Last Updated on November 24, 2025 by Christine Kaaloa

Are you unknowingly breaking U.S. immigration law just by being a digital nomad or participating in the wrong activities on a tourist visa? If so, you might be innocent travel mistakes from getting deported or denied.

This video and blog article is a wake-up call for every international traveler, digital nomad or backpacker, who never considered how travel visa mistakes can get you denied entry at the border.

Recent Travel Cases to Learn from

Early 2025 U.S. border security cases – like Rebecca Burke and the two German travelers who were detained and deported at the U.S. border – show how easy it is to make a travel mistake that gets you banned from entering the country.

I’m breaking down the most common travel mistakes  travelers, have made that got them flagged, detained, and worse when entering the U. S. But honestly, these mistake can get you in trouble in many countries. I’m going to explain exactly what went wrong, what you need to know and the five mistakes to avoid so this never happens to you!

Read Should you get a global entry pass?

On March 18, 2025, two German backpackers – just 18 and 19 years old – arrived in Honolulu, planning a five-week adventure. Instead, they were denied entry, detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, held overnight in a federal facility (the Honolulu Federal Detention Center aka FDC Honolulu), strip-searched, and deported the next day.

The reason: U.S. officials thought they were planning to work illegally, even though they came in under the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.  Their flexible travel plans, few accommodation bookings, and mention of freelance work raised red flags.

When this story broke, it felt both shocking and personal because it happened in Hawaii – my home state – known for its aloha spirit. So I wanted to know what went so wrong to cause something this extreme. Initially, I shared my first thoughts on my GRRRLTRAVELER Facebook page, but as I looked deeper, I realized this could happen to many travelers – digital nomads, long-term backpackers, content creators and even regular short-term tourists – without them even knowing it.

5 Travel & Visa Mistakes That Get You Denied Entry & Deported

You might be making one of these five mistakes that could blindside you at immigration. Watch out for number 4 as it’s the biggest one to avoid.

1. A wrong visa for your activities

Let’s start with the case of volunteering abroad being considered “work”. UK backpacker Rebecca Burke, age 28 was detained at the Canadian/U.S. border on February 26 and held for 19 days. She had a tourist visa and was part of a Workaway program, staying with locals in exchange for light chores.

Workaway promotes itself as a cultural exchange, volunteering or house-sitting program. But here’s where it gets tricky-  when Burke entered Canada, she mentioned her Workaway experience. Canadian officials decided her activities counted as “work,” and she didn’t have a work visa. So they sent her back to the U.S., where she had been doing the same thing for weeks/months under a tourist visa. This denial from Canada raised a red flag for U.S. border agents.

In some countries, even unpaid work, like doing chores in exchange for a free stay, can legally count as “work” because immigration sees it as an exchange of equal value.

Burke had done this before under a tourist visa. Maybe those countries didn’t ask her questions, or they saw her activities as tourism. But this time, she entered two countries with stricter definitions of what counts as work—and she got flagged.

Most countries see vacationing and working as two totally different things. If you’re working, they might think you’re taking jobs from locals, planning to stay longer than allowed, or avoiding taxes. That breaks the rules of a tourist visa.

Workaway didn’t say what type of visa Burke needed. But it depends on the country and what you plan to do. It’s up to you, the traveler, to research and apply for the right visa.

For example, in Germany, even “volunteering” can count as real work. So you can’t do it on a tourist visa.

If you accidentally fall into the wrong visa category, even without meaning to, you could get into serious trouble. It’s worthwhile to understand the different visa categories of any country you’re entering.

When I took my yoga teacher program in India, I was told by my program to never say I was a “student” because it pertains to those who are coming to the country strictly for college or university study and it requires lengthy paperwork and an institutional approval. A student visa was not a tourist-recreational type of study.

Some travel content creators feel like they are “journalists” from their own blog, but that’s in some countries that’s requires a special work visa and can have political ramifications.

It puts well-meaning programs like house-sitting, pet-sitting and Wwoofing – stuff many budget travelers see as cultural exchange – into a gray area that requires real visa research.

2. Lacking itinerary documentation & proof of onward travel

Not having a full trip itinerary or proof of accommodation isn’t technically a visa violation, but it can make immigration officers suspicious.

In the German girls’ case, they told a German magazine: “We arrived in Honolulu from New Zealand, planning to explore the islands, then fly to the mainland. We’d only booked two nights in an Airbnb so we could stay flexible, like we did in New Zealand. We had an onward ticket to Asia but no U.S. flights booked yet.”

They had valid ESTA approvals under the Visa Waiver Program. But when CBP Hawaii immigration officers pulled them aside, those “flexible plans” raised a red flag. They were planning to stay five weeks in the U.S. but only booked the first two nights.  But Hawaii is expensive, especially for places to stay you’re looking at $300-$400/avg and they were traveling during peak season. How were they going to afford five weeks?

Secondly, they did not have proof of where they were going after the U.S.

Onward proof of travel means showing a flight or booking that proves you’ll leave the country before your visa ends. It shows immigration that you won’t overstay.

The girls only had a ticket leaving Asia, not leaving the U.S. or going back to Germany. This was because once in Hawaii, they were likely going to wait-and-see where they wanted to travel to next. They were going to improvise their travels. Unfortunately, immigration doesn’t care if you like being spontaneous. They want to see that you’re a real tourist. You want to have proof that you are here as a tourist and will be leaving at a definite date. They want to see: hotel bookings and bookings for onward travel to your next destination.

3. Improvising your travel plans at the border

Hope and improvising at the border or on your visa application is not a strategy. When you’re backpacking, you get used to traveling without a plan. Sometimes you want to decide your next move once you land at your destination.

But immigration and visas are something you want to be intentional and planned in.

You’re dealing with another country’s government and it’s black and white rules.  You could be denied entry, banned from the country for five years, or deported.

The German backpacker girls later admitted they thought about booking dummy tickets or printing travel plans, but decided not to. One of the girls wrote in a post:

“They wanted to send us back to Auckland on the next flight, but we asked to rebook our tickets for the next day so we could continue our travels. They agreed but said we’d be detained overnight. We thought we’d just wait in the same room where they interviewed us… but no.” (receipts in YouTube video)

But of you’re denied entry, you’re usually sent back on the next flight to the country you came from. That’s why airlines check your visa before you board- they’re actually responsible for you.

Everything could’ve been avoided if the girls had just gotten on the flight back to Auckland. But instead, they asked to go to Japan. Since the next flight wasn’t until the next day, they had to stay overnight in federal custody.

The nearest holding facility that met federal standards was a federal prison. That’s why they were strip-searched and held overnight – it’s standard for anyone going into the prison system.

This is where people misunderstand: strip searches and prison stays are not an automatic punishment for being denied entry – they’re part of the federal holding and detainment process.

Could this happen to you or me? Yes. I’ve done long backpacking trips with open-ended plans just like them. But immigration doesn’t care about spontaneity. They care about documents and whether you plan to work or overstay.

4. Admitting to remote work or freelancing without a work visa 

During questioning, the girls admitted they sometimes did freelance gigs, for clients in Germany and Asia. That admission sealed their fate. Officers found emails referencing that work and saw it as a sign they planned to work while in the U.S.

 Immigration doesn’t just care where your clients are located. They care where you are physically when you’re working. So even if you’re working for a company in another country, if you’re doing it from inside the U.S. on a tourist visa, that’s a violation. You could be breaking immigration law and not even realize it.

So working from your laptop in a café abroad as you travel country to country can break visa rules if you’re on a tourist visa. Creators and nomads are proudly shouting their lifestyle online, without realizing it might be violating immigration law.

Old work visas needed local sponsorship—new online businesses don’t fit that model.

That’s why countries like Bali, Thailand, and Taiwan are rolling out digital nomad visas that say:
“It’s okay, work online here legally.”

That’s why some countries more countries like Thailand and Bali, Taiwan are now offer “digital nomad visas”—special visas that say, “It’s okay, you can do freelance work online from here legally.”

 Check out how to be a digital nomad where I link to digital nomad visa sites.

5. Oversharing at immigration

Aside from mentioning their freelance work, I don’t feel the girls made the mistake of oversharing. But this is a big one I see travelers making nonetheless- going into Immigration unprepared and talking too much.

A huge travel mistake is treating immigration like a casual chat with friendly staff. Most travelers don’t prepare for this part of their trip, don’t know what to expect, and end up oversharing out of nervousness or a false sense of honesty.

Immigration officers aren’t your friends—they’re trained to spot anything that doesn’t fit their “tourist” profile. If you give too much info, you hand them reasons to dig deeper.

The German backpackers weren’t prepared. When asked about work, they talked about past freelance gigs and their flexible travel style. They thought being honest would help. Instead, they gave CBP Hawaii the details needed to flag them and get denied entry.

How to get through immigration smoothly

• At any border, be prepared with ideas of what they’ll be asking and keep your answers short, truthful, and only what’s asked.
• Don’t volunteer extra details unless you’re 100% sure they align with your visa type and won’t be misinterpreted.
• Lack of preparation + oversharing = a big red flag at immigration.
• Questions like “What do you do for work?” aren’t casual icebreakers. Immigration isn’t asking because they’re curious—they’re assessing risk. Even innocent answers can open up your phone, emails, or apps to further inspection.. If your visa doesn’t align perfectly with your situation, even harmless details can trigger phone searches or deeper questioning.
• U.S. border agents can search your phone, ask for your passwords, or review your social accounts. If they find something they interpret as “you’re planning to work,” or you have anti-government sentiments,.. you could be deported even if you had no bad intentions. Citizens don’t need to comply and must be allowed entry,  but failure to comply may keep you held up and detained for hours with your electronics eventually confiscated.

Keep in mind, U.S. Travelers, green card holders, dual citizens and creators , have being interrogated and some are encountering more invasive questioning as much as  online income, their political beliefs and family citizenship status when returning into the U.S.  

That’s why some travelers  go as far as getting burner phones, deleting business chats and cleaning social media before crossing borders.

Want to know how to protect your digital privacy while traveling? Watch my video linked in the description.

Conclusion

Immigration is not about good intentions, it’s about protocols. So take your travels seriously. Know what to say, know what you need and don’t assume your travel style makes sense to immigration.

Have you ever had a scary travel mistake that almost got you deported or denied entry?
And if this post and video helped you, share it with a friend who’s planning a trip.