UK citizen emigrating to the US - advice please
 

My wife and I are emigrating to the US and have Greencards for entry but the one-way flight prices are Horrendous! Does anyone know whether it would therefore be a problem to enter the US on a return ticket and just not turn up for the return flight?

It may indeed get you a bit of extra scrutiny the next time you fly, but if you've got green cards, it will not be a criminal matter.

Buying a cheaper roundtrip ticket to save money for living in the US is something that DHS/CBP can be convinced to appreciate. :D Unless for some reason the return ticket is taken as evidence of not having intent to retain permanent residency status in the US, it shouldn't be a door-closer.

... some airlines have award tickets that price one-way travel at half the roundtrip price: British Airways, American Airlines, bmi/British Midlands, Continental/United and others do this. So if you have access to some miles, that may be another thing to try.

Airlines don't fancy throw-away ticketing, but it's done with impunity by most all.

If the ticket is booked using a U.K. credit card and billing address and the return leg is several months after the originating leg, the chance the airline will try to track you down in the U.S. seems very slim indeed. People change travel plans all the time.

As far as CBP is concerned, the only thing they care about is your intent to make America your permanent home. You are otherwise free to come and go as you please -- if questioned you can always say the one-way tickets were too expensive and you will decide later whether to pop back for a quick visit to the U.K. to see friends or throw away the return leg.

Get an open-ended return ticket and use the other half to visit the UK some time within the next 12 months, perhaps for a family occasion.

That's what we did when we immigrated back to the US from Israel. (I am a US citizen, and my husband was on green card at the time.)

No problems for us.

Shouldn't be a problem. Flew my wife over on a 2-way ticket, since it was just slightly more expensive than a 1-way, leaves some room for us to play with later on. Ended up not using the return trip, this was for the initial greencard entry flight.

Had a friend who needed to fly from UK - US one way, and got him to buy a round trip since that priced out to lower than the one-way. UA changed the flight timings by 2 hours for the return trip and he got 1/2 of the ticket refunded back.

As others have said, booking a cheap return and not using the return leg should be fine. I made the same move a few years back and just booked the return leg for some random date way out in the future to make sure I got a good price, but never used it.

Irrespective of green card, no green card, entering the US on ESTA, or even as a US citizen, not using the return half of a round-trip ticket would never be a criminal matter. It might put the OP in breach of the airline's ticket rules but that then potentially becomes a civil matter between them and the airline.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Both Aer Lingus and Icelandair offer reasonably priced one-way fares from London to the U.S., but a connection en route would be required.

Depending on when the OP plans to travel and how much luggage is being carried, a fall repositioning cruise might also be a cost-effective alternative.

The CBP/DHS has no business what so ever about your tickets, they may take a look on the return tickets if entering on a tourist visa or using the visa waiver program, but otherwise they don't care if you use the return or not. The airline can't sue you so this is actually nothing to worry about.

Just don't book them under you FF number. Airlines frown upon such practices and they might be inclined to yank miles/segments.

Welcome to America.