FYI: Indonesian Consulate in Penang appears to have started a quota system for the 60-day tourist visa.

I recently went to the Indonesian consulate in Penang, Malaysia to apply for a 60-day tourist visa. However, when I brought my paperwork to the window, the clerk there told me that they had no more visas available. She said that as of August 1, 2017, they had instituted a quota system.

I could not get more details than that, but I'm assuming it is a monthly quota. It appears that they will have only a certain number of 60-day visas each month, and when they run out, you won't be able to get one.

They are still accepting applications for the 60-day social visa as usual, but that requires a signed and stamped letter from a sponsor in Indonesia plus a copy of their ID.

I could be wrong about all this. It was difficult to understand what they were telling me. However, things do seem to have changed. I have gotten 60-day visas from this consulate in the past without any trouble at all. But this new quota system changes that. It seems like now there is no way to know for sure if you'll be able to get a visa. You just have to show up and see if they have reached their quota limit for that month or not.

Several other foreigners were at the consulate at the same time I was, and they were all turned away as well.

I didn't know about this. :o
But thank you so much for the information

That's an interesting comment about 60 day visa quotas.
We had the same issue in Kuala Lumpur......a few years ago now.
Had to have all the paperwork etc ready and paid for 60 day visa, but after waiting ALL DAY (a full 8hrs), we and all the other foreigners who were all applying for 60 days visas were told "sorry only 30 days!!!!"
We had all arrived at opening time and we all sat in the waiting room until after 5pm and then were called one-by-one to the window to be told a 60 day visa not available. Of course this played havoc with airline bookings which all needed to be changed to fit the new deadline. In hindsight it would have been better to just return to Indo and pay for a VOA for 30 days and then have this extended........Oh well, we still come back year after year.
So maybe the quota thing is not so new!!!!

What happened to you sounds awful. At least I found out within minutes. I didn't have to wait all day. They just waved away my documents and told me it was impossible right from the start.

As far as I know, you're right, the quota system is not new at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. In fact, I think it's a total ban there. In my experience, they don't issue any 60-day tourist visas at all in Kuala Lumpur (only the social visas with a sponsor). I've met lots of people who have tried to get a tourist visa there, and they've all been turned away. They don't seem to accept any applications at all.

That's why everyone was going to the Indonesian consulate in Penang. They were still issuing 60-day tourist visas, and other than requiring the standard documents (like a flight out of Indonesia or proof of sufficient funds), they seemed very easygoing about it. The consulate in Penang developed the reputation as THE place to go for the 60-day tourist visa. I got a 60-day tourist visa there myself just last year without any problem. So it was a real surprise to be turned away, not just for me but everyone applying that day.

This new quota system is unfortunate, but at least they are still issuing SOME 60-day tourist visas. It's not a total ban yet as it is in Kuala Lumpur. It would be interesting to hear just how many visas are available each month or each week. And it would be useful to know when a new quota kicks in so you can time your visit there to actually get one of the limited visas. But I wasn't able to get that information.

Interesting to hear that there's apparently now a total ban on 60-day visas in KL. It has long been a slightly sketchy option. I got a number of 60-day visas there over the years in spite of various reports of others having difficulties, but then one day ran into the "only 30 days available" issue, so hopped on a bus to Singapore and got one through an agent there. I don't think it was ever a "quota"; more just a case of some occult rationale - or maybe mercurial mood swings - somewhere in the back office.

For what it's worth, I recently got a sixty-day visa with minimal fuss in a day in London...

Interesting to hear that there's apparently now a total ban on 60-day visas in KL. It has long been a slightly sketchy option.

Well, I may have over-stated things by saying that there is a total ban on 60-day tourist visas at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. I never went there myself to apply, so I don't know that for a fact to be true. But I did spend a lot of time in Kuala Lumpur on several occasions over the past couple of years, and everyone I met that went to the embassy was turned away. And they all returned with the story that this embassy simply didn't issue tourist visas at all. Maybe some people managed to get them, but I never met anyone that did.

They were all told to just get the 30-day Visa on Arrival or to get a sponsor for the 60-day social visa. Those were the only options other than going up to Penang and applying there. But now the window on 60-day tourist visas seems to be closing in Penang as well.

Sorry to add to the confusion, but I received a 60-day visa in KL (at the end of December, 2016). In Darwin (Australia), I was told I could get one, though I didn't complete the application process there. In Singapore, I was told I could get one, but I didn't apply there. And just last week, I was told by an immigration officer in Jayapura (within Indonesia) that their mission in Vanimo (Papua New Guinea) "can" issue 60-day tourist visas.
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Does anybody have actual current experience with obtaining visas in Vanimo? A quick reply will be appreciated. Thanks.

Sorry to add to the confusion, but I received a 60-day visa in KL (at the end of December, 2016).
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That's interesting. Thanks for letting us know. I wish I'd run into you in KL and heard your story. Then I'd at least have tried there. But heading up to Penang was enjoyable in and of itself. If the worst thing that happens is an unnecessary trip to Penang, life is still pretty good. :)

I'm assuming the 60-day visa you got in KL was a regular tourist visa and not the social visa. Is that right?

Ah-ha... So it sounds as if maybe the situation in KL is the same as it ever was - namely cranky! I always used to consider it a good option as they'd typically issue the visa in a single day if you got in early, unlike Singapore where you could only reliably get a one-day return if you used an agent (good old Hana Express) and paid their fee.

It's worth noting that even when they were refusing to issue sixty-day visas they were still issuing tourist visas for thirty days, if you wanted one. This may still be the case. (The thirty-day visa was still extendable, up to four times, which made it better than a - at that time - unextendable VOA.) of course, back in the really good old days they just gave you a free sixty-day stamp on arrival...

Yes, it was a regular tourist visa, not a social visa, and I posted about receiving it previously (back in May, I think it was).

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Is there a thread dedicated to obtaining Indonesian visas, such as "Visas for China" for Chinese visas? If not (and apologies, TT, if it's there and I've missed it!), given the various permutations as to types of visas, where they're available and where they can be used, who's eligible for which type, and the peculiarities of obtaining those visas in different consulates/at different border posts, maybe it would be useful for TT to start one.

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