Some help required

Hey guys, hope you're all alright.

I'm currently in Australia, but I'm not really enjoying myself, because I can't find work. Anyway, that's another story, but the point is, I want to go back home and as flights to the UK are around the same price as a flight to American and THEN the UK, I thought I might as well do a stop off in good ol' USA.

However, I went to the travel agency today and the woman said I wouldn't be allowed in, unless I had a ticket for when I leave America or a visa allowing me to be there. I only want to stay there for a week or maybe two at the most, but I don't know exactly how long I want to be there, so I can't book a flight back to England right now. It's a bit of a dilemma.

I thought that as a citizen of the UK, I was allowed into America for 90 days and would be kicked out, if I outstayed that period. But yeah, I did think they would let me in, without a ticket back out of America or a visa, considering the relationship between Britain and America.

Any help on this would be great.

Thanks everyone and happy travelling!

I think the common thing to do in this situation is to book a ticket and set a date, but make sure you can change dates later on (probably at a fee). Would that work?

Yeah that's probably the best way to avoid hassle. When you book a ticket just make sure it's one you can change. The fee can sometimes be pretty low.

I agree - book the exit flight and change it if you need to...for a fee of course.

What one person did was to book the cheapest ticket out of the US possible--which we figured out was a one-way ticket to go from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Nassau in the Bahamas. He had no intention to use it--but it allowed him to tell the US Customs Service that he had his ticket for leaving the US already booked--thus meeting the US rules. Then, later, when he knew where he wanted to go and when he wanted to leave, he booked his flight from the US on to that destination.

I think the ticket he purchased from Fort Lauderdale to Nassau ran about $56 each--which he got on a charter airline called Spirit Airlines. I notice the best price on Kayak is currently $82 on Bahamasair.

This may not work for you as well as it worked for him--but I thought I'd let you know about this option.

Enjoy