The Indonesian Government has issued a new visa regulation one month ago, which could lead to some misinterpretations and consequent problems to tourist travelling to Indonesia.
Citizens of 15 countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Morocco, Myanmar, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) who wish to enter Indonesia for the purpose of governmental duties, education, socio-culture, tourism, business, journalistic or transit can do so without visa through all air, sea or land crossing points since several years ago.
For nationals of 30 more countries (Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirate and the United States) visa requirements were waived as stipulated by the Presidential Decree No. 69/2015 and they are eligible to enter and remain in Indonesia without a visa for 30 days.
However, nationals of those 30 countries can enter Indonesia without a visa for tourism purposes only, cannot extend and must enter and depart through the following port of entries:
Airports
Hang Nadim Airport
Juanda International Airport
Kualanamu International Airport
Ngurah Rai International Airport
Soekarno–Hatta International Airport
Seaports
Batam Center (Batam)
Sekupang (Batam)
Sri Bintan Pura (Tanjung Pinang)
Tanjung Uban
This means that if a country is not listed above or if the entry point is different from the ones listed above the tourist still need to pay a Visa On Arrival (VOA, USD 35 for 30 days stay).
Also it is very important to note that tourists will get a free visa to entry and exit from one of those entry points.
The immigration offices at the “non listed” airports are not allowing foreigners with a free visa to board on international flights and they could ask them to buy a new ticket which includes one of the 5 “free visa” international airport.
As today, it looks like it is not possible to buy a normal VOA when exiting the country at the “non listed” airports, because a “free visa” has already been granted and stamped on the passport.
This could lead to several problems:
– Being forced to reroute the international ticket, means look for the available seats and buy a new ticket at tourists’ expenses even though they are traveling with a valid ticket;
– Especially in high season to find seats available on international flights is either impossible or outrageously expensive.
Therefore until further notice, if you are planning to leave the country at one of the non-listed entry points, Eco Divers strongly recommends you to buy a VOA at USD 35 to avoid more expensive situations.
Eco Divers Team
