Guide · Plan your arrival
Common mistakes travelers make on arrival paperwork
A field guide to the small, avoidable errors that cause the biggest delays — and how to sidestep them.
The top eight, in order of frequency
- Transposing digits in the passport number. Read it twice, character by character.
- Name drift. The ticket, passport and form must match to the letter.
- Date format confusion. Day, month, year is not universal; follow the form.
- Illegible handwriting. Print neatly or prepare the form digitally.
- Missing onward ticket. Keep proof you plan to leave within your permitted stay.
- Wrong accommodation. Use the address you will actually stay at first.
- Expired or damaged passport. Check validity and blank pages early.
- Leaving it to the plane. Fill forms before you board if you can.
Why these cost time
None of the mistakes above are dramatic, and none of them mean trouble by itself. But each one invites a question at the desk, and a question in a busy arrivals hall costs minutes you cannot get back. Multiply that across a family of four after a twelve-hour flight and the value of five quiet minutes of checking becomes obvious.
A better habit
Set aside ten minutes the night before you fly. Lay out your passport, your booking and your forms side by side. Read the names aloud. Check the dates against the flight. Then stop — over-editing invites new errors. If you would rather hand that ten minutes to someone else, our review service does exactly this check for a small, published fee.