Khymberlee
Hello Matsaleh!I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about the VOA?I am planning to come to Bali in October and it will be my first overseas trip....therefore my Passport is pretty new...just received it...first one! With that said...would l qualify to receive a VOA? I thought I heard that one of the qualifications of obtaining a VOA is that a person had to have a passport for a certain length of time. Also...would I also have to have my return ticket to show? I wasn't planning on getting a return flight before leaving because I may decide to fly to France from there instead of returning to Los Angeles.Thank you in advance to anyone that can help me with this question!
davita
If you have a USA passport you are eligible to get a VOA...it lasts 30 days and now costs US$35. It can be renewed for another 30 days for another US$35. The passport criteria you mention is there needs to be a minimum of 6 months validity left.I'd suggest you apply to the Indonesian Embassy/Consul nearest where you live for a 60 day tourist visa, the cost will be on the USA Indonesian Embassy website...probably around $60-70...then you don't have the hassle of getting an extension nor facing the line-up on arrival in Bali.Both (sometimes) need to show a ticket out of Indonesia (not necessarily a return to your homeland) but most people just show their credit card and say "I didn't yet buy the ticket to ? but I have the means" or something to that effect....they wont bar you for that.If worried.....or the Embassy/Consul in USA requires one when you apply the tourist visa....buy a ticket from RI to anywhere, so long as it can be refunded...then cancel and refund later.Good luck and ask any questions...not all here are juveniles. Oh! I forgot....welcome to the forum.
matsaleh
Hello Matsaleh!I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about the VOA?I am planning to come to Bali in October and it will be my first overseas trip....therefore my Passport is pretty new...just received it...first one! With that said...would l qualify to receive a VOA? I thought I heard that one of the qualifications of obtaining a VOA is that a person had to have a passport for a certain length of time. Also...would I also have to have my return ticket to show? I wasn't planning on getting a return flight before leaving because I may decide to fly to France from there instead of returning to Los Angeles.Thank you in advance to anyone that can help me with this question![/QUOTE]If you have a passport from any of the 63 countries listed in the page below, you can obtain VOA.[URL="http://www.holidaycity.com/indonesiahotels/policy.html"]Indonesia's Visa On Arrival Policy[/URL]It doesn't matter if your passport is new, but it must have at least 6 months validity from the date of your arrival. I have never heard of immigration asking for an exit/return ticket on VOA, but they are entitled to ask. You may, however, have trouble leaving your own country without one. Many airlines insist on seeing an exit ticket before they will let you board. This does happen ex Australia but I don't know if it's the case in the US.
Smoke
Cathy Pacific Airlines will NOT let you board unless you show a valid exit ticket .They are a major carrier from USA locations
sherm
I arrived about 11 days ago with tourist visa in hand avoiding the voa line. If your flying from LAX you'll probably arrive in Bali around 3pm. It still took me about two hours to clear immigration, then about 30 minutes on to collect bags and then customs.
balibule
Matsaleh, the link you added still shows the 7 day visa. I thought they stopped that ages ago? It also says that the visa isn't extendable. Is that for those countries that don't need a visa, like Singapore?Different websites - different rules it seems. [URL="http://www.balistoreluggage.com/blog/indonesian-visa-on-arrival-regulations/"]Indonesian Visa On Arrival Regulations[/URL]Khymberlee, are you in Bali yet ;-)
matsaleh
The 7 day visa on arrival only applies for Special Economic Zones, i.e. Batam, Bintan & Karimun. It does not apply for arrivals to Bali or Lombok. I've heard on the grapevine that the reason it was scrapped in Bali is because some immigration officers were issuing 7 day visas but recording 30 day visas sold and pocketing the difference.The 30 day VOA is extendable for another 30 days only. That's only fairly recent, though. Previously it could not be extended.
Traveling Sailor
I have a US passport but will be flying to Bali from Koh Samui, or Bangkok, Thailand. Will I be able to get a VOA?
Markit
Yup, welcome.
Nydave
Im not sure about the VOA,I travel each year from Ny to either Bali or Surabaya on a Sosbud I believe its called,i get the Visa in Ny and it requires that I show my travel itinery in order to get it,just a copy of the the Eticket that I but online,I also have a question here,i read recently that many more countrys have become eligible to the new free visa on arrival,and Usa is one of those countrys,from what I read this 30 day visa in not extendable,but I could be wrong,
davita
Starting 1 July the following get free VOA at most airports and some seaports in RI...Current visa free countries:Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Chile, Hong Kong, Macao, Morocco, Peru, and Turkey.The 30 new countries whose citizens no longer have to pay the $35 fee include:China, Japan, South Korea, United States, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and South Africa.However the VOA is no longer extendable.Also...it is notable that Australia is excluded so they still pay US$35 and presumably get extensions...but nobody has yet said how they are going to manage that. NYdave has indicated that he gets a 60 day (extendable to 6 months) Sosbud, but it should be noted that will require a sponsor letter from an Indonesian. The alternative is to get a 60 day Tourist Visa from the RI Embassy/Consul nearest to the travellers home...it is not supposed to be extendable but I know many who have achieved that in Bali as the No. is the same as a Sosbud and, imo, creates confusion at immigration.
Nydave
Absolutely right Davita,I forgot to mention that it requires a sponsor letter,it should also be noted that this type of visa is sorts restrictive,it works fine for me but if you are a person that intends to travel around the country then it can become a problem,the first 60 days are fine but once you start doing the extensions which have to be done every month,you can only do this at the original immigration office,so lets say my sponsor is in Surabaya I have to get all my extensions in Surabaya,i questioned this only a couple of months ago while doing one of my extensions,and the lady told me its not possible to extend it in any other immigration office,the reason being that the sponsor is from Surabaya and the sponsor is responsible for my being in the country,whereas a voa can be extended anywhere in the country because there is no sponsor involved,to this being said if you intend to do a lot of travelling while using a Sosbud it requires a lot of planning,to make sure you are back in the original place to extend each month and also note that the extension process takes a week,so in reality you are confined to say Surabaya for one week per month unless you want to travel without your passport,something I wouldn't advise,
Nydave
Something else I would like to add here,my last Sosbud visa now has the name of my sponsor typed on the visa itself,this is something different from all my previous visas,also something many people don't realize it you are required to report to the local police station within 24 hours of your arrival,you pay I think $25 and you will receive a letter from them that you must carry with you at all times,and again this letter must be renewed each month,sometimes you will meet an officer who will offer to provide you with a letter covering the full duration of your stay in the country of course at a fee but honestly its worth it,not having to go back there every month because again getting this letter usually entails 2 visits to the office,not having this letter is not a problem for the visitor however it has penaltys for the sponsor,one year we forgot about doing this and only went to the station 4 days after my arrival and had to pay a hefty bribe to make things right,but that's how things work here so no big deal,Once again thanks Davita for picking up on me not stating about the sponsor letter,
davita
Once again thanks Davita for picking up on me not stating about the sponsor letter,[/QUOTE]Well Nydave I'm going to have to pickup on you again as your above information is 'oot-o-date'.The following law and enactment replaced that requirement....Following up the enactment of Law No. 6/2011 on Immigration, the Indonesian Head of Police released his Order Letter No. SPRIN/2471/XII/2013 dated 23 Desember 2013 on the Elimination of SKLD or Report Letter for Foreigner. This order effective since 1 January 2014. Last service of the mentioned document was closed on 27 December 2013.
Markit
Might I suggest the services of our handy Immigration Officer/Agent? She keeps the passport for the 4 months necessary for the extensions and with the payment of the "normal" agents fees makes sure that the visas are placed accordingly in the passport with nary a visit to Immi necessary (except the first for photos and fingers). Charges are IDR600k per extension. Sounds simpler but I do understand you aren't in Bali but I'm sure there must a similar arrangement possible there?
Nydave
Interesting,because for my most recent visit which was December of 2014 until May of this year i went each month to the police station in Surabaya and they issued the letter each time,but it seems to not matter too much to them because it sometimes takes them as long as 2 weeks to process it, the fact that it has been done away with hasn`t reached Surabaya yet,
davita
Interesting,because for my most recent visit which was December of 2014 until May of this year i went each month to the police station in Surabaya and they issued the letter each time,but it seems to not matter too much to them because it sometimes takes them as long as 2 weeks to process it, the fact that it has been done away with hasn`t reached Surabaya yet,[/QUOTE]Welcome to Indonesia.
Normy
re travelling in Indonesia without passport, our passports were at immigrassi for extension when needing to travel to Lombk. Airlines at checkin accepted photo copies of passports, also had to show them again with boarding pass when boarding. Hotel in Mataram did not do any paperwork on arrival.
Nydave
its good you didn't have any problems travelling while your passport was with immigration,its just something I wouldn't feel comfortable with doing,like what if something happened to you say in Lombok or whatever,and say you needed to leave Indo immediately,as for being asked for my passport by airlines while travelling here to be honest I cant remember if I was ever asked,but we have used trains a couple of times here in Java and I always have to show my passport before boarding in Surabaya but on the return trips never asked about it,i seems like everything else here,nothing is uniform,each place regardless of what dept we are dealing with seem to make their own regulations,hotels well my wife does all the bookings so they never ask for it either,Question,,,when I used to do my visa extensions in Bali a couple of years ago ,the process used to take 3 visits to the office,has that changed or is it still 3 visits,in Surabya 2 yrs ago it was 3 visits also and sometimes even involved having to take paperwork from one office to another office some miles away wait to have them signed it then take them back to first office,but now they have changed everything,seems they have everything and everyone under one roof at the main office and the process now only takes 2 visits,
