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I want to travel to the USA on August 11, and leave again on the 21st to Taiwan. I already booked a round trip from Germany to the USA. My return flight is on October 2, which I plan to miss because I want to take the earlier flight to Taiwan.

I heard that the immigration officers always want to see a return ticket so they can be sure that I am going to leave. Is it going to be a problem when I show them my roundtrip ticket back to Germany and then leave earlier with my one-way ticket to Taiwan? Do they care about that?

This might be a weird question but I have never been to the USA and after reading some stories on the internet I am actually a bit scared.

Both flights are booked with Delta.

mystery
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Bondo34
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1 Answers1

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It is not true that immigration officers want to see a return ticket. At the most they want to see a ticket that will take you out of the US. (Blogs often say "you should have a return ticket", but that's just shorthand for "a ticket out of the US").

If they ask to see evidence that you will leave the US when you say, then showing them your ticket to Taiwan will serve just as well as a return ticket to Germany.

It's not a good idea to lie to immigration (though if you say you are staying until 2nd October and actually leave on 21st August they are not going to care). In any case there is nothing to be gained. If they are going to approve your staying until 2nd October, they are going to approve your staying until 21st August.

In short: Buying a return ticket was completely unnecessary. Ignore it and show immigration your Taiwan ticket if they ask. It won't cause problems.

DJClayworth
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