One Way Ticket & Chinese Immigration

[pushingeast]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone knows what the situation is with entering China on a one way ticket on a tourist L visa. Is this possible?

Im planning to study in Kunming for a year or two depending on how things go and don't particularly want to get a return plane ticket if i dont have to. I rang the consulate here in Sydney and was told that i could get in on a one way ticket if i had a Student X visa organised. But i want to go in on a tourist visa because, one, i want to check out the universities before i actually enrol and, two, nobody is replying from any of the uni's in kunming so i cant get the visa organised even if i wanted to!

Well i believed the woman at the consulate to start with but her credibility took a dive when she told me you can't change a tourist visa to a student visa in China. I'm with this forum's overall opinion when it comes to this situation.

So can anyone enlighten me on the situation of one way tickets, tourist visas and getting into china? Have you got in on a one way ticket and an L visa?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Alex

[imitation]

This is a huge scam that travel agents in Australia try to pull I feel. I almost got in a fight with a guy who was acting as if he'd refuse to sell me a one way ticket because I wouldn't be able to get a visa. I reminded him that i've been living in China for 2yrs and travelled back and forth between HK and other south east Asian countries many times.

You need no return ticket, just fly into HK, get your 1yr multiple entry visa processed in 1 day. Then hop straight into China and go where ever you like. Also my experience is universities don't care what visa you are on to study with.

[smalldog]

You should be able to get a visa in your home country without showing a ticket (in the UK they may say you need to, but they will accept your application without one). Once you get to China there is no chance Chinese immigration officers would ask to see a return ticket. The only people who could be difficult about not having a return ticket are airline check-in staff, but for China even that's unlikely as IATA recommendations (see here) don't say anything about onward tickets. If someone happened to ask, you could say you were travelling overland to Hong Kong, or that you had an eticket out of China.

Imitation, 1 year visas have been unavailable since early this year. The best you can do in Hong Kong now is 6 months.

[tallynole]

it's not a country regulation, it's an airline scam.

I've gone in and out of China plenty of times on one way tickets granted not on L visa. My first time last year did have an L but I flew in from HK and no one even blinked

[pushingeast]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm now starting to feel a little bit more comfortable going in on a one way.

Yeah the agents in Australia have been pushing the hard sell on purchasing a return ticket and i'm still not getting any solid advice coming from the consulate here.

smalldog - i'm starting to run through a few excuses in my head now, however, that e-ticket one sounds like a winner

[imitation]

If the check in people pressure you tell them it's non of their business and ask them if they've ever even been to China and know how it's visa processing works. They are really pushy idiots, i've had so many troubles with them about this and they always act like they some how know better than me.

Also I got a 1yr visa in March of this year and a friend got one in July, we are both Australians. So i'm not sure if this 1yr visa thing not being available is only for some countries. However we both had had previous visas in China perhaps that changes things, i'm not sure.

Edit: I spelt know wrong twice in this with 2 different spellings, lol

[roddy]

Changes to F visa availability in HK have been reported since October

The return ticket requirement is entirely an invention of the airlines and travel agents. Tell them the embassy said so.

[onebir]

The only people who could be difficult about not having a return ticket are airline check-in staff, but for China even that's unlikely as IATA recommendations (see here) don't say anything about onward tickets.

I don't know if the Delta Visa & Passport Information site's changed since you looked at it, but for UK citizens travelling to China it DOES mention 'all documents for next destination' (ie visa & tickets) & for HK it specifically mentions tickets...

it's not a country regulation, it's an airline scam.

On the contrary, it is a regulation in many countries, and airlines can be fined for bringing in travellers who don't comply with the regulations. But the rules are very rarely enforced by most countries for travellers from developed countries. And by taking the rules literally, the airlines make long term or other unconventional travel unnecessarily inflexible &/ costly.

This is a major pain for me as well & I hope the new long-haul budget carriers (2 and counting )aren't as fussy about onward tickets etc.

[smalldog]

don't know if the Delta Visa & Passport Information site's changed since you looked at it, but for UK citizens travelling to China it DOES mention 'all documents for next destination' (ie visa & tickets) & for HK it specifically mentions tickets...

I presume "documents" just means passports and visas as the Delta site specifically says "onward/return tickets" for destinations that do have such a requirement (eg. Hong Kong, Singapore).

[onebir]

It does say '*all* documents', and a ticket is a document... although that does beg the question of why it specifically mentions tickets in some cases. (And unhelpfully leaves interpretation up to the airlines, travel agents etc)

[smalldog]

A ticket is a document but no country requires an inward ticket for entry (unless Disneyland is a country). Take a look at the info for Cambodia -- again, "all documents" for the next destination are required, but travel on a one-way ticket is specifically permitted.

[onebir]

You mean Disneyland isn't a country?

But seriously there are two ways to interpret your observation about Cambodia insisting on "documents required for next destination" but specifying that "Travel on a one-way ticket is allowed."

One is what I think you're saying: the phrase "documents for next destination" doesn't generally include onward tickets.

Another is that "documents for next destination" generally does include onward tickets, and that's the reason the caveat "Travel on a one-way ticket is allowed." has been included in the case of Cambodia. If 'documents' doesn't generally include tickets, why is the clarification about one-way travel necessary?

I don't know which interpretation is correct - both seem plausible. & if an onward ticket isn't necessary, I'm not sure how to go about proving this to a check in clerk who has nothing to gain from letting me on the plane, and something (a job?) to lose for letting me on erroneously.

If anyone can suggest a cast-iron way of proving this (or a perhaps tips on forging e-tickets?) I'd love to hear it...

[smalldog]

If anyone wants a genuine (editable) eticket out of China just send me a message with your email address.

[malinuo]

It is very common that countries require return tickets for entry. Some countries also ask that you have enough money to support yourself during the stay.

http://www.travisas.com/main/visa_instructions.asp?ARR=CN&Citizen=GB&Go=Go says that China is happy with a "Computer generated flight itinerary from the travel agent" for some kinds of visas. However, it does not mention student visas.

[Crivens200]

I was once asked by airline staff to provide proof of onward travel out of Hong Kong when I was checking in at Heathrow on a one way ticket to HK.

They let it go when I told them that it wasn't possible to buy tickets for the KCR in the UK.

[onebir]

That sounds like a good line. (If like me, you didn't know, KCR is a train service).

Oasis Hongkong don't accept this line at present though (see post 30 here)

[flameproof]

To my knowledge, the Philippines used to require (and may still) that you enter with a return ticket in hand. I know a case of somebody that has had entry refused on that ground. He had only O/W since he was a technician and the next destination wasn't clear yet.

[John44]

Hey Smalldog, could you forward the editable e-ticket to me please? Im at johnathonevans@gmail.com - Id greatly appreciate it, I bought a one way to Qingdao last month and have only just realised the possible issue.

Thanks

[jyohay]

Hi Smalldog, thanks for the offer. I'd also very much like to get a copy, I'm at qwfwq1@yahoo.com.

[onebir]

I think you can get things that are indistinguishable from e-tickets from the online booking engines of most budget carriers - just take it to the stage before paying, and print out, after checking carefully that it doesn't indicate anywhere that you haven't paid yet. (If the page does show you haven't paid, you can try saving the html and editing it...)