No return ticket back to the US

[xkomunikado 1]

My husband, our son will be 1year old by then and I will be visiting Philippines for 3 months. We are planning to just book a one way ticket simply because we don’y know when we would like to come back. I’m aware of renewing my husband’s Visa and my son probably since he was born here in the U.S. but by the time I am about to book our ticket the airline was saying that the Immigration in the Philippines will asked for our return tickets soecially my husband that is not a Philippine citizen. Any thoughts on this? Planning to go there January. 

[Ontarkie 14,275]

~~Thread moved to the PI forum, from Off Topic - as the OP is looking for country specific answers~~

[Verrou 1,962]

10 minutes ago, xkomunikado said:

My husband, our son will be 1year old by then and I will be visiting Philippines for 3 months. We are planning to just book a one way ticket simply because we don’y know when we would like to come back. I’m aware of renewing my husband’s Visa and my son probably since he was born here in the U.S. but by the time I am about to book our ticket the airline was saying that the Immigration in the Philippines will asked for our return tickets soecially my husband that is not a Philippine citizen. Any thoughts on this? Planning to go there January. 

my suggestion is to buy return ticket with open ticket ( means you can change the date if u need to ). never know with the immigration, some times they asked sometimes they dont. i wont take the chance. 

[flicks1998 1,044]

Philippines is one of the countries that requires a return ticket or an outbound ticket to be booked by foreign nationals who dont have a long term visa.  However, 90% of the time, Immigration will not ask for this, but the airlines are required too.  If you book a round trip ticket on the same record locator, the airline wont ask for your return ticket as they will see it as part of the booking.  However if you book a return or outbound ticket separately, almost 100% of the time they will ask for this, although over the years, a few airlines dont (Jetstar, Scoot, etc).  

 

How does your spouse plan to enter the Philippines?  On the normal 9a or on BB?  If on 9a, you need to make sure the return ticket is within 30 days of arrival.  This NEVER used to be the case, but it appears this is being more scrutinized post-Covid.  You can either book a round trip ticket and then pay the change fee or you can book a one-way ticket and purchase a throw away ticket on the side that has the non-Filipinos departing within 30 days.  For example, this could be Air Asia from Manila to Kota Kinabalu since that tends to be the cheapest ticket or you can do any other flight.  Doing the cheapest allows you to save money since you wont be using the ticket anyway.  There are also some other sites that allow you to rent a ticket.  Some people are hesitant to use these sites, but I know many people who have without issue.  You get a real ticket thats valid for a few days to a week, but then its cancelled.

 

If your spouse and child enters on a 9a, visa extensions are easy.  The process is the same as pre-Covid.

 

If your spouse is coming in on the BB, you will need to double check the post Covid requirements on this and if a return ticket is still required. 

 

[top_secret 2,447]

IF, your husband is traveling with you and you enter together with him as Balikbayan then he is exempt from having a return ticket.  However, if you are flying anything other than Philippine Airlines, you should prepare for a hard fight checking in for the flight.  'Most', airlines will not know what Balikbayan even is and may need extensive explanation of the finer points of Philippine laws.   The easy alternative is.........  ALL US airlines are required to fully refund a booking if canceled within 24 hours.  Buy a ticket on United, Manila to Guam the day of departure.  Show said ticket as "onward travel" when checking in for your flight to the Philippines.  Cancel said ticket penalty free once you are checked in.  Philippine Immigration has never raised the issue ever for Americans (but has frequently raised the issue for Asian nationalities) so it is only an issue with the airline checking in for your flight.

[top_secret 2,447]

Here is the actual rule on it.  Section B,1,e (page 3)

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2022/03mar/20220324-AMENDED-IATF-RESO-165-RRD.pdf

I 'think, that's the latest.  probably not a bad idea to print it for the airline.

[JayWalk 3]

Buy a refundable ticket from Philippine airlines, after you land in Philippines initiate  refund. 

[Talako 785]

On 6/14/2022 at 9:58 AM, top_secret said:

Here is the actual rule on it.  Section B,1,e (page 3)

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2022/03mar/20220324-AMENDED-IATF-RESO-165-RRD.pdf

I 'think, that's the latest.  probably not a bad idea to print it for the airline.

Repeated in Resolution 168 (5/26/22).  Page 2, A.1.e.

 

https://doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/health-update/20220526-IATF-Resolution-168-RRD.pdf

[jskibo 588]

Or https://onwardticket.com/

 

[Kby175 115]

I purchased a 56 dollar ticket to HK on Cebu Pacific to meet the requirement of a return ticket. HKG and KLIA are normally the two least expensive one way options out of Manila.  

[John & Rose 7,239]

The Philippines is tough with that.  I took my wife and step kids to Hong Kong on a vacation.  I could not board the flight back to Manila from HK without showing that I had a ticket to leave Manila.