Job Discussion Forums

[butterface]

How likely is it to get denied entrance to Germany if you don't have a return ticket? I doubt any school would give me a visa before I got there and I could save about $300 by not getting a return ticket, so I thought I'd roll the dice. Some other posts have suggested that other countries rarely check for return tickets and even if they do, I could just buy a return ticket at the airport and cancel in the next day. Does this kind of thing work in Germany? I'd really like to know.

[Magdusia]

I came into Germany on a one-way ticket. This was after I bought it through the national Canadian student travel agency (Travel Cuts) and the highly competent travel assistant told me that I was going to cause myself a lot of headache and heartache if I didn't buy a return ticket, because Germans being Germans, I would surely get hassled at the airport about not having a return ticket and could be denied entry into the country. Then I phoned the three German consulates in Canada (had to lie about where I was calling from, because Germans being Germans, you're only supposed to call their consulate if you live in their region). After a few snide comments about the intelligence of travel agents, I was told that as a Canadian with a Canadian passport I would have no problem. Things might be different if I were a convicted criminal, a citizen of a "non-preferred" country, or a refugee with dubious acquaintances, but if you're a good guy/girl it's no problem. I got through customs and not a word other than "Hallo" (me) and "Bitte schoen" (officer handing me back my stamped passport) was exchanged.