159 countries lost visa free access to Indonesia

[flavus]

Indonesia suspends visa-free travel for 159 countries but retains it for Asean visitors

92 countries can still apply for visas on arrival though.

mothership.sg

ASEAN countries and Timor Leste citizens can still travel visa free, and no change for the 92 countries approved for Visa on Arrival (which TIL includes ASEAN too - if you want to stay longer than 30 days you have to start with VOA and extend).

Many oher reporting don't mention the reason behind this - but this explanation makes sense; more countries might get onboarded to visa on arrival or might get visa free access if they reciprocate. No more freebies.

Indonesia's director general of immigration Silmy Karim explained the changes in remarks quoted by Kompas.

While Indonesia had previously designated 169 countries as visa-free, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic had made the previous visa-free provisions invalid.

Instead, new regulations introduced in 2021 meant that travellers to Indonesia must enter using the visa on arrival facility during the pandemic.

The recent ministerial decree simply codified a shift from old rules to new rules, regarding the type of visas to be issued.

Visa-free travel might be reinstated at a later time, but Indonesia will make reciprocity with other countries a consideration when deciding on reinstating visa-free travel.

Silmy said despite the lack of the visa-free policy, international arrivals at Jakarta's airports were still increasing.

This view was echoed by the Head of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights for Bali, Anggiat Napitupulu, who told Merdeka that the visa-free policy had effectively not existed since March 2020 as travel was suspended.

But afterwards, when the pandemic subsided and international travel was slowly reopened, countries were granted visa on arrival facilities.

The June 7 decree was simply a recognition that visa-free travel for the 159 countries no longer existed.

 

[jstar]

In fact they returned to the pre visa free period. The lack of extension possibilities for visitors of ASEAN countries if not on VOA, was also already in place.

Reciprocation will never happen of course. They can keep on dreaming if they believe in that. I think it’s just a milk cow.

 

[flavus]

Yeah, I suspect most countries will end up on the VOA list unless more scrutiny is deemed necessary (how times have changed, IIRC Indian citizens traveling to Indonesia used to require more stringent scrutiny and now it's VOA. Maybe the vetting was only for those from Kashmir though)

It's an awful transition period though, what if you were on the visa free list and suddenly now you find out you need a visa but your travel is scheduled to start imminently?

Agreed that expecting reciprocality from the major countries - esp the Schengen area and US - will be futile. Even within ASEAN IIRC Malaysia only gave Indonesians the minimum 2 weeks but happily let many richer Muslim countries' citizens visit for 1-2 months. Fear of illegal migrants will persist as long as we are "human capital rich"

 

[flavus]

TIL: you can use VOA for business meetings too now

Kabar Gembira: Orang Asing Kini Bisa Hadiri Pertemuan Bisnis dengan Visa on Arrival - Direktorat Jenderal Imigrasi

JAKARTA (15/9) – Orang asing kini bisa hadiri pertemuan bisnis dengan visa on arrival (VoA) atau Bebas Visa Kunjungan (BVK). Hal ini diatur dalam Surat Edaran Plt. Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi Nomor IMI-0700.GR.01.01 Tahun 2022 tanggal 14 September 2022 yang berlaku efektif pada Kamis, 15...

www.imigrasi.go.id

 

[Samoerai]

In fact they returned to the pre visa free period. The lack of extension possibilities for visitors of ASEAN countries if not on VOA, was also already in place.

Reciprocation will never happen of course. They can keep on dreaming if they believe in that. I think it’s just a milk cow.


View attachment 3191

I don't understand this thread ... as I understand before Covid-19 tourists from some countries got a visa-on-arrival and that was free, right? And now they have to pay for this visa-on-arrival?

 

[Balifrog]

I don't understand this thread ... as I understand before Covid-19 tourists from some countries got a visa-on-arrival and that was free, right? And now they have to pay for this visa-on-arrival?

You are confusing "visa waiver" and "visa on arrival" !

 

[flavus]

I don't understand this thread ... as I understand before Covid-19 tourists from some countries got a visa-on-arrival and that was free, right? And now they have to pay for this visa-on-arrival?

You are confusing "visa waiver" and "visa on arrival" !

As Balifrog said - it used to be more countries are on the visa waiver list than on the visa on arrival list. Those countries' citizens now suddenly went from getting privileged access to being behind the countries that are explicitly on the VOA list.

 

[snpark]

Voa is the paid $35 one that can be extended once for 30 days
You were always able to use that one for meetings

The free one for 30 days only strictly for tourism was the visa waiver one. It was free. That has now been changed only for Asians

Basically now everyone has to pay $35 on arrival
Kerching

And now no confusion about visiting a friend, attending a meeting where you stay silent, going to a wedding, or here to play bitcoin in ubud

But they are strict now on showing return flight and hotel booking

 

[Samoerai]

Basically now everyone has to pay $35 on arrival

The government here needs money .. because economy is weakening ..

 

[ChrisTex]

The government here needs money .. because economy is weakening ..

In some ways, it is because it was self inflicted.

 

[Samoerai]

In some ways, it is because it was self inflicted.

From the short time I have been living in this country, yes I agree.

 

[centurion]

The government here needs money .. because economy is weakening ..

10 million tourists per year is only 350 million USD per year-that is not significant. And many of them are from ASEAN, that do not pay anything. Malaysia, Singapore, Timor Leste. Timor Leste has 6-70.000 monthly border crossings to Indonesia that are counted as "tourism", in reality, people go to the market on the Indonesian side.

 

[centurion]

Even within ASEAN IIRC Malaysia only gave Indonesians the minimum 2 weeks but happily let many richer Muslim countries' citizens visit for 1-2 months. Fear of illegal migrants will persist as long as we are "human capital rich"

Malaysia gives Indonesians 30 days, same as Singapore-and it is probably a reciprocity rule for the ASEAN.

 

[Samoerai]

10 million tourists per year is only 350 million USD per year-that is not significant. And many of them are from ASEAN, that do not pay anything. Malaysia, Singapore, Timor Leste. Timor Leste has 6-70.000 monthly border crossings to Indonesia that are counted as "tourism", in reality, people go to the market on the Indonesian side.

How desperate the government is .. every dollar is one in the pocket.

 

[centurion]

How desperate the government is .. every dollar is one in the pocket.

I think that that kind of fee is very bad for tourism. The 4-member family will pay 150 USD for Indonesian visas. Now, if they go to Bali, maybe they will pay, but if they planned to go elsewhere, they will maybe reconsider. Tourism went up from the years when the visa waiver was introduced in 2016 from 11.5 million to 16 million in 2019,

Turkey has a similar system but their Visa on Arrival is just 10 USD, and some countries have a waiver (Indonesia recently). Indonesia should at least give reciprocity for the countries that do not ask Indonesians for visas.

 

[Samoerai]

As somebody in this forum said before .. "they love to shoot themselves in the foot".

 

[snpark]

As somebody in this forum said before .. "they love to shoot themselves in the foot".

But with someone else's bullet

 

[flavus]

Malaysia gives Indonesians 30 days, same as Singapore-and it is probably a reciprocity rule for the ASEAN.

I wonder if it has changed in recent years? Last time I visited was in the late noughts

 

[flavus]

Aha, the minimum required is 14 days. But Malaysia does now grant 30 days to Indonesians

ASEAN Visa Waiver Program - Association of Southeast Asian Nations

visaguide.world

 

[flavus]

Indonesia should at least give reciprocity for the countries that do not ask Indonesians for visas.

From the interview quoted, that is the plan but you know, of course they didn't plan this in advance.

I wonder if Indonesians will lose visa free access to some countries as a result rather than gaining them