My Onward Ticket
Plain-English answers from people who've worked both sides of the border counter. Written daily by four travel-industry insiders.
A Thailand border run resets your stay, but it doesn't remove the onward ticket question at land immigration. Here are the mistakes that trip travelers up.
A practical breakdown of the Bali-Singapore onward ticket loop that long-term travelers use to reset their Indonesian visa, including what each border actually checks.
A dummy ticket and a paid ticket look identical in the booking system. Here is what genuinely changes between the two, and why a fabricated screenshot fails both tests.
Japan's visa waiver covers many travelers, but the itinerary field on a visa application still wants a real onward reservation, not a receipt.
India's e-Visa application, airline check-in, and immigration each check your onward travel plans differently, and a dummy ticket satisfies each one for a different reason.
Australia's ETA app skips the onward ticket question entirely, but airlines still check it at the gate. Here is where the requirement actually lives.
Canada's eTA does not ask for a return flight, but border officers can still request proof of onward travel on arrival.
A dummy ticket's safety comes down to six separate factors, not a single yes or no answer, and most travelers only check one before they fly.
Rwanda's visa-free policy doesn't mean border and check-in staff stop asking for proof you're leaving. Here's when a dummy ticket actually comes up in Kigali.
The Dominican Republic checks proof of onward travel at both the airline counter and its mandatory E-Ticket form, and the two checks work differently.
Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, AirAsia, and VietJet all fly routes where proof of onward travel matters, but they enforce the rule very differently.
A small name mismatch on a dummy or onward ticket can look like a bigger problem than it is. Here is what airlines will correct without a new booking, and what forces one.