Any advantage to getting visa in advance instead of on arrival?
Replies: 11 - Last Post: Aug 24, 2012 6:24 PM Last Post By: Julie_L
jump to
Any advantage to getting visa in advance instead of on arrival?
For a solo US traveler only going to Indonesia for a couple weeks, is there any advantage to getting a visa in advance rather than on arrival? Am near embassy, so could get one easily, but is it worthwhile? Thanks.1
The only advantage is if you plan to stay for more than 30 days - and especially if you plan to stay for more than 60 days.Otherwise, no: there is very little advantage.
With an advance visa you will move slightly more swiftly through immigration, but that obviously doesn't come anywhere near close to outweighing the time you'd spend organising the thing in advance.
2
....for a 30 visa I would just go for the VOA.Get off the plane as soon as possible and get to the VOA office before anyone else. Fill out the application for the VOA, pay your US dollars and get into the queue for immigration checks as quickly as as possible - have your outward bound flight ticket handy just in case they want to see it before issuing the VOA.
Much easier than doing two journeys to the embassy. No matter how local it is to where you are, it's going to take you longer than the maximum 5 minutes it takes for the VOA.
Have a great trip.
Edited by: dc1
5
At Sydney airport after i checked in with Garuda airways, i walked over to the next counter, and got my 30 day visa in less than 2 minutes. $22Au ($25 US)Than Garuda had on inflight imagration checks, once completed they give you a card and you walk straight through the airport on arrivial and give the card to the imagration officer, No passport checks,
than go get your luggage and off you go.
This is because of Airport upgrades,that are happening and to reduce the line up times, but can still be done at the airport as mention.
Don't forget you need 150 000 Rupiah for departure tax.
6
OP - with regard to the 150,000 departure tax; this amount depends on which airport you leave from for international departure.Bali is 150,000..... Medan 75,000, other airports I don't know the amount....... it depends on the actual airport... no doubt #5 is leaving from Bali (to Australia).
Edited by: dc1
8
You can pay the VOA fee in most major currencies these days, including AUD and indeed rupiah - but they work out some very dodgy exchange rates, and give you the change in rupiah at a terrible rate. If you happen to have US$25 knocking around, or if you can get commission-free currency from you local bank or post office, it's sort of worth doing...9
http://smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Indonesia#7 - looking at paragraph 3, it would appear that this process is offered by certain airlines between Australia and Jakarta.
There is also a note saying international departure cost is 150k - but it's an Oz website so I guess all airports that cater for airlines that fly to Australia are all 150k departure tax. So dependant on how the US OP is leaving the country depends on the cost of the tax. Medan is definately only 75,000.
Payment in AUD - the VOA's that I get say 25 US Dollars.. the Australian website also states 25 US Dollars.... but who knows how they would calculate the exchange of AUD's with US Dollars.
10
I don't think the OP is asking about flying from Sydney to Bali, but as it has been mentioned in terms of purchasing a VOA at Sydney airport, this is a service offered by Garuda only.It is called Immigration on Board (IoB). At the moment it is available on the Tokyo-Denpasar route, the Tokyo-Jakarta route, the Osaka-Denpasar route, the Amsterdam-Dubai-Jakarta route, the Sydney Jakarta route and the Seoul- Jakarta route.
In January it extended the service to Sydney - Denpasar and I believe Melbourne - Denpasar and Perth - Denpasar are not far away.
If you don't fly Garuda, this service is not available.
#OP, the disadvantage of getting a visa in advance compared to on arrival is about $35.
11
#7 - possibly, but only if you are flying Garuda.I got 2x VOAs this year and didn't see that there were any problems with it - it only takes about an extra 5 minutes as the others have said, because after getting your VOA you just join the ordinary immigration queue. Also, it's not difficult to extend your VOA to another 30 days, which I did in Yogyakarta.
