Bali

[andyth]

Has anyone travelled to Bali recently (say, in the last 2 months). If so can he/she tell me how long it took to get through immigration/customs at Denpassar airport. The reason I ask is that there have been stories of it taking 2 hours or more. If that's the case I might avail myself of the VIP service via Bali Easy Service, which is supposed to expedite matters, but costs US$35 and has to be arranged prior to travelling.

[QED]

I was there in July, and going again in a few weeks. I have also travelled to Jakarta a few times in between. Immigration has become a nightmare as they have introduced a new fingerprinting system. Last time in Bali was about 1 hour wait, Jakarta worse at probably 1.15.

Trouble is as a regular traveller to Indonesia, when I eventually get to the front of the queue they don't even want my fingerprints as they already have them on record, but there is no fast track system you just have to wait in line with everyone else.

Not heard of the VIP service, at $35 it sounds reasonable. Be aware though that we are always met by VIP 'fixers' as I travel for work, under the old system they could always get us fast tracked, but since this was introduced they cannot do anything but wait on the other side.

[Miiyai46]

I would suggest you to take the VIP service, last month it took me over an hour to clear immigration.

We landed at Denpasar airport at 15.00 which if i'm not wrong is a quite busy time for the airport with many flights landing.

Cheers.

[roamer]

In Mid august it took me around an hour at 1800 hrs. Should have thought its a little less busy now.

[theoldgit]

I went a couple of weeks ago and was through in ten minutes tops, and that included paying $25 for my visa on arrival, they have stopped taking the fingerprints.

We were on the Air Asia flight which not only gets in pretty early but had a number of Thai and other Asian nationals on board, who don't require a visa.

[Chalongian]

I went there from Phuket 2 months ago, arriving in the evening. I was first off the plane and cleared customs, including buying visa on arrival in 15 mins. Not many people about . I then returned the next night at about 10pm to meet my mate flying in from Perth, there were alot of flights arriving then, and after about 2 hours, and several cans of Bintang later, I finally seen him making his way out of the airport. Denpasar airport sucks if there is more than 1 small plane arriving at a time. Its really not equiped to deal with much more than that at any time. I never heard of the VIP thing before but in future I will at least be getting my visa before travel, just incase!

[fantuzi]

I went there from Phuket 2 months ago, arriving in the evening. I was first off the plane and cleared customs, including buying visa on arrival in 15 mins. Not many people about . I then returned the next night at about 10pm to meet my mate flying in from Perth, there were alot of flights arriving then, and after about 2 hours, and several cans of Bintang later, I finally seen him making his way out of the airport. Denpasar airport sucks if there is more than 1 small plane arriving at a time. Its really not equiped to deal with much more than that at any time. I never heard of the VIP thing before but in future I will at least be getting my visa before travel, just incase!

Nobody bothers to explain about fingerprint system,they had introduced.Do you like to be treated like common criminal,while you are just common tourist landing in Bali paradise?

They take all 10(ten) fingers and also - your picture!not only in Bali,but everywhere! in all entry points to Indonesia(correct me if I am wrong).Many of you - TV members - will love it?

I do not and I did not see it in any country I had visited in my life.

[theoldgit]

Nobody bothers to explain about fingerprint system,they had introduced.Do you like to be treated like common criminal,while you are just common tourist landing in Bali paradise?

They take all 10(ten) fingers and also - your picture!not only in Bali,but everywhere! in all entry points to Indonesia(correct me if I am wrong).Many of you - TV members - will love it?

I do not and I did not see it in any country I had visited in my life.

Well the UK and US use fingerprint capture at their borders and I'm sure there are others, also a number of countries, including Thailand, photograph visitors on arrival.

I have no experience about how a common criminal is treated so I cannot really give a view about if this procedure is similar.

[andyth]

Nobody bothers to explain about fingerprint system,they had introduced.Do you like to be treated like common criminal,while you are just common tourist landing in Bali paradise?

They take all 10(ten) fingers and also - your picture!not only in Bali,but everywhere! in all entry points to Indonesia(correct me if I am wrong).Many of you - TV members - will love it?

I do not and I did not see it in any country I had visited in my life.

Well the UK and US use fingerprint capture at their borders and I'm sure there are others, also a number of countries, including Thailand, photograph visitors on arrival.

I have no experience about how a common criminal is treated so I cannot really give a view about if this procedure is similar.

Thanks to all for your replies.

I'll take a risk arriving without the priority service. I understand the fingerprinting has been suspended for the time being because it was causing so many delays. When fingerprinting was operating, the priority service wasn't possible anyway. For anyone interested the priority service is available via:

www.bali-e-service.com

I'm pretty sure it's just a bribe to get the immigration officials to issue the visa without seeing the passport holder in front of them, which rather defeats the whole purpose of increased security.

[Miiyai46]

Nobody bothers to explain about fingerprint system,they had introduced.Do you like to be treated like common criminal,while you are just common tourist landing in Bali paradise?

They take all 10(ten) fingers and also - your picture!not only in Bali,but everywhere! in all entry points to Indonesia(correct me if I am wrong).Many of you - TV members - will love it?

I do not and I did not see it in any country I had visited in my life.

Well the UK and US use fingerprint capture at their borders and I'm sure there are others, also a number of countries, including Thailand, photograph visitors on arrival.

I have no experience about how a common criminal is treated so I cannot really give a view about if this procedure is similar.

In Japan they do both, fingerprint ( ( index finger for leaft and right hand ) capture as well as your picture.

If someone does not like to be treated "like a criminal" you can always reject to entry the country and take the plane back to your origin.

Cheers

[cardholder]

Nobody bothers to explain about fingerprint system,they had introduced.Do you like to be treated like common criminal,while you are just common tourist landing in Bali paradise?

They take all 10(ten) fingers and also - your picture!not only in Bali,but everywhere! in all entry points to Indonesia(correct me if I am wrong).Many of you - TV members - will love it?

I do not and I did not see it in any country I had visited in my life.

Well the UK and US use fingerprint capture at their borders and I'm sure there are others, also a number of countries, including Thailand, photograph visitors on arrival.

I have no experience about how a common criminal is treated so I cannot really give a view about if this procedure is similar.

In Japan they do both, fingerprint ( ( index finger for leaft and right hand ) capture as well as your picture.

If someone does not like to be treated "like a criminal" you can always reject to entry the country and take the plane back to your origin.

Cheers

I imagine that if terrorists had not been allowed freedom of movement ,around the globe, then this would not have been necessary.

[greytown]

Nobody bothers to explain about fingerprint system,they had introduced.Do you like to be treated like common criminal,while you are just common tourist landing in Bali paradise?

They take all 10(ten) fingers and also - your picture!not only in Bali,but everywhere! in all entry points to Indonesia(correct me if I am wrong).Many of you - TV members - will love it?

I do not and I did not see it in any country I had visited in my life.

Well the UK and US use fingerprint capture at their borders and I'm sure there are others, also a number of countries, including Thailand, photograph visitors on arrival.

I have no experience about how a common criminal is treated so I cannot really give a view about if this procedure is similar.

In Japan they do both, fingerprint ( ( index finger for leaft and right hand ) capture as well as your picture.

If someone does not like to be treated "like a criminal" you can always reject to entry the country and take the plane back to your origin.

Cheers

Congratulations to us all. We are now all criminals unless proven innocent. Feel safer yet?

[chalvy]

This is a subject dear to my heart and has forced me to reconsider any travel to Bali in the future. Let me tell you the story-

I currently work on an oil and gas contract in the Timor Sea and travel through Dili for crew change. Originally we travelled to Singapore then on to Darwin where we had a day then onwards to Timor in the early morning. We are utilising Indonesian engineers on this job and they were all coming into Dili via Denpasar via a daily service that Merpati Air run. Putting 2 and 2 together I thought wht go the long way round? I found that Thai Air do a direct service to Denpasar from Bangkok so it would be more direct and would put me back in the LOS on the same night after getting off the rig. It also had the added benefit of a night in Bali on the company ticket when travelling back to work so what better way to ease back into the job than an overnight in a 4 star.

I convinced my superiors of this and went about changing my whole in/out routine. The first time off the rig was a breeze, straight through immigration and onto the connecting flight and back in BKK by 10pm. Going back to work was also nice although it did take about an hour to clear customs but once through the gate and ensconced in the Holiday Inn I was thinking life doesn't get any better. I quickly found that Bali isn't quite to my taste after being spoiled in Thailand but thats another story.

The next trip off the rig was an absolute nightmare! I got off the Merpati flight (which was late) and proceeded to immigration which was absolutely packed to the rafters. The line stretched back to the visa-on-arrival counter so I had to fight with incoming passengers and those already in line just to get my visa. Then I pretty much about faced and stayed facing the immigration counter for the next FOUR HOURS!! The hall is about the same length of Suvarnabhumi so you can imagine how slow things were moving. During this time I was absolutely shocked at the behaviour of the immigration officers and the level of corruption involved. They were openly accepting bribes from anyone wanting to get to the front of the line and were behaving like taxi touts trying to get money off the tourists. I decided not to partake in any of this nonsense so sat and waited for what seemed like eternity. Another issue is that Denpasar has no transit service for incoming passengers to connect with outgoing flights without leaving the airport. All people entering have to clear immigration then check-in in the normal way. Despite pleading with Merpati staff and immigration people for a way to get onto my connecting flight I was told to get to the back of the line like everybody else (unless I coughed up a bribe of course)

Suffice to say this left a bitter taste in my mouth and had to hurriedly book a hotel and re-schedule my flight for next day.

Once back in Thailand I sent an email to my boss and asked that we go back to our original schedule through Australia. My flight out of LOS was already booked so had to go through Denapasar one more time but that was no big deal as I had an overnighter there anyway. Suffice to say I got the same result but this time slightly better at 3 hours waiting at Immigration.

All was right in the universe after that and I swore black and blue I would never set foot on Bali soil ever again unless absolutely necessary. This was to come sooner than expected however when my Father died unexpectedly whilst I was on the rig. The quickest I could get was, you guessed it, through Bali then Garuda down to Perth. Again it was a FOUR HOUR wait!! Unbelievable.

The things I would like to say after the above rant are this--

Unless you pay the "tea money" dont expect any favours from anyone there. I absolutely refuse to do that on moral grounds and especially with something as blatant as that.

Everyone entering Bali pays 25 US Dollars for the privilege of entering their cesspool of an island. That amounts to an amazing amount of money collected per day yet their infrastructure and the condition of their airport is an absolute disgrace. None of it goes into improving their service and most probably ends up in some generals pocket.

Bali itself is a waste of time and full of drunk Aussie yobs and Balinese trying to rip you off at all costs. Dont expect anything even resembling Thai hospitality or courtesy. Every time you put your hand in your wallet you have to rush back and have a shower to get the rape off you. Also, if I wanted to sample the "Bali Nightlife" I'd probably be better wandering into a pub in Western Sydney! A Bintang singlet and board-shorts does not make you look "local"!!

I will NEVER set foot in Bali again unless absolutely necessary. I advise anyone even considering it to spend the extra money and fly straight to Thailand. We all know its not perfect but I have seen the result of rampant consumerism, endemic corruption, budget flights, jaded locals and poor infrastructure and it is not a pretty sight. Bali may have been pleasant in the past but things have definitely changed for the worse. Lets hope things never get to this stage here.

*END OF RANT*

[Firelily]

last time I checked, our brand new EU passports come with an electronic chip containing our fingerprints.

[theoldgit]

last time I checked, our brand new EU passports come with an electronic chip containing our fingerprints.

Last time I checked, the EU didn't issue passports, however countries within the EU do.

I have a chip in my UK Passport and I have never had my fingerprints taken, I wonder how they managed to do that then?

The chip in UK Passports contains biometric face measurements from the photo and the the information that is printed on the personal details page of your passport, you can self check the chips at Regional Passport Centres. I don't know what's in the chip in other countries.

[Thaifan2]

Bali is still magical in places ,but has its problems .

[cardholder]

I have a chip in my UK Passport and I have never had my fingerprints taken, I wonder how they managed to do that then?

I imagine that this would make postal application s quite difficult ?

[andyth]

Just in case anyone interested is still watching this thread, I purchased my visa and sailed through immigration in under 15 minutes, but there didn't seem to be any other flights arriving at that time (2.00pm), and late September is not peak season. There was no finger-printing.

[theblether]

I arrived in August 2011 and sailed through......I would say from leaving the aircraft to leaving the airport with luggage in hand was 25 minutes all told.

Then I made the mistake of going to Kuta........I won't make that mistake again in a hurry!! The amount of harassment from touts is out of order. I then moved to Lovina and that was far better. I'll go back to Bali, but not to Kuta.

[chris5346]

i sailed through also about 2 months ago, visa on arrival very easy and you can pay using many currencies,

i was travelling alone and got a lot of hassle until i found my feet.

taxi to city isn't far and i think it's about 50,000 if you cross the road to car park or there's tauts charging 100k inside the airport.

there's loads of money convertor kiosks at the airport all the same rate or you can get a slightly better rate at some of the shops/travel agents in the streets of kuta especially around poppies lane 2 which is the place to get cheaper traveller accomodation , you will also get a better rate if you use credit card/atm but most machines are limited to 150 pounds and maybe they charge 8 pounds each time you use them so don't withdraw small amounts, there are some large money changer places but there rates are the same as the ones at airport etc so don't waste your time etc.

i only stayed in kuta 2 days and moved onto lombok and gilli islands,

i think the exchange rate was 13,600 at the airport and large bank type places,14,000 maximum i saw in the streets and on the islands approx. 13,500 for a pounds worth i think ii was getting 14,200 with credit card transactions and withdraws .

if you can take plenty of american dollars .

if you have any questions please ask,

enjoy your trip,

chris

[ovenman]

I arrived Bali on the AirAsia flight from Bangkok a couple Sundays ago. Five minutes getting thru immigrations, including time to buy my visa-on-arrival. Departing immigrations yesterday was equally easy. No fingerprinting in either case.

Edited September 6, 2011 by ovenman

[fantuzi]

Nobody bothers to explain about fingerprint system,they had introduced.Do you like to be treated like common criminal,while you are just common tourist landing in Bali paradise?

They take all 10(ten) fingers and also - your picture!not only in Bali,but everywhere! in all entry points to Indonesia(correct me if I am wrong).Many of you - TV members - will love it?

I do not and I did not see it in any country I had visited in my life.

Well the UK and US use fingerprint capture at their borders and I'm sure there are others, also a number of countries, including Thailand, photograph visitors on arrival.

I have no experience about how a common criminal is treated so I cannot really give a view about if this procedure is similar.

TheOldGit!

I am afraid - I will make you very upset with this update about visa procedures in Indonesia today:

they do not take fingerprints anymore,they do not take your picture anymore,

they give you VOA for 30 days and they will not ask you for your photo,just they want 25 bucks.

how this can be possible?

Complain to your proper congressman.

Fingerprints and pics were introduced to facilitate President Obama visit to Indonesia.

In Bali - it was abandoned after one week in operation(it was such a big mess);in the rest of the country - just after the visit.

Edited September 14, 2011 by fantuzi

[overherebc]

I arrived Bali on the AirAsia flight from Bangkok a couple Sundays ago. Five minutes getting thru immigrations, including time to buy my visa-on-arrival. Departing immigrations yesterday was equally easy. No fingerprinting in either case.

I have just seen an advert on UBC five minutes ago that is advertising immigration services, for Indonesia, on board the plane. No mention of it being restricted to !st or business class etc.

Anyone seen it or know anything about it.