Visa Question - Proof Of Return Ticket Required? Help!

[la_guachita]

United airlines tried to pull this on me, saying I couldn't board a flight without a return ticket but I got out of it. I don't understand how an airline worker can dictate how you travel. Maybe you plan to bike or hike out of the country or ride with a friend on their sailboat to Uruguay. Strange times we are living in — Freedom of Movement is supposedly guaranteed by the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights.

 

[sivan]

As far i understand i think that airlines enforce this rule because if someone arrives in a country and is not let in (because the country believes that they wont leave or for whatever reason really) they are responsible for flying that person back to where they came from.
I am quite sure that you have to have proof that you are leaving the country when you enter the States, UK, NZ, Canada and even South Africa. Its not that difficult to understand why countries ask for it - they dont want people entering and never leaving.
But having said that I agree that Argentina does not care as long as you are coming from a "first" world country and have dollars/euros to spend!

 

[Lost in Buenos Aires]

I am quite sure that you have to have proof that you are leaving the country when you enter the States, UK, NZ, Canada and even South Africa.

Sorry, no.

 

[JoeGillis]

The following is a post I made in February re onward tickets, etc.

"The old proof-of-exit/onward-travel/return-trip-required provision has been in effect for many decades now, beginning in the years following WWII. I began working with Pan Am in 1970, and during the next 15 years I was an employee of several other carriers, including Air France, Qantas, TWA. At all of these airlines, we were required to advise passengers that one-way tickets were permitted ONLY for citizens/ permanent residents of said passengers' destination countries, which meant that a non-citizen/non-resident customer needed to purchase a return or onward travel ticket prior to being issued a one-way ticket. As others have noted, this provision is upheld by either the carrier of transportation or the country of travel origin, or both. After leaving the airline industry, I worked in corporate travel for American Express in the US for 20 years, where this ticketing provision was enforced by company policy."

This is a general IATA policy that, nowadays, may or may not be enforced by some airlines and/or the destination country's immigration authorities, although the original rule remains in effect.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

I have flown into Ezeiza dozens of times from the US and elsewhere, and no Argentine official has ever asked me for proof of a return ticket. Only once, in Seattle, did a US airline ask me for proof before letting me fly, and I asked to see a supervisor to whom I showed my numerous passport stamps.

 

[irina]

[background=rgb(242, 242, 242)]
sivan, on 20 July 2013 - 04:18 PM, said:[/background]


I am quite sure that you have to have proof that you are leaving the country when you enter the States, UK, NZ, Canada and even South Africa.

Sorry, no.

Actually yes, at least it happened to us in the States. My Argentine husband was detained in an interrogation room because he didn't have proof of onward travel (I had it, with me in baggage claim like a fool). They wouldn't let him send his parents who were cleared to get it from me, they wouldn't let him use their computer to open it on his email, they just detained him til we missed our connection then let him go.

BUT on the topic at hand, I've been flying with round trip tickets originating in Argentina for all my trips stateside for 3.5 years and they've never asked me for onward travel (AA or United), but I could just have been lucky.

 

[Lost in Buenos Aires]

[background=rgb(242, 242, 242)]sivan, on 20 July 2013 - 04:18 PM, said:[/background]


I am quite sure that you have to have proof that you are leaving the country when you enter the States, UK, NZ, Canada and even South Africa.



Actually yes, at least it happened to us in the States. My Argentine husband was detained in an interrogation room because he didn't have proof of onward travel (I had it, with me in baggage claim like a fool). They wouldn't let him send his parents who were cleared to get it from me, they wouldn't let him use their computer to open it on his email, they just detained him til we missed our connection then let him go.

Who is this mysterious 'they' that you're talking about?

 

[irina]

Who is this mysterious 'they' that you're talking about?

the immigration agent, sorry, I didn't realize it was so mysterious.

 

[Lost in Buenos Aires]

This is a general IATA policy that, nowadays, may or may not be enforced by some airlines and/or the destination country's immigration authorities, although the original rule remains in effect.

BINGO! IATA policy It's not a rule, not a law and not legislation. It's just a policy.

There is NO requirement to EVER have to purchase a round-trip ticket to go somewhere.

A thorough search of their website shows that there is NO REQUIREMENT to ever have to purchase a round-trip ticket as a requirement to enter a country. Additionally, a conversation with Anthony Concil, Director Corporate Communications at IATA, also shows that there is no requirement, furthermore, Mr. Concil denies that it has EVER been addressed by IATA which means they don't care if a person buys a one-way ticket or a round-trip ticket.

 

[Lost in Buenos Aires]

the immigration agent, sorry, I didn't realize it was so mysterious.

Just to make sure I understand. You and your Argentine husband bought round trip tickets (From Argentina to the US and back) and when you landed in the US, he didn't have proof of a return ticket handy (it was in the checked luggage). US immigration officials took him aside at a US airport and he was detained until after the flight had left.

Do I understand it correctly?