To all lucky travellers heading to Indonesia soon,
I'd like to give a quick Visa update to the Scubaboard community, so they avoid sticky situations. For divers from many countries, there are now 2 types of Visa on arrival: Free Visa On Arrival and Paid Visa On Arrival (35USD).
Travellers lucky enough to spend more than a month in Indo need to get the Paid Visa On Arrival. The Free Visa On Arrival can no more be extended, even through agents.
Paid Visa On Arrival can still be extended for a second month, either through agents or by going to the Immigration Office in Denpasar. Either way this needs to be done at least 7 working days before the end of the original tourist Visa.
Using an agent means handling your Passport to a stranger and may amount to a total leap of faith for travellers unaccustomed to this type of practices. That being said, using a good agent saves you a lot of hassles, costs just a bit more (65USD Vs 30USD) and means you only have to go to the Immigration office once (to get your picture & fingerprints taken).
Hopefully, this will save some trouble to some travellers and allow them to fully enjoy their time in this fabulous country. We actually had a guest who ended up cancelling his liveaboard in Komodo (with no refund awarded by the liveaboard operator) as he had to organise a last minute Visa run... What a waste of money and holiday time!
On a last note: beware of last minute changes to Visa extension rules in Indonesia. The info presented here is valid as of today (7/28/16). This may not be the case as soon as a few weeks from now...
I'd like to give a quick Visa update to the Scubaboard community, so they avoid sticky situations. For divers from many countries, there are now 2 types of Visa on arrival: Free Visa On Arrival and Paid Visa On Arrival (35USD).
Travellers lucky enough to spend more than a month in Indo need to get the Paid Visa On Arrival. The Free Visa On Arrival can no more be extended, even through agents.
Paid Visa On Arrival can still be extended for a second month, either through agents or by going to the Immigration Office in Denpasar. Either way this needs to be done at least 7 working days before the end of the original tourist Visa.
Using an agent means handling your Passport to a stranger and may amount to a total leap of faith for travellers unaccustomed to this type of practices. That being said, using a good agent saves you a lot of hassles, costs just a bit more (65USD Vs 30USD) and means you only have to go to the Immigration office once (to get your picture & fingerprints taken).
Hopefully, this will save some trouble to some travellers and allow them to fully enjoy their time in this fabulous country. We actually had a guest who ended up cancelling his liveaboard in Komodo (with no refund awarded by the liveaboard operator) as he had to organise a last minute Visa run... What a waste of money and holiday time!
On a last note: beware of last minute changes to Visa extension rules in Indonesia. The info presented here is valid as of today (7/28/16). This may not be the case as soon as a few weeks from now...
