I’ve first heard of this “proof of onward travel” when I was doing my research on whether to get a round-the-world ticket or just keep buying one-way tickets. I read some posts of people who only bought one-way tickets being required to show some proof of onward travel, which is usually a ticket out of the country, before they were allowed to board the plane.

Supposedly, airlines do this as it’s their responsibility to take the passenger somewhere else if they don’t pass the immigration requirements of their destination country. This makes sense as they’d lose money because of this. Immigration is supposed to not care about this.

However, last week, I was entering Costa Rica by bus and the immigration officer wouldn’t stamp my passport unless I show him a ticket out of Costa Rica. A Tica Bus ticket agent was conveniently waiting outside ready sell me a ticket, so I just went ahead and purchased one to Panama with an open date. I went back in, showed him the ticket, and just like that he stamped my passport. Makes me wonder if the people working at the immigration office gets a commission for this.

I understand why a country’s government would want proof that the visitor would eventually leave the country. Perhaps, they’re worried the person might illegally remain in the country and take jobs away from its residents. But by simply showing that you have a ticket out of the country won’t really prevent this, so it doesn’t really make sense.

I was originally going to skip Costa Rica completely as I already visited the country last year. But then I met a Dutch couple in Nicaragua who highly recommended Corcovado National Park. Since I’ll be passing it on my way to Panama anyway, it made sense for me to make a stop and spend a few days here. But now that I was forced to buy a ticket that leaves from San Jose, I felt like I shouldn’t waste that ticket, especially since I was only planning on visiting one place in Costa Rica. So I decided to just go ahead and take the bus straight to Panama.

Apparently, Panama does the same thing as well. But when I was at the border I didn’t run into any issue. I just simply showed the guy my passport, he stamped it, and gave me the okay to go ahead. I think the couple in front of me, though, ran into this problem. So I guess it just really depends on the immigration officer on whether they should give you a hard time or not.

This is really a big inconvenience for a lot of backpackers as most of those I’ve met don’t have a set route either. They’re just going with the flow, undecided on how long to stay in one place. This was the first time I’ve been asked to show proof of onward travel in over 3 months of traveling and having crossed 6 borders. I have a feeling I would run into this issue again so I should do a little more planning next time.

From what I’ve read, what some people have done who ran into this issue at the airports was to purchase a fully refundable ticket, which could cost a lot. Hopefully, getting that refund is quick and easy. If you dress up nicely and speak politely you may also increase your chances of not being asked for proof of onward travel. Sometimes you may also be asked to show that you have enough money in the bank to cover the expenses in the country you’re visiting and a return ticket, so it may be a good idea to have a printout of a recent bank statement with you as well.

Others were also able to successfully create a fake ticket or ticket confirmation. I wouldn’t recommend this, though, as it might get you into trouble if they find out it was fake. I would think that it would be pretty easy for them to validate the ticket if they chose to.