New visa policy effective on early February

DENPASAR (indo.com): The Ngurah Rai International Airport and Benoa Harbor in Bali will start to charge visitors with Visa on Arrival (VoA) when the new visa regulation is put into effect on early February. The Ngurah Rai International Airport and Benoa Harbor are the gateways to the Island of Gods.

Sources said that the new visa policy will be effective on February 1, 2004.

It would take several minutes for immigration officers to process a visa-on-arrival request because the visa-on-arrival services and facilities are provided at immigration clearance desks at either airports or harbours.

Under the new policy, tourists from USA, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Finland, Hungary, the UK, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Norway, France, Taiwan are eligible for a visa-on-arrival facility from Indonesia.

Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that the government would regulate the implementation of VoA in several gateways to Indonesia, including the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta, Polonia Airport in Medan, North Sumatera, Sam ratulangi Airport in Manado, North Sulawesi, Tabing Airport in Padang, Batam Harbor, Sibolga Harbor, Belawan in North Sumatera, Tanjung Priuk Harbor in Jakarta, Tanjung Perak in East Java and Jayapura Harbor in Papua.

The decree grants a visa-free facility to visitors from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Hongkong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, Chile, Morocco, Peru and Vietnam.

Vietnam decided to offer visa-free facility to Indonesia on December 4 of last year and therefore, the country is also granted with visa-free facility.

Vietnam replaces Turkey since the neighboring country has decided to offer a visa-free facility to Indonesians starting December 4 of this year.

The new policy cuts the length of the free-visa-on-arrival stay from 60 days to 30 days. Visitors from countries with visa-on-arrival facility would only be allowed to stay for 30 days and they will have to go to a new counter to have their passports stamped with the on-arrival visa before going to the immigration clearance desk.