Ok so I know you need a visa and a return ticket if you're going through the PRC's immigration.

However, what are the rules if you are flying directly to Hong Kong? Do you need a visa beforehand? I've travelled from the PRC mainland to HK on train and didn't need a visa... but flying to HK (from a different country, not China) do I need one or do I still get 90 days on entry? Also, I really need to know if I need proof of a return ticket.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1136.html

I don't know your country of citizenship, but US citizens, Canadian citizens, and citizens of most European countries (i.e., EU and Switzerland) do not need any visa to enter Hong Kong. You will get a 90-day tourist visa upon entry. While in theory you have to be able to provide evidence of an onward ticket, I don't believe they ask for this at the immigration counter; however you MAY very well be asked to show this when you check in for your flight at your originating airport. (It's the airline that gets fined for not ensuring that you have the proper papers. ) Therefore, it would help to have a fully refundable return ticket with you when you check-in for your flight. You can then cash it in Hong Kong if for some reason you want to stay on in Hong Kong without a return air ticket.

This has happened to me on the two occasions when I was MOVING to Hong Kong and obviously did not want or need a ticket for a return flight. When I tried to check in for my flights (once in the US and once in Switzerland), the airlines would not let me do so without first having a return ticket. I just bought a refundable ticket from them and that solved the problem. I then cashed in the ticket when I arrived in Hong Kong.

See, when I arrived there by train I didn't need proof of any return ticket...sigh, it's just a pain in the ass to have to buy a return ticket and get it refunded.

Yeah when I flew to Shanghai I had to buy a ticket at my originating airport but the immigration in Shanghai didn't even ask for it. Dumb.

That's because the Shanghai airport immigration people were depending upon the fact that the airline had done their work for them. They do do spot checks and fine airlines for letting people board without the proper papers.

Yes, the train is potentially a good loophole, but I suppose they don't bother because in most cases they know they already checked because you couldn't have flown into the PRC in the first place without the onward ticket. You could of course go overland to Hong Kong via the PRC mainland from Russia, but couldn't get into Russia most likely without the onward ticket....

www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_4.htm

Part II, Point 5:

"Visitors are required to have adequate funds to cover the duration of their stay without working and, unless in transit to the Mainland of China or the region of Macau, to hold onward or return tickets. If you want to stay longer than the visa free period allowed, you must apply for a visa or entry permit before travelling to the HKSAR."

If you can persuade the immigration officer, if you were asked, that you're going to China or Macau afterwards, then you don't need to show an onward ticket, if I understand the above correctly.

I think you have to be holding ferry or bus tickets for Macau to do this, but you could certainly try. I think the problem will be that the OP will not be allowed to board her flight in her home country or originating country in the first place. My actual experience in trying to board a plane outside Hong Kong to tralve to Hong Kong without a return ticket is that I was not allowed to do so; that seems to the OP's experience as well. Most people on this site are tourists on return or onward tickets so have not encountered this problem. (I had the same problem when I moved to Singapore too. You would think I would learn, but I always hope.)

I see your point, and I agree.

Yes, I was hoping to fly to Hong Kong to get the Chinese visa there and also to avoid having to buy a return ticket. Looks like I'll have to buy one and refund it. I just don't see why you need a return ticket, it seems a bit ridicullous... I mean, what tourist is going to be stupid enough to want to go there without one and/or overstay their visa? And the others like us who do intend to stay will just refund the return ticket. I suppose I'm angry 'cause we're having troubles refunding a return ticket from before.. and also, a lot of the time you don't get the full refund. Ugh, ok, I'm done.

No to prolong the post, but many, many thousands of people want to come here and overstay their visa, just like they want to do in Europe, Canada the US, etc. They want to get a job for a decent wage and live in a safe place and send money home. People from the Philppines for one, from Africa, from the Indian subcontinent. Not to mention the PRC mainland itself.

You're a visitor to a place. They have every right to deny you entry if they suspect you to overstay or trying to work.

Remember, you're a guest. You don't have unlimited rights to visit. If this is so difficult and frustrating to you, I beg you not to go to Hong Kong.

teraffic, you wrote: "what tourist is going to be stupid enough to want to go there without one ... ".

I think you know the answer to that question. Or are you not a tourist?