Happier Abroad Forum Community

Greetings, gentlemen.

I have booked a one-way ticket to the Philippines; ergo I'm primed and ready to go. While booking, I couldn't help but notice that an onward ticket is technically required to enter the country. So the question is: how many of you have entered the PI on a one-way ticket? And if so, how did you pull it off?

FYI: I'm just holidaying there, not planning on staying long-term. But who knows? Hehe...

One way tickets are technically illegal, you need a return flight out of the Philippines by law. If a Philippines immigration officer see's you don't have a departing flight they might deny you entrance into the country. A departing flight from Manilla to Hong Kong is your cheapest option. Also, you can stay in HK for 90 days without a tourist visa.

Before you could get away without it. Now they are more strict about it. Just get a cheap onward ticket from Cebu Pacific. I got a $25 ticket from Manila to China from their website. If you book in advance, you can get $20 tickets and then decide later if you want to use them or not.

Thanks for the quick responses guys. Hmmm... so did immigration actually ask to see an onward ticket when you entered this time?

And if so, do they check to see if the ticket is actually within the initial 21-day period? AFAIK, since a visa extension seems to be almost guaranteed, hypothetically it should be possible to book the onward ticket within a 59-day window from time of arrival in the Philippines.

Viewpoints/opinions?

I thought this was only a problem if you were from a poor country and going to visit a rich one.

I would have thought you'd get hauled up on it when you go to check in - airlines are often responsible if they fly somebody in who doesn't have a return ticket.

Out of interest, I got into China with a ticket for the outward journey in Feb, returning in July (so well beyond the 30 days of my visa validity).

Is it commonly considered courteous to offer a small, discreet token of thanks when receiving a visa stamp in Asia?

It isn't immigration who checks, it's the airlines-- Cebu Pacific.

They are soo crooked that they do this to make extra money. They check to see if you have a return ticket. If you don't they make you buy one from them at a ripoff price.

I think Air Asia is not quite so money hungry, since it is a Malaysia based airline.

The closest place is Kota Kinabalu. I posted this somewhere else in the forum. You can usually get a ticket as cheap as $25. Or if you plan to actually leave in less than 2 months, you could just simply book your return flight.

How shitty is it that we are not even free to travel the planet we were born on.

Jester wrote:Is it commonly considered courteous to offer a small, discreet token of thanks when receiving a visa stamp in Asia?

No, you are on an American passport if the California location is correct, immigration agents will wave you past because you have every reason to leave and American law gets involved when you bribe foreign companies and officials

Read "The fake onward ticket conundrum" and "How do I make the fake" here:

http://thedromomaniac.com/cheap-flight/ ... d-secrets/

Just spend an extra 25-100 bucks , get an onward ticket and you have peace of mind.

You can get a cheap $20 ticket on Cebu Pacific's website from Manila to Taiwan and use that as your onward ticket. Then if you don't use it, no big deal since it's only $20. I've done that a number of times, but to get that price, you gotta book a date for several months in advance.

http://www.cebupacificair.com

Btw, how do you know which countries require an onward ticket to enter? Is there a list of them somewhere?

It's strange. Many countries technically require an onward ticket but it seems this is only enforced (usually by the airlines) with only a few.

Cases in point:
1. If you are going to the Philippines, most if not all airlines will ask to see your onward or return ticket before boarding the plane. Immigration usually does not check though. They only do a bit of random spot checking. So far, I've never been asked by them to show proof of flight out.

2. If you are going to Taiwan, I think every airline will require this (not sure if it's changed now for Americans recently though). And I believe immigration will ask to see it too (none of this is of course required for permanent residences like me or citizens like Winston.

3. BUT, I just flew to Thailand yesterday on Cebu Pacific. They did not ask to see my onward or return ticket even though they also have this rule in the books.

Guys, if you don't wanna actually buy a cheap onward ticket, you can create a fake one from an old e-ticket. Just put it in word, change the dates and cities, take a picture of it for your smartphone camera, and it almost always works (well Air Asia requires to see a printed copy for Philippines). Make sure its not the same airline as you are flying that time because they may be more familiar with exactly how their own e-tickets look. But in my experience, the airlines nor immigration have ever checked-up on an e-ticket of mine they asked to see. They just check to make sure you have going out of the country shown on your (supposed) e-ticket and they are satisfied.. YMMV and if immigration were to catch you with a fake ticket, you might get into trouble. Airlines wouldn't do anything though accept deny entry.

So perhaps best strategy is to present the ticket to airlines to board plane (in case of Phils but not Taiwan), then if you get so unlucky to get spot checked by immigration, just claim you don't have onward ticket and offer to buy one on spot.

I heard some mentioning just print up a fake iternary by going to the checkout and then printing that page without buying? or buying a refundable ticket and then cancelling it after you purchase it?


the whole one way ticket thing can get complex if you travel to a bunch of asia coutnries. For example i was thinking of visiting indonesia and thailadn but i guess i would need one way tickets all in advance to enter each country so i could go to the next onward one. That means id have to already determine how long i want to be in each country before i even get there which can be dissapointing cause you may wantt o stay longer or less in each country.

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