Job Discussion Forums

[Fatcat]

if I fly in with a one way ticket and not employed yet?? I don't know my return date yet so don't want to commit to a round trip. I know there's open ended tickets, or something like that, but aren't they more expensive??

Basically my situation is this, I'm coming mid-September to get my cert. and then to find work. I know I'll want to come home for Christmas and will be back in January. I can either get a one way in September and book a round trip for the Christmas holidays when I'm sure of what dates I can go home. Or, I can guesstimate a roundtrip return date in December and hope I won't have to change it, but then I'll still have to buy another ticket to get back. Does this make sense at all?? What would you do?

thanks guys...

[Cdaniels]

Yes, I've been told you do run a risk of problems by entering with a one-way ticket. Immigration does not want you remaining in the country illegally, and checking that you have a return trip is a way to confirm this.
In many cases, though, you can find round-trip tickets that are cheaper than one-ways. This has something to do with airlines wanting seats reserved for future flights (I still haven't figured exactly how or why they do this)
Basically, its worthwhile to have a return ticket and not use it, although I know its conceptually hard to accept this when you're trying to minimize your expenses.

[corporatehuman]

Even if you are lined up with a certification institute you STILL have to get a round-trip? I didn't know this, I was making full plans to just get a one-way.

- Chris

[reddevil79]

I know a lot of people who entered on a one way ticket and immigration didn�t bat an eyelid. If they do ask just say you�re doing some traveling and will be flying out of Costa Rica or Guatemala or something like that. I think there was a similar thread a few months back on this forum�.

[Cdaniels]

This may be the case for Mexico(?), reddevil,
but not for flights to Costa Rica http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?p=359100&highlight=oneway+ticket#359100
or into Argentina, where one member reported Airline tickets were specifically needed, not just any travel plans out of the country.
In both cases, immigration is usually lax, but occasionally picks someone out, and they ask for proof that the person already has made the arrangements to leave beforehand, not afterwards.

[Guy Courchesne]

Very true there CD for Costa Rica and perhaps other places. But in Mexico, you'll not have a problem. The worst they'll ask is when you plan to leave, as they stamp your tourist visa, but are very unlikely to ask you to prove you're leaving.

[MO39]

In the last couple of years I've flown into Mexico (to the DF) twice on one-way tickets. In my experience, the person at the airport from Imigraci�n who checks your tourist card (and grants you a certain period of time you can stay in the country, usually 180 days) does not ask to look at your plane ticket.

[grahamcito]

This doesn't apply to anyone travelling to Mexico from Georgia or anywhere else in the States, but I've mentioned this on a couple of similar threads before and it bears repeating:

If you're not a US citizen, you're trying to enter Mexico on a one-way ticket and you're taking a connecting flight in the US ... FORGET IT.

The US authorities will want to see a return air ticket or proof of legal residency in Mexico. Otherwise, there's a very high probability they'll simply send you home again.

If you're coming from Europe, check out Air Madrid - direct flights from Madrid to DF, as well as much cheaper than anything through the US.

[hlamb]

As a Canadian I flew to Guadalajara via Los Angeles about a year ago. I had no problems in LA. Enterting Mexico they wanted to know why I'd asked for three months on my tourist card and I said I wanted to travel a lot and planned to continue on to Guatamala. That was fine with them.

[grahamcito]

Lucky you, hlamb! Maybe Canadians get special treatment (for the moment, at least), but Europeans get called on this.