Hi all,
Weāve got a HomeExchange organised in September to the US but we canāt deny that weāre a little nervous as weāre hearing stories of tourists being detained and deported because they donāt have a hotel reservation.
Obviously we would print and carry with us the confirmation of our HomeExchange reservation, but I was just wondering if anyone else is in the same situation / or feeling as nervous as we are?
Thanks
Welcome to the Forum 
I can understand your concern. We have recently received reports that some HomeExchange members are encountering additional questions when entering the U.S. during their travels.
From the information weāve gathered, it appears that a misunderstanding has occurred in some cases, where home swapping is mistakenly interpreted as an āexchange of value.ā This confusion seems to be due to an inconsistent interpretation of the rules by certain immigration officers, rather than any official U.S. policy.
While this concerns just isolated instances and the vast majority of HomeExchange travellers enter the U.S. without any issues, if youāre planning a trip to the U.S., here are a few tips:
Be clear about your trip: you are a tourist on vacation, with a touristic visa.
Avoid terms like exchange of value or commercial transaction
āthey could cause confusion and do not apply for exchanges since there is no financial transaction.
Weāre working to clarify the legal status of home exchange with the appropriate U.S. authorities. In the meantime, we encourage you to share your experiences so we can track any inconsistencies.
Home exchanging is about trust, hospitality, and cultural discovery. Weāll continue advocating for our members and making sure you can travel with confidence.
Iām travelling in September to NYC, Iām not worried. Last year I also went to NYC with HE, I just told the immigration officer the address where I would be staying in.
In case of doubt, you can always show them an invitation letter from your host family.
I would not use the word " reservation", that sounds too much airbnb style 
The other thing to keep in mind is to stay away from terms that might be considered work like pet sitting. You are visiting, vacationing etc. It has always been the case that āworkā is not allowed but customs was more forgiving of what you said and how they interpreted it. Now they are pushing in the other direction to when in doubt.
I am traveling to Denver from Spain in July and I am a bit worried about this issueā¦
I hope I donāt have any problems, Iāll let you know shortly. So better not to talk about Home Exchange, but visiting some friends or something like that?
Maybe it would be nice if Home Exchange would prepare an automatically generated document with a summary of the exchange for these cases, if it is for a purely bureaucratic issue.
Yes it is possible to ask for this - you just need to contact member services
Hi Melissa, Do you have an update on this as itās now Jan 2026? Will US border officials accept a home exchange? What about if there are pets involved? What documentation do you recommend? We are getting closer to finalising a 2 month exchange later this year? We are experienced exchangers from Australia but this would be the our first US exchange. Has the site any clarification from the US authorities that home exchanging is viewed different than house sitting, and therefore not categorised as work, and thus entry is permitted? Best regards and thank you in advance.
Welcome to the Forum! Also congratulations on planning this exciting trip. I have checked with the team and we have no updates or further advice on US border entry. The comment above (from last April) still stands and I encourage you to read this. Most importantly 
Be clear about your trip: you are a tourist on vacation, with a touristic visa. I have not heard of any recent cases where HomeExchanges members have had any difficulty visiting the US.
Thank you for your reply Melissa. I appreciate it. Thatās good that you have not heard of any recent difficulties. Is the site āworking to clarify the legal status of home exchange with the appropriate U.S. authoritiesā as mentioned in your April comment? That would be most helpful in giving peace of mind.
You donāt need to mention pets or pet sitting. Its not relevant. You are a tourist. Anything that can confuse things will.