Onward-ticket rules, by country
Each page quotes what the authority actually published, links the source, and carries the date it was last checked. Where a government publishes nothing, the page says so instead of guessing — which is why some of these are shorter than you might expect.
Required
An official page or statute states this condition. The wording is quoted below and the source is linked.
- ThailandThailand states proof of onward travel as a condition at the port of entry — and its own text accepts train, bus and boat tickets, not only flights.
- IndonesiaIndonesia's Directorate General of Immigration states a return or onward ticket across every visitor category most Bali travellers actually use.
- New ZealandNew Zealand is the only country in this dataset whose own official text names the airline check-in desk — and it requires the onward ticket to be already paid for.
- the United StatesThe strongest statutory case in the dataset — but it applies to the Visa Waiver Program, not to B-1/B-2 visa holders, and not at a land border.
- IndiaIndia lists a return or onward journey ticket as an explicit eligibility criterion for the e-Tourist visa, bundled with a sufficient-funds test.
- the United Arab EmiratesA split answer: sponsored tourist visas state a ticket condition, while the visa-on-arrival route that covers most Western passports does not.
- Costa RicaCosta Rica requires a return or onward ticket — and the visa-free stay is 180 days, not the 90 that most pages on this subject repeat.
- PanamaPanama requires a return ticket conditionally — the statute attaches it to the migratory category you are entering under.
- ColombiaColombia can refuse entry to travellers without a return ticket — but the frequently-quoted Colombian sentence is about visa nationals, not visa-exempt tourists.
- South AfricaSouth Africa's Department of Home Affairs lists a return or onward ticket alongside proof of financial means.
May be asked for
The authority may ask for this. The permissive wording is quoted below — it grants a power to ask, and does not place a duty on you.
Not required
A retrievable official rule affirmatively does not contain a ticket condition. What was read, and what it says, is set out below.
- the United KingdomThe UK asks visitors to have funds covering the return journey — not to hold a ticket. Its own guidance tells most applicants not to submit flight bookings.
- CanadaCanada's temporary-resident visa regulation contains no return-transport clause at all. The word "ticket" does not appear.
- AustraliaThe words "onward" and "ticket" do not appear on Australia's Visitor 600 or ETA 601 pages. The tests are intent and funds.
- JapanNone of Japan's four statutory landing conditions mentions a ticket — but the statute puts the burden of proof on you.
- MalaysiaMalaysia has no ticket condition for entry. The one place a confirmed return ticket is required is extending a social visit pass.
- TürkiyeTürkiye's published foreign-ministry entry rules list passport validity and nothing else — no ticket condition appears.
No published rule found
No public rule was found. The absence of a published rule is not a guarantee of entry, and we will not guess in either direction.
- MexicoNo retrievable Mexican rule states a return-ticket requirement, and none states that there is no requirement. Treat this as unevidenced, not as settled.
- the PhilippinesNo Philippine government page we could retrieve states a ticket condition — yet travellers consistently report this as the strictest check in the region.
- South KoreaNothing retrievable on the K-ETA system mentions a return or onward ticket, and the statute could not be verified. We will not assert either way.
- VietnamEvery official Vietnamese e-visa portal we tried served an empty page or failed to connect. The position is genuinely open.
- MoroccoNo accessible Moroccan source states a return- or onward-ticket rule either way.
- EgyptEgypt's statutory basis for any onward-ticket rule could not be verified.