the right to charge you for any fines they incure if they are forced to carry you back to your point of origin if your VOA is denied.

I would be constantly buying plane tickets and cancelling them either because of direction changes or VISA's not working out.

my question is.. (sorry for the long read)

How do i get round this?

Can i get a special letter at an Embassy?
Is proof of finances enough to show that i can afford to look after my self and im not looking for work?
If my passort shows that ive visited a dozen countries before the one im trying to get into does this now show that i am backpacking?
What if im leaving the country via land and not airline?

Has anyone been there and done that where this is concerned and has some suggestions.

Thanks very much in advance.

How do i get round this?

Rules. They make them. You abide by them. Get used to it.

People (like you, OP) are always asking visa questions without stating their nationality/what passport they're travelling on.
If you tell us, maybe people can help with their own experiences. Without knowing this, it's pretty pointless really.

Pirate you are getting cranky in your old age!

Theres a few ways around this, the first you have mentioned but can be tweaked to make it cheaper,theres a ton of budget airlines out there now in almost every county so one way to make it cheaper is to but a one way air ticket out of the country you want to see even if you have no intention of using it you can pick up rearly dirt cheap tickets on air Asia for example.

Another way around this is to "Create" an intinerary for exiting by land using train tickets or overland bus companies....this is particulaly good for Central America,theres bus companies going through all 7 countries and you can buy a ticket online or just print off the itinary and be creative on your computer.

It's the arlines that will enforce the onward ticket rule and they are are unlikely to check bus timetables etc if you produce documents saying you are exiting overland.

Yes..as above.
For Hong Kong I'd just buy the cheapest ticket out that you can,and then either use it or just throw it away....

Pirate you are getting cranky in your old age!

I resemble that remark. But what did you tell him that wasn`t playing by the rules?

I dislike rules as much as the next guy, and have 4 1/2 years out of my own country playing by them.

Im British.

If you click on my name in the Avatar section the popup states United Kingdom.

I figured this was enough if people required that information.

As a Brit i have some leeway with a few countries HongKong included.

Pirate -

'If I'd observed all the rules, I'd never have got anywhere'.

-Marilyn Monroe

;)

Im not asking to break the rules, just bend them or exploit them.
Im interested in peoples experiances and suggetions if they have them.

LOL And look how far it got her... Good-looking corpse notwithstanding.

Lincoln gave you all the answers. I could have, but my keyboard is nearly out of ink.

If you click on my name in the Avatar section the popup states United Kingdom.

It states: "Country: United Kingdom" what doesn't necessarily mean you are Brit. You could be, for example, an expat in the UK...

Regarding your question, I think it could be a good idea to ask about it in the branches of the relevant countries you plan to visit once on the road. Rules and their enforcement can change at any moment...

Sorry new user to this forum and i assumed that the user profile was used as reference for base details in discussions.

--

I was planning to inquire at the embassy of the countires i plan to visit before visiting even if they have a VOA policy.

I am wondering if i can get a letter headed note from that embassy if i pre-apply for my visa having explained my financial status and backpacker intensions.

i doubt it will work or make a difference but its worth a try.

If you're travelling on a UK passport you shouldn't have any problems with China. I got my visa without any ticket, either way. Although I appreciate it might be different if you're not getting it before you leave home.
Why not try to get it before you go? Just don't mention any visit to Xinjiang province (Kashgar,etc) when you give your proposed itinerary - which BTW you don't have to stick to. I stayed in Kashgar for a whole month before leaving the country.

Don't worry!

This is one of those silly rules which are rarely enforced anywhere. Every year thousands of travellers do RTWs without running into such problems.

Recently I read a blog of a traveller from an EU country who travelled to every country in South and Central America plus a few in the Carribean. It was longer than 1 year trip and he never had proof of onward travel as you can imagine. The only country where he ran into trouble was Jamaica, but this could have been just a bad day of the immigration officer.

Obviously Latin America might not be representative for the whole world, but I think you won't have any trouble 99% of the time. If you get unlucky with the 1% just bite the bullet and do as they say, buy the expensive ticket out of the country.

The only places I'd make sure to have proof of onward travel are the countries with paranoid regimes like Russia, USA, Israel and North Korea.

For a start this is a good summary about visas: http://www.travelindependent.info/b4yougo.htm#Visas

This website is an excellent resource and you might find some info on this proof of onward travel challenge.

Ooooh - I don't think, looking at my post again, that I stressed enough the importance of not mentioning Xinjiang province or its towns. Or Tibet, which I left off also.
You will NOT be issued with a visa if you even hint at either.
Although once you're in China it's not a problem at all. There are tours to Tibet from Xining and other places, and travel and hostels are easy with no problems at all in Xinjiang. You won't be the only white face there by a long chalk.
(I really don't know why the visa people have this rule, unless it's to exempt themselves from censureshould anything happen to you in these places.)

This is one of those silly rules which are rarely enforced anywhere
Except at airline check-in counters. If airlines are instructed to check if all passengers meet the entry requirements for their destination and the official requirements include "proof of onward travel", they will not allow you onboard.

Is that accepted as proof of onward tavel if I have a plane ticket back home from a third country?

Let's say I'm flying from Vienna to Lima with an open-jaw ticket returning from Rio?

As Aribo says..it is nearly always the airline that will make this a problem,if they want to.

If you have a ticket home from a third country (with them) then there is no reason for them to make it a problem.....

"wish to travel where the wind blows me," Did you change your mind already?

Perhaps you should re-read what you wrote and think about it in regards to this issue. Either you travel where the winds blow you or you don't (instead you travel according to a plan). If a country won't let you in, then guess what, the wind is blowing in a contrary direction.

While many countries make some kind of statement about this, there are all kinds of circumstances under which it is not enforced. Really, this issue is one that as noted above, applies only to air travel because the airline insists on it, not the Immigration Department of a country. Avoid airlines that insist or avoid air travel. Really, once you are on a continent, all travel can be a land crossing anyway can't it?

As a sailor this is a topic presented in a way I can have a lot of fun with.

I think you need to go back to your first idea of where the wind blows. On a sailobat, any contrary wind just means you must pick a different destination or do some 'tacking'. Tacking is a sailing term which refers to a sailboat being unable to sail directly into the wind. Instead to get somewhere that is directly to windward the boat must be sailed across the wind while still moving ahead and then turned to sail across the wind in the other direction while still moving ahead. In other words you sail in a zig zag instead of straigt ahead.

People often have to meet a boat in a particular place to join it. Often they do not have a fixed time that they will be on the boat. Wind and weather often make that impractical as you might imagine. So they fly one way and hope the boat is there when they get there. Sometimes it is and sometimes it is not. Keeping a schedule is simply impossible. What do you think all those thousands of people do about 'proof of onward travel'? The answer is they usually don't.

Because an Immigration law or airline requirement exists does not mean that it is always enforced. It ALWAYS depends on the circumstances and your reason for not complying. There is ALWAYS discretion in enforcement. In my personal experience involving hundreds of people meeting a boat where such rules/laws might be applied, I can think of only one time someone was not able to join the boat I was on because of this issue. Tempest in a teapot in my opinion.

Just adapt your next move as you go along Danjofo. Go where the wind blows you.