At long last Indonesia improves its often criticised visa on arrival system.
At long last (and almost three years after VP Jusuf Kalla first announced it), it seems that Indonesia’s Immigration Department has listened to the complaints of international tourists regarding the visa on arrival scheme.
Many complaints centred on its short duration (maximum 30 days) – which made travel to more remote parts of the archipelago virtually impossible. Some tourists also suggested very long queues at airports to buy them was not exactly the most positive or welcoming first impression of Indonesia, particularly after a long flight.
Typically Long Queues At An Indonesian Airport’s Immigration Counter
Improvement #1: Visas On Arrival Up To 60 Days
As reported in The Jakarta Post, starting 26 January 2010 tourists can now have their $US25 30-day tourist visas extended by another 30 days.
However, the details are not yet forthcoming from the Department of Immigration about where/how this could be done, nor how much it would cost. It suggests tourists – like their expat brethren – may need to use an immigration agent/fixer/broker to make it happen in a reasonable period of time.
Vale or Good Riddance?
The $10 7-day visa on arrival
It was also announced that the $US10 7-day visa would no longer be offered.
Improvement #2: Save Time, Buy Your Visa On The Plane
The same newspaper has also reported that Indonesia’s national airline Garuda Indonesia also recently introduced a new visa service at Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. It allows visitors to avoid long queues at the airport’s visa counters and buy their visas on arrival before they arrive, i.e. before they board the plane.
The much shorter Visa On Arrival queue at Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan
It is not known whether this service will also be rolled out to airports in the 63 other countries eligible for VOAs, or to other airlines flying to Indonesia.
Indonesia’s Tourism Minister Jero Wacik,
happier before he visited Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali
However, as Tourism Minister Mr Jero Wacik recently discovered on an impromptu visit to the international terminal at Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport, it would probably be a good idea.
What I wonder is:
UPDATE: July 2011
Garuda is now advertising its expedited immigration procedures – called “Immigration on Board” – here. You could call it instead “visa before arrival”, as that is a better description of what happens: tourists pay for their visa on arrival before they board the flight, then get the visa placed in their passport on the plane. They can then bypass the visa on arrival queue and head straight to the long immigration queue.
new visa 26 january 2010
it is possible visa on arrival to airport bali for 60 days?
While I enjoyed my stay in Indonesia, especially a fabulous week in Bintan resorts, I hated the inevitable queue for visa.
I’m holding the Jordanian citizenship and currently studying in Malaysia, i’ve been to Indonesia 3 times (twice to Bali and once to Surabaya), i need to apply for a visa in advance at the indonesian embassy here in Malaysia, however they always give me a 7 days visa (the fees is nearly 55 USD).
I asked for longer than 7 days and they refused to give me, thought i share this here with everyone, because i couldn’t find another place to share it 🙂
cheers.
moda,
just slowly peel out the old used visas from your passport………and ta-da!!!!!!!!!!!! a whole new blank page…………….try it. it works………..just peel it out. both indo and china visas can be peeled off after use.
I m Afghan citizen , I’m living in United Kingdom as a student and I have valid UK student visa , I want to go Indonesia for tour of 2 weeks in March 2011 so do I need to apply for visa or I will get the visa on arrival to Indonesia from airport ?
Does anybody know if Papua New Guinea passport holder can get a Free Visa or Visa on Arrival in Sukarno Hatta or Ngurah Rai Airport?
How about Aussie Pasport holder?
is there a chance in Hell, that I could have my visa extended for just One extra day?
I didn’t think so, but why the hell not?
There was a time, not long after the bali bombing indonesia got one of the worst ministers ever: Yusril ihza mahendra. In his fanatic I-moslim-king mood he decided that the free visa policy needed to go. Worlds rich holidayspenders got in chock and decided to go elsewhere. Until now.
What did Indonesia learn and do? Well Indonesia bangga, keras kepala and jam karet didn’t work out fine.
If I wouldn’t have bonds with some friend In indonesia I wouln’t go too untill the hole new visa policy would have been revoked. I am dutch, we are not dependable of tourism. Indonesia however is, but only they seem to like to repel the good spending tourist al all costs, still.
Pity
My wife and daughter (ASEAN Citizens) were leaving after a visit of 26 days and the officer at Polonia (Medan) charged them IDR800,000 for ‘overstaying’ when we believed they could stay 30 days. They had stayed only 24 days.
No proper receipt given, only a piece of scrap paper with a signature.
Was this real or a scam?
TG.
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The 7 day visa for 10 bucks is handy – I’ll be disappointed to see it go. Even though companies reimburse things like visa costs, I imagine that a lot of business visits to the Big Durian are shorter than a week. Also, every visit uses up a whole page of the passport, which is wasteful compared to the discreet visa stamps used in places like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines etc
The queue at Denpasar is one of the most appalling experiences for any tourist or business arrival. The building is a bit shabby and the work stations seem to be understaffed, as noted, but if you can get through visa processing in less than 45 minutes, you’re doing well. If a couple of wide bodies arrive at the same time, it could be over an hour.
Regarding the ‘Visa on arrival before you arrive’ process used in Japan – surely expanding this to all airports with direct flights into Indonesia would be impractical. There’s no way this would recoup the costs of stationing immigration services overseas, or even if it was contracted out to airlines.
Doesn’t anyone do cost-benefit analyses these days? Surely there’s enough data around to make decisions based on evidence and experience. Or does it actually have to wait until a Minister walks through the terminal?