Can I cancel or change my return ticket to a different date after entering the US?

score:9

Accepted answer

The requirement to have pre-booked return travel is essentially to demonstrate that you have the means (money) to return home at the conclusion of your visit. It is not necessary to actually take the flight you have booked (nobody will check). So, you can book any flight back home and then change it to what you actually want later.

Anecdotally, one time I did this I bought an onward "flex-ticket" (no fixed travel date) which was printed on an A4 sheet in some nonstandard form. When I arrived in my destination country (not the US in my case), immigration asked about return or onward travel, and were a bit confused about the ticket that I presented (they said they hadn't seen one quite like that before). It turned out fine though. Later I got a full refund for that ticket, but I had to show a long-term visa to the airline before they would give it to me. If I had to do that again, I would have bought a fully-refundable dated normal ticket somewhere else to reduce confusion.

Upvote:0

The return flight ticket is only to show them that you won't overstay in the US. My recommendation is to book the round trip ticket and just pay some extra money to change the returning ticket after you enter the US.

Upvote:8

Given that the flight doesn't even need to be a flight - I've used a bus ticket in the past, as evidence I'll leave the USA (Seattle to Vancouver), and then changed to a flight. All it is, is a means to confirm you have both intention to leave, and the capability and cash to leave - ie have afforded a ticket before spending your tourist dollars on Blackjack in Vegas ;)

Once you're in the country, there's nothing against you changing your plans, as long as you follow the terms of your visa (eg don't overstay, don't break the law etc).

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