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Exit ticket out of Quito not good enough???!!!

We, both from the U.S. are planning on crossing the the Ecuador border at Tulcan and heading into Colombia from there to Ipiales. We have heard that you need a copy of your passport and proof of exit out of Colombia. We have plane tickets that show we are leaving back to the states out of Quito on June 24th, but have read on another site that that will not be good enough for the DAS officials, that we need proof of an exit out of COlombia! Is this true? The problem is that we are not flying out of Colombia back to Ecuador, we are crossing into Peru from Leticia but don't have set dates so can't buy tickets ahead. I have read that the DAS officials will make us either buy a ticket out of Bogota, which we don't need and won't use so a total waste of money, or that we will have to go to Ipiales, buy a bus ticket for Cali to Ipiales sometime in the future which again we won't use. Does someone out there have experience with this. The ticket out of Quito proves we are leaving the area, I am confused why we need specific proof of leaving Colombia as well. Thanks

By kcrosman on May 6, 2005, 13:16 in Visa & paperwork.

william_andrew_channell says on May 6, 2005, 14:27:

They never ask for an exit ticket. Just go ahead as planned.

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Cessi says on May 6, 2005, 16:46:

Yes they ask for a return ticket! Yes they do ask for an exit ticket. It´s something they´ve been doing at that specific boarder for the past four or five months now. If you don´t have it they ask you to the bus terminal in Ipiales and buy an open bus ticket out of the country. You don´t have to have a date on it, just an open one. It can be from Popayan to Ipiales, from Santa Marta to Maicao or from Bucaramanga to Cucuta. That way they will see that you have a ticket to a boarder. Then you have to get a photocopy of your ticket and your passport on the same paper and give it to them at the boarder, first then you will get you entry stamp, not before that. So even though you´re not planning on using the bus ticket you will have to get it. I´ve past that boarder quite some times now and I have to do it all the time. However, I bought my open ticket from Cali to Ipiales and I haven´t used it yet so I just get a photo copy of the same ticket every time.

good luck!

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william_andrew_channell says on May 7, 2005, 05:52:

Sorry,
I misunderstood the situation. Thought you guys were flying in to Colombia and then crossing the border into Ecuador. In this case, yes, you do need proof.

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flaleo says on May 7, 2005, 13:08:

Buy a BOG/MIA e-ticket on AA, oneway, fully refundable, on a credit card. Maybe it's $1,000, maybe $5,000, who cares. Have it for a date way in the future (six months?). Return if for full refund at anytime.

Or make the reservation online and print the itinerary then never actually paying for it and it expires - but you have the printout.

Or, next time you fly AA, print your boarding pass online, but then save it to your hard drive. Now you can reopen the file anytime and edit it in Word or Frontpage. Now you have instant boarding pass when you need it. I use this to access airport gate areas to meet friends I'm picking up at airport when I'm not flying. It'll get you past the X-ray machine area - just don't try to board with it.

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ColombiaBoard says on May 7, 2005, 17:24:

Border Crossing I recently heard this story from an english girl who crossed the border at Ipiales.
They DAS officials asked here if she had a return ticket, she didn´t so she went to the bus office and a guy there offered to give her a return ticket for a small fee so she could show it at the immigration office and then she returned it, she told me that other people just buy the return ticket to Tulcan which seems to be the cheapest one, others show just a photocopy and other lucky dogs don´t have to show anything, bottom line: be prepared to either buy one return ticket to Tulcan, "rent" one from someone at the ticket office or try your luck.

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