# Deportation a free ticket home? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588 "2005-01-01T22:12:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bupkis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bupkis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bupkis)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/1 "2005-01-01T22:12:06Z")
I am a young man of meager means. Someday soon I would like to travel. I have wondered for a while now: if I were to buy a one-way ticket to some foreign country, and enter it with a tourist visa, then stay past the time I was supposed to stay, could I get a free ticket home by being deported? I mean, what can they do if I have no money? I guess they could ban me from ever entering the country again, but if I don’t care to return anyway, could this be a way to save a bundle on air-fare? Are there other potential repurcussions? Note that I would probably never do this, since it seems ethically suspect. But is it possible? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/2 "2005-01-01T22:14:38Z")
A friend of mine was deported from the US to the UK. He had to pay the British government back the cost of the ticket, and he was charged business class rates. ---
**Author:** ![bupkis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bupkis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bupkis)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/3 "2005-01-01T22:27:08Z")
Ah, countries must have some agreement to prevent deadbeats like me from mooching free plane rides. I wonder what countries don’t have agreements like this…probably only ones that would not be pleasant to visit. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/4 "2005-01-01T22:33:02Z")
> [@bupkis](#): > > Ah, countries must have some agreement to prevent deadbeats like me from mooching free plane rides. I wonder what countries don’t have agreements like this…probably only ones that would not be pleasant to visit. And probably not ones whose jails/detention centers you’d want to hang around in while they arranged transportation. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/5 "2005-01-01T22:41:04Z")
If you do it intentionally, it is fraud which is illegal. Haj ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/6 "2005-01-01T22:44:21Z")
- Getting into the country on a tourist visa with a one-way ticket could pose problems. I know someone who had to buy a (very expensive) open return at checkin, because they couldn’t prove that they would be leaving one particular country by train, as was their actual plan. - It’s rare to find a one-way ticket that’s much cheaper than a return. - What **jjimm** said: many countries will pass on the costs incurred through (presumably bilateral) agreements with the US (or whoever). ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/7 "2005-01-01T23:02:07Z")
Once you overstay your visa, it’s unlikely that the foreign country will ever allow you to re-enter. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that results in your name going onto some sort of “blacklist” preventing your entry into a whole lot of other countries as well. ---
**Author:** ![mcott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@mcott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcott)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/8 "2005-01-02T04:34:19Z")
I can give an example of why the original premise wouldn’t work. The country you’re traveling to will not let you in without proof that you’re leaving - more than likely the airline won’t let you board, because if you don’t get in, as part of the contract of carriage between you and the airline, they must return you home if your destination country doesn’t accept you. They don’t want to incur the expense of shipping you back. To enhance that idea, think about a deportation itself. There are two types - escorted and unescorted. Unescorted is less prefered by the airline because they are responsible for you as a deportee - it’s happened in the past that unescorted deportees on connecting flights in third party countries have skipped out of the airport they were conneting in and disapeared into that place. Airlines and governments both don’t like it when that happens. For escorted deportees, the escorting officer normally spends one day in the destination country for paperwork and other sundries - if the escort doesn’t have proof of an outbound flight, the same no return no admission problem occurs, and that’s for a government employee escorting someone back to their county of origin. Also, to address **jjimm** about the one way ticket, rare yes, but sometimes much cheaper. When traveling from Canada to India, one can save about 1000.00CAD by purnchasing a one way from Toronto to Delhi, and then a one way back, due to currency conversion, but international airfares are a whole new thread. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/9 "2005-01-02T04:54:01Z")
Yep. Try to do that to come to Australia for example, and our authorities would expect you to show “adequate funds” for your intended stay here. Arriving on a one-way ticket would especially alert them. I believe most other countries do likewise. I’d suggest you not try this. It will end badly. A likely scenario would be your being denied entry. If that happens in your home country, eh well you tried. If it happens at the port of arrival in the foreign country, you’ve got yourself a few hours of shittiness in windowless rooms and then a long flight home (which eventually, some way or another, you wil have to pay somebody for). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/10 "2005-01-02T07:47:36Z")
> [@mcott](#): > > Also, to address **jjimm** about the one way ticket, rare yes, but sometimes much cheaper. When traveling from Canada to India, one can save about 1000.00CAD by purnchasing a one way from Toronto to Delhi, and then a one way back, due to currency conversion, but international airfares are a whole new thread. I should have said: this guy already had a return ticket (he also had a letter in his suitcase asking his father to get him illegal work during his summer vacation, which is what did for him). So he forfeited the return leg, plus had to pay business class rates for what was a one-way economy flight. ---
**Author:** ![mcott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@mcott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcott)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/11 "2005-01-04T06:41:31Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I should have said: this guy already had a return ticket (he also had a letter in his suitcase asking his father to get him illegal work during his summer vacation, which is what did for him). So he forfeited the return leg, plus had to pay business class rates for what was a one-way economy flight. Sorry, sir, didn’t mean to nipick your post. If the guy had a return ticket, that’s either the country of destination or the airline’s mismanagement that caused that. Seriously, has anyone here ever read a contract of carriage or any other IATA document? They would fill about three 3-ring binders. It’s honestly a wonder to me how international aviation is able to function as “well” as it does right now. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/12 "2005-01-10T22:16:20Z")
I guess that maybe as United Statesians, we don’t have this problem. But… I’ve never been asked to show proof of return transportation at any county that I’ve ever been to. Usually they’re all places more depressed than the United States (you know: Europe, Latin America), so maybe there’s no motivation to overstay visas there. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deportation-a-free-ticket-home/282588/13 "2005-01-10T22:30:51Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I guess that maybe as United Statesians, we don’t have this problem. But… I’ve never been asked to show proof of return transportation at any county that I’ve ever been to. The Brits are pretty strict about it. Before I moved to Ireland and obtained an Irish work permit, I always had to show my return ticket to the States before I’d be let into the UK.