Very complex query, china/japan/uk related.

[graeme]

Bear with me, i'm going to try and explain this as best I can.

I am from the UK, Edinburgh to be exact. I have a friend, she is chinese. Lately we've been discussing a trip to japan in september, followed by a trip over to china to see her family. She has a visa to work in the uk, and as far as I'm aware, she'll need a visa from the japanese embassy here to travel to japan. I'm hoping this is clear so far. Now, when we are in japan, we hope to travel across to china. I think i'll need a visa to travel to china, but what my main query is about is whether the pair of us will need to buy return tickets from uk to japan, as i've read that I can travel to japan for up to 90 days as long as I have a return ticket, however I'm planning on flying back to the uk from china and not japan. Does any of this make sense, and can anyone offer any advice?

[annie]

You need either a return ticket or an onward ticket. So as long as you make your travel arrangements to China before you leave the UK you'll be fine.

[graeme]

okay, thanks for that...I tried emailing the embassy for an answer but they never got back to me.

much appreciated!

[annie]

no worries.

just make sure you have your onward ticket (or some sort of documentation of it) accessible both when you check in for your flight and for clearing Japanese immigration.

i did have a slight problem with a check-in agent at LAX not wanting to let me board my flight to New Zealand because I didn't have a RT ticket. But as soon as her manager came over, it was cleared right up.