Backpacking to Europe and Northern Africa on one way ticket - will I face issues with immigration?

Question

I'm planning on backpacking from NYC with a USA passport to Portugal → Spain → Morocco → Paris → back to NYC. I know for sure that the trip will be less than a month. I bought a one way ticket because I'm not sure of the exact date that I will be returning.

Will I have any problems with immigration with any of these countries if I don't have a return ticket? Has anyone with a US passport traveled to multiple countries before on a one way ticket? Did you encounter any problems at immigration?

Answer 1

Let's take a look at the steps in your itinerary.

1. You fly into Portugal. Here they might like to see onwards travel from the Schengen area (usually the check-in agents are more insistent than immigration officers). You show them the Spain - Morocco ticket as that's valid onward travel.

2. You fly from Spain to Portugal. No immigration checks here and in any case you have your ticket to Morocco.

3. You fly from Portugal to Morocco. Here you show them your ticket from Morocco to Paris.

4. You fly from Morocco to Paris. That's the only part of the itinerary which is problematic - you wouldn't have valid proof of onwards travel.

To solve this issue you have several options:

• Buy a throwaway onwards ticket from a specialized travel agent.
• Buy a cheap ticket out of the Schengen area, e.g. a Ryanair flight to London.
• Take a risk and show up without proof of onward travel. I'd say the biggest issue here is being denied from boarding by the airline. As for the immigration officers, there's no actual requirement to be in possession of valid proof of travel. However you would be in a harder position to show that you're planning to leave the Schengen area at the end of your stay.