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How did you find your visa agent?
I thought it would be interesting to see how people find their visa agent here in Bali, if they use one at all.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat drinking beer all day.
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
Hi Spicy, here in the forum there is often talk about two different kinds of visa agents. The local ones, for visa extensions etc, and the ones in Singapore, where most people seem to go for their visa runs. Instead of having to read through a huge number of threads, maybe it's possible to have a sort of sticky with contact details for both? And when it comes to Singapore, maybe a couple of reasonably priced hotels/hostels as well. I see it just as a service to members, so maybe you can "stick" it there. A little bit like the "Visa Run" thingy in the Bali Advertiser, only better, of course :) Just an idea
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
Thanks, that is a good idea. I am currently planning on changing the forum software and one of the things I will be working on will be to create some information guides like the ones you suggested to make the forum more useful to people.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat drinking beer all day.
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
Somebody please correct me here if I'm wrong, or post an update if things have changed.
My understanding is that for certain classes of visas, there are only a couple of "accredited" (by the Indonesian government) visa agents in Bali who are allowed to issue them. All the other "visa agents" have to use them.
For example, for my retirement KITAS, which I initiated nearly five years ago with a government Immigration official, the "official" goes through an "approved visa agent". In other words, even Immigration staff have to do this because they don't have the power to do it themselves.
Maybe this only applies to main-frame visas (like versions of KITAS). I'm not sure about current SosBud, Business, etc.
:D
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
"""For example, for my retirement KITAS, which I initiated nearly five years ago with a government Immigration official, the "official" goes through an "approved visa agent". In other words, even Immigration staff have to do this because they don't have the power to do it themselves."""
Now you've got me confused... Are you thinking it's the visa-agents who issue Visa's??
And what 'power' does the imigrasi official not have, to do what themself?
A visa-agent/agency, does nothing more then getting all the paperwork in order..i.e. asking the customer for pics,proof of insurance etcetc..., then the agency brings the paperwork to the imigrasi, where everything is 'filed', send to Jakarta for approval (if necessary) etcetc... when the visa is approved, the imigrasi official contacts who ever brought the paperwork (this case the visa agent), agent picks it up then calls the customer that the visa is ready for pick-up...
my point...it's not the visa-agents/agency that issue a visa...they provide a service, so one doesn't have to stand in line themself at the kantor imigrasi, while trying to figure out (reading bahasa Indonesia forms) what one needs to provide for an application.
don't read between the lines..i think the words are clear enough...:)
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
Sorry, I'm very wrong and apologize profusely. What was I thinking?
The "approved visa agents", in retrospect, must mean those who are approved to be "sponsors", on paper. (I know my Indonesian wife could be my "sponsor" but I haven't gone down that route.)
After some 15 years of living in Indonesia, many of them mired in lack of accurate "official" information, I suppose I've been taking the line of least resistance. Maybe I'm turning "Indonesian" without fully realizing it. (I hope not.)
:oops:
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
Having said that, there is still a lot of inaccurate and out-of-date information, IMHO, on some bigger forums.
For example,
http://www.expat.or.id/info/retirement.html
Reading some of the "advice" there, if I believed it, would only add to my confusion.
:roll:
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
:) , no need for apoligizing JC...Maybe my post sounded a little harsh, but wasn't meant that way :oops: .
What I understand now, is you meant that the Imigrasi official couldn't act as a sponsor for someone...yeah, I can imagine if he/she would do that, some eyebrows will be raising in their office.
as for visa-agents/agency's acting as sponsor...I think they just 'use' relatives/friends for that..I never heard of an agent or agency acting as a sponsor themself.
Yup you're right, your indonesian wife can be your sponsor, either for a ikut istri Visum (Kitas) or for a sosbud visa.
will check that link you posted, read it, and then will give my reaction to it ok.
anyways JC, sorry again if I came across as an 'brengsek' (*sshole, for the non-indonesian speaking/reading people)
don't read between the lines..i think the words are clear enough...:)
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
:idea: now, I understand the sponsoring by a visa-agency :oops: ...in regards to a retirement visa (KITAS). a person 55 y.o. and up, indeed has to have a sponsor...that sponsor has to be a company/agency who applies for your retirement-visa.
they are somewhat responsible for you from then on...
somewhat same as when applying for a sosbud, then the sponsor is a person, who actually is liable/responsible for what ever you do.
about the stories posted on that link.... :lol: , funny....the first one did it himself and got the runaround, go here-go there-wait-come back-go there again, :lol: ...
and the second one is actually "working for/helping" this visaservice, although he signed a statement not to work in Indonesia 8) .
don't read between the lines..i think the words are clear enough...:)
Re: How did you find your visa agent?
Answering the original question - I think it was through reading this forum that I decided to go to Bali IDE. Have been using them for over 3 years now and am happy - even though I don't really understand why they have withdrawn their sponsorship of this forum.
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