FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Booking a return without knowing your return date - does it work?
Old Jan 11, 2018 | 9:23 am
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pinniped
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Originally Posted by teddybear99
If you are traveling Internationally, don't you need to show (or have) a return/exit itinerary to enter that country. How will waiting to purchase a return/ongoing flight allow you to enter that country?
That's dependent on the country, your own citizenship, and the type of visa you hold.

When I had my open-ended ticket, I was entering the UK with a US passport and permission to stay 1 year. I don't recall how closely immigration looked at the airline ticket, but I know I handed the agent a healthy stack of paperwork and he looked through some of it. This was in an era when you couldn't easily buy one-ways to begin with, so I'm guessing the agent was used to that type of ticket. Given the ubiquity of one-ways today (at least on on a US-UK route where you could easily show up on Norwegian or something), I don't know whether immigration agents view the fact that you haven't yet bought your return as any kind of concern.

Whenever I enter Europe or the UK without a visa - either short-term business or as a tourist - nobody ever looks at my airline itinerary. Same when I've entered other countries with business visas. Only place I had to show all my paperwork was Bermuda of all places...and I was just going there for the weekend as a tourist. (I had it printed on paper, like I always do...just in case.)
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