159 countries lost visa free access to Indonesia

[Wisnu]

So sorry to hear. Yeah, even with a granted visa entry to the country is solely at the discretion of the border official you meet too.

From experience - the UK visa gets granted much more easily if the applicant reside in, say, the US as opposed to Indonesia (even with Indonesian passport). Not sure where Nigeria is on that spectrum.

Being denied visiting your own child is mind blowing, but given who runs the Home Office the past few years it's sadly not a surprise.

Still smarting over how in 2010 or so the UK government changed the rules (when May was home secretary, before she then became the... 3rd worst PM? Truss and Johnson blew her out of the water on that score) to disallow a citizen from sponsoring their parents to immigrate unless in very limited circumstances.

agree, but I expect, being more developed and civilized people; having superior intelligence, should take decision not by throwing the dies or "sak enake udele dewe" and irresponsibly took our money.
We lived in Egypt at that time. Couple months later, my wife got 5 years UK visa in Jakarta, without problem; then later I got my 5 years UK visa from the same office in Egypt without problem too; in fact very fast, less than a week.

 

[Wisnu]

I can see you have a lot of experience in obtaining Schengen visa…

yup, i enjoyed the orange carpet facility

 

[Wisnu]

Currently it has become very complicated to make a temporary booking. And even the airlines which give you a 24-36-72 hour consideration window to pay (for a price), don’t really provide you with an official booking, just a somewhat vague reservation. Which can be refused in the application. The websites providing dummy tickets can not be trusted of course. This really becomes an issue for many people, obviously the participants of the ‘tours’ don’t encounter this problem as often.

our corporate travel agent could provide temporary booking. Didnt use them, bought the ticket from on-line airline website as I believed our visa would be granted.

 

[flavus]

agree, but I expect, being more developed and civilized people; having superior intelligence, should take decision not by throwing the dies or "sak enake udele dewe" and irresponsibly took our money.
We lived in Egypt at that time. Couple months later, my wife got 5 years UK visa in Jakarta, without problem; then later I got my 5 years UK visa from the same office in Egypt without problem too; in fact very fast, less than a week.

Same problem with USCIS - you are at the mercy of individual officers handling the case sadly.

With the UK it seems even worse now that they outsource everything. And if there is a problem, the help line is outsourced to a different outfit than the company processing applications. It's... mind-boggling.

The UK has increasingly reminded me of the Empire in Asimov's Foundation over the years: slowly deteriorating with no end in sight

 

[pantaiema]

This is the reason why Indonesian government stopping Visa free entry officially from Immigration directorate

Do not blame this guy. He is just a messenger explaining/defending what have been decided.

 

[Helpful Herbert]

I really like the way that guy explained it. Very impressive spokesman! Slow, clear, logical.

 

[snpark]

Money

 

[harryopal1]

They keep using the euphemism the term "quality tourists" when they mean wealthy tourists.

 

[Samoerai]

This is the reason why Indonesian government stopping Visa free entry officially from Immigration directorate

Do not blame this guy. He is just a messenger explaining/defending what have been decided.

Could someone give a short resume? What is he saying?

 

[Helpful Herbert]

They keep using the euphemism the term "quality tourists" when they mean wealthy tourists.

Very true. It doesn't seem very islamic to say rich people are better quality people than poor people. Very unfortunate choice of words.
They should say high-spending tourists instead.

 

[R Cameron]

Could someone give a short resume? What is he saying?

We opened slow after covid and 90+ countries can now get VOA in Indonesia. Many countries require all visitors to get a visa, even those with strong passports like Germany and US. We want high quality tourists.

 

[flavus]

Many countries require all visitors to get a visa, even those with strong passports like Germany and US.

Thanks for the summary! That's quite ... interesting, taking Germany for example (slightly stronger than US) these are the 'many countries' Indonesia measures itself against

Germany Passport Dashboard | Passport Index 2023

Discover all visa requirements and real-time passport ranking of Germany. Passport Index is the leading global mobility intelligence platform providing guidance on the right of travel.

www.passportindex.org

Deselect everything but blue (VOA), all the other 43 countries are in Middle East, Africa, or South Asia, except for Laos and Papua New Guinea

 

[Helpful Herbert]

We opened slow after covid and 90+ countries can now get VOA in Indonesia. Many countries require all visitors to get a visa, even those with strong passports like Germany and US. We want high quality tourists.

He also said they like to follow the principle of recipricocity. i.e. why should x get a free visa if they don't give one to our citizens.

 

[flavus]

He also said they like to follow the principle of recipricocity. i.e. why should x get a free visa if they don't give one to our citizens.

This has been a goal for a while I think. A bit sad that the reciprocity Indonesia get so far is mostly from ASEAN, so... maybe this will mostly be a positive in the long run.

 

[centurion]

He also said they like to follow the principle of recipricocity. i.e. why should x get a free visa if they don't give one to our citizens.

But they do not. The countries that give Indonesia free visa access do not have a free visa in return.

 

[Balifrog]

He also said they like to follow the principle of recipricocity. i.e. why should x get a free visa if they don't give one to our citizens.

Makes sense.

 

[Samoerai]

Makes sense.

Or not ... because those countries do not depend on tourists for their economy? And Indonesia / Bali does.

 

[flavus]

But they do not. The countries that give Indonesia free visa access do not have a free visa in return.

Good point. There's quite a few here

Indonesia Passport Dashboard | Passport Index 2024

Discover all visa requirements and real-time passport ranking of Indonesia. Passport Index is the leading global mobility intelligence platform providing guidance on the right of travel.

www.passportindex.org

 

[Bob]

Very true. It doesn't seem very islamic to say rich people are better quality people than poor people. Very unfortunate choice of words.
They should say high-spending tourists instead.

It's not an Islamic government. Don't expect Islamic principles.

 

[Bob]

Good point. There's quite a few here

Indonesia Passport Dashboard | Passport Index 2024

Discover all visa requirements and real-time passport ranking of Indonesia. Passport Index is the leading global mobility intelligence platform providing guidance on the right of travel.

www.passportindex.org

We opened slow after covid and 90+ countries can now get VOA in Indonesia. Many countries require all visitors to get a visa, even those with strong passports like Germany and US. We want high quality tourists.

Germany and the US don't require all visitors to get visas, so that's a smokescreen for the revenue angle.