EU visa deal will ease travel for millions

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 6 April 2010 - 4:20pm, by Vanessa Mock

The long bureaucratic nightmare of applying for a visa to travel to the European Union became a thing of the past over the weekend. From now on, millions of travellers will be able to get in and around the 22 EU countries that are part of the Schengen zone a lot more easily.

No borders

Just one visa is now required to travel within the Schengen Area, a zone with no internal borders that also includes non-EU members Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. Previously, foreigners encountered problems with many of the new EU member states such as Poland, Latvia and Slovakia, all of which required a separate visa.

The European Commission says the changes are designed to make life "simpler and fairer" for travellers, though they will not apply to anyone looking to stay longer than 90 days. In 2008, around ten million visa requests were received for Schengen Area countries.

Truckers and traders

Life should also become simpler for people such as lorry drivers and small traders who need to weave in and out of the EU on a regular basis, as they will be granted multiple-entry permits more easily. The waiting time for the document should also, in theory, go down to a maximum of four weeks.

However, there are limits: The United Kingdom and Ireland have both opted out of Schengen and Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania are not yet part of it. All these countries therefore still require separate visas.

Activists go free

Although many non-EU countries, such as Macedonia and Russia, already have visa arrangements in place with the EU, the new code will make a big difference to countries such as Belarus, which is frozen out due to its autocratic regime. In the past, this has made it hard for traders and pro-democracy activists to visit the EU, especially as the visa fee of 60 euros was the same as a month's salary.

People taking part in NGO-sponsored events and people aged 25 or under will now pay nothing, while children will pay 35 euros instead of the standard 60 euro fee.

Tourism Officials See Red Over Scrapping of 7-Day Visas

Jakarta Globe, January 27, 2010

Visitors getting a Visa on Arrival will have to pay for a 30-day stay. (Antara Photo)

Two government departments look set for a clash of ideas over the scrapping on Tuesday of seven-day visas on arrival for foreigners arriving in Indonesia.

Scrapping the $10 visas and leaving only the $25 visas, which is valid for 30 days, will encourage foreign tourists to stay longer as well as curb graft among immigration officials, Maroloan Barimbing, the spokesman for the Directorate General of Immigration under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, said on Wednesday.

Maroloan said visitors must now buy the 30-day visa regardless of how long they plan to stay. As a bonus, they will now be able to extend the visa by another 30 days without leaving the country, immigration officials have said.

But scrapping the seven-day option has proved immediately controversial, with the Culture and Tourism Ministry taking the unusual step of publicly denouncing it as likely to actually reduce tourist arrivals.

“I am worried the regulation would affect foreign tourists who make frequent short stays,” Firmansyah Hakim, the ministry’s director general of tourism destination development, told the Jakarta Globe Wednesday.

He said his ministry was currently reviewing the potential impact on tourist numbers. “We are going to ask the immigration department to sit down with us and hopefully we can come up with a solution,” he said.

Industry experts have said the global economic crisis has shifted many tourists from long stays to shorter visits. In 2009, tourists stayed an average of 8.58 days, continuing a trend toward shorter stays since 2000, the Tourism Ministry reported. The low figure demonstrates that a significant number of visitors — especially those arriving by land from Malaysia and Singapore at Batam in Riau Islands province — come for stays of less than seven days and will now have to pay extra.

“Visitors from immediate border countries will likely think twice before going for a short trip in our country,” Firmansyah said.

Maroloan defended the move, saying visitors planning only short stays would be tempted to stay for longer as they would automatically have a 30-day visa.

“We hope this policy will extend tourists’ stays in Indonesia, giving them a chance to visit more places in the country,” he said.

“The policy will also simplify the supervision of overstaying foreign tourists because there is only one visa option.”

He said the decision was also meant to combat corruption. Last year, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) caught the ministry off guard by revealing it had found more than Rp 3 billion ($321,000) in unreported fees for visas on arrival collected over a six-month period at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali.

The ministry discovered that officials had been defrauding travelers by issuing $10 visas to those who paid $25 and pocketing the difference. Maroloan said officers in charge were punished by having their pay rises frozen.

The ministry conducted a similar inspection at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta but the spokesman said no irregularities were found.

The immigration department was listed as one of the country's most corrupt public institutions in a 2009 bribery index survey released by Transparency International Indonesia.

Garuda to Issue Visas in the Air

Tempo Interactive, Tuesday, 26 January, 2010 | 16:46 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Tokyo: National flag-carrier airline Garuda Indonesia start will to offer visas on arrival (VoA) on flights on February 1st.

The program entitled “Immigration on Board" was tested on the GA881 flight from Tokyo to Denpasar on January 21.

“This is the world first visa service in the air,” said Emirsyah Satar, Managing Director of Garuda Indonesia.

Present on the flight were the caretaker Immigration Director General Muhammad Indra and the Indonesian Ambassador for Japan Jusuf Anwar.

The second trial will be held today.

With this service, tourists or those who wish to travel to Indonesia do not have to process their visas before their departure or upon arriving at the Denpasar or Jakarta airports.

To process this, passengers can buy a visa voucher after they check in at Narita Airport, Tokyo.

“A visa for 10 days visit costs US$ 10 and a visa for 30-60 days visit cost US$ 25," said Muhammad Indra.

Jusuf said he hoped that the new service would increase the number of Japanese tourists which has been in decline for the last two years.

To increase the number of visits from Japan to Indonesia, according to Emirsyah, Garuda is attempting to have direct flights from Tokyo to Jakarta.

All this time, Japanese passengers have had to go to Denpasar first.

“We hope that this year, direct flights from Tokyo to Jakarta can be operated,’ he said.

Prasidono Listiaji

Visitors complaint over airport services

Luh De Suriyani, The Jakarta Post, Tuban | Mon, 01/05/2009 11:06 AM  

The island's sole international airport should improve its services as an increasing number of visitors have expressed disappointment over various inconveniences they experienced during their arrival at Ngurah Rai, a tourism association executive said Saturday. 

"Airport's services, or lack of them, will influence the overall image of Bali as perceived by tourists," said Al Purwa, the head of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (ASITA). 

The poor quality of the airport's service, Purwa disclosed, was once again brought up during his meeting late-December with representatives of major Japanese travel agents. 

"The meeting was attended by representatives of eight major players in the Japanese market. Their travel agents send 30 percent of the total Japanese tourists who visit Bali," he said. 

The representatives specifically mentioned the Ngurah Rai as an airport that failed to cater to the needs of elderly Japanese visitors. 

Purwa claimed the representatives had labeled Ngurah Rai airport as the world's worst airport for elderly visitors due to the chronic problem of long queues in front of the immigration counters and the lack of sufficient rest areas. 

New arrivals would have to stand in line, sometimes for hours, as the immigration officers process their application for Visa on Arrival (VoA). 

"Having to stand in line for considerable time after just getting off a long-haul flight is definitely not a comforting nor convenient experience for visitors," Purwa said. 

The problem related to the time-consuming VoA process, Purwa stressed, is one of the most common complaints voiced by foreign visitors about Ngurah Rai airport. 

"We have informed the relevant agencies about this problem. It has became a public knowledge, even Vice President Jusuf Kalla knows about this problem. However, a significant measure to mitigate the problem has yet to be launched," he said. 

He reminded that elderly Japanese visitors would play a significant role in softening the adverse impact of the ongoing global economic crisis to the island's tourism. 

"These elderly visitors are mostly rich retirees, whose assets have not been significantly affected by the crisis," he said. 

Purwa also asked the airport authority to improve the services of its porters. 

"Several porters still demand a payment way beyond the accepted standard, which is Rp 2,500 per luggage. We have reports that some porters asked for Rp 100,000 to transport one luggage," he said. 

Assistant to the spokesperson of PT Angkasa Pura, the company that runs the airport, M Dimyati cited the fact that the airport had operated beyond its capacity as the reason behind the inconveniences suffered by the passengers. 

"The domestic terminal has a maximum capacity of dealing with 1.5 million passengers per year, but currently has to cope with 3.6 million passengers," he said. 

Dimyati promised to add more VoA counters to deal with the surge of visitors. 

He was quite optimistic that all those inconveniences would disappear once the airport's expansion project completed. In April 2009, the airport authority would commence the expansion project that would cost around Rp 2.1 trillion.

Senior citizens are exit-tax free

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 01/04/2009 11:12 AM  

Senior citizens are exempted from paying fiskal or exit tax at any point of international departure as long as they can provide written proof that they are under their children's care, a tax officer said. 

"We have received numerous calls from people asking whether or not senior citizens who do not hold tax numbers (NPWP) are exempted from paying the Rp 1 million fiscal fee when travelling to Singapore by ferry," Pratama Batam tax officer Miswaji said as quoted by Antara news agency on Sunday.' 

He said the fees were exempted as long as their children, who are expected to own a NPWP, state that their parents are under their care and this is stated on a Rp 6,000-sealed document. 

Those claiming guardianship, he added, would have to be direct descendants. 

As of Jan. 1, those leaving the country by sea must pay Rp 1 million in exit tax, unless they have an NPWP or are below the age of 21. Previously, Batam residents traveling to Singapore or Malaysia by ferry did not have to pay the tax. 

Under the new tax policy, airline passengers must pay Rp 2.5 million.(amr)

Flying the friendly skies without ‘fiskal’

Mariani Dewi, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang | Fri, 01/02/2009 8:25 AM  

Airline passengers exempt from paying the fiskal, or exit tax at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport said they were happy with the new policy on the first day of its implementation on Thursday, adding the exemption procedure was easy. 

Ratu, a civil servant and mother of three, was booked on a flight to Bangkok with her husband and children on Thursday. The tax number (NPWP) she had held for many years meant she was exempt from paying the exit tax. 

“I’m impressed with the service, it was so fast. It only took five minutes for the whole family to get exemption,” she said. 

She added airport officials only asked to see her and her husband’s NPWPs. 

A South Korean expatriate, Kim Sung Kyung, about to board a flight home to Seoul, said the new policy had helped him greatly because he traveled several times a year for medical treatment. 

“I’m very happy about this new policy, because I used to pay a million (rupiah) every time I flew,” he said. 

However, Kim also said many of his Korean friends were not aware of the policy. 

Park Ju Tae, president director of a private company, was one of those left in the dark. On Thursday, he paid Rp 2.5 million to board his flight to South Korea. 

“I was surprised by the raise. It gave me a headache. Many of my Korean colleagues didn’t know about this policy. Fortunately, I brought enough money. Had I not brought enough, I would have had to cancel the trip,” he said. 

Viki Ariawan, head of the tax office’s monitoring and service division at the airport, said the government had publicized the new NPWP policy since 2007 through all kinds of media. However, he said he was aware the exit tax policy was published less than two weeks ago. 

Agus Purnomo Adi, head of tax office’s exit tax division at the airport, said that on the first day of the implementation, hundreds of passengers still paid the tax. 

“I’ll get the full report by midnight, but I guess the number of those who paid will be less than before because many got exemption,” he said.

Related Article:

Unregistered taxpayers to pay double for exit tax

Garuda to open direct flight Medan-Chennai route in June

New Delhi (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s national flag-carrier Garuda is to start a direct flight service between Medan in North Sumatra and Chennai in India next June, a spokesman said.

"After we have completed the process to obtain permission from the Indian government, we hope to begin flying the route in June," Garuda`s vice director for networks management, Risnaldi, said here.

Speaking to the press on the sidelines of a partnership conference organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in New Delhi, he said more than 83,000 Indian tourists visited Indonesia in 2007, an increase of 54 percent from 2006. Some 10 million Indians travel abroad every year.

Meanwhile, the director of overseas promotions at Indonesia`s culture and tourism ministry, Tatang Rukhiyat, said his department would open two representative offices in India, namely in New Delhi and Mumbai, to facilitate promotion of Indonesian tourism.

The two representative offices would begin operating next February.

The Indonesian government had also made its visa-on-arrival facility available to Indian nationals to encourage the Indian tourist flow to Indonesia, Tatang said.

Indonesia extends visa facility to 11 countries

The Hindu

Jakarta, June 17 (Xinhua): Indonesia has extended the visa on arrival (VOA) facility to 11 more countries, and is considering giving the facility to another 11 countries in an attempt to woo foreign tourists, local media reported on Saturday.

The 11 countries includes Algeria, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Panama, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Tunisia.

The Directorate General of Immigration announced Friday that based on a Justice and Human Rights Ministry decree, beginning on May 28, 2007, citizens from a total of 63 countries will enjoy visa on arrival.

"The extension of the visa on arrival facility is aimed at raising the frequency of visits by foreign tourists," the immigration office said in a statement.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo said the government was now studying the possibility of extending the facility to 11 additional countries to allow more tourists and investors to come to Indonesia.

"So, there will be 74 countries that receive the visa on arrival facility soon, pending a decree from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry. We hope more foreigners will come to Indonesia," he was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.

He refused to identify the 11 additional countries. The visa on arrival was first introduced on Feb. 21, 2004.

Under the system, tourists from selected countries do not have to apply abroad for a visa but can purchase a visa on arrival at Indonesia's international airports and seaports. A seven-day visa costs 10 U.S. dollars, while a 30-day visa costs 25 U.S. dollars.

Indonesia's tourist arrival numbers dropped by 2.61 percent to 4.87 million in 2006 from 5 million in 2005.

The government said extending the visa on arrival facility was expected to raise tourist numbers to 6 million in 2007.

Amex cardholders to get eyes opened at airport

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Holders of American Express goldcards issued by Bank Danamon can now benefit from an eye-scanning facility when passing through immigration at Jakarta's Sukarno Hatta International Airport.

Cardholders will only need to insert iris-data cards and have theirs eyes scanned by a scanning device, which will match the data on the card and with the person's iris.

"This facility is very efficient as passengers no longer have to fill out embarkation forms, or get their passports stamped. They only need to have their irises scanned," said director of Angkasa Pura Schiphol Djoko Santoso during the signing of the collaboration agreement for the facility with Bank Danamon on Thursday.

The eye scanning process, called automatic border passage, will replace manual passport checking, which can take an average of around 20 minutes.

Automatic border passage is part of the Saphire program designed by PT Angkasa Pura Schiphol, a joint venture between PT Angkasa Pura II, the operator of Soekarno Hatta, and the Netherlands-based Schiphol Group.

The holders of Amex gold cards can use the Saphire program for free during the first year, but will have to pay US$180 annually in subsequent years. They can also enjoy other Saphire program perks, including special parking facilities, and exclusive security gates and check-in counters for Saphire customers.

Bank Danamon vice president Subba Vaidyanathan said that the Saphire program was a commercial initiative designed to provide more benefits for Amex gold cardholders, who were often frequent fliers.

"Most of our Amex cardholders are businesspeople that need efficiency when traveling. We believe that the Saphire program will satisfy them as it offers not only time savings, but also an exclusive services," said Subba.

Djoko said that the installation of eye-scanning machines was part of its commitment to making Sukarno Hatta a world-class international airport.

Angkasa Pura Schiphol has invested around Rp 2 billion ($222,200) on installing automatic border passage equipment. The necessary technology was developed by the Schiphol Group, which has been working together with Angkasa Pura II since 1996.

Automatic border passage has been functioning since December last year and has so far facilitated around 1,500 regular travelers. Those interested in availing of the Saphire program should apply at the Saphire service center located in Soekarno-Hatta's terminal 2-F. The service costs $200 per year, and the registration process takes around 20 minutes, including iris data recording and verification of travel documents.

Indonesia to extend visa on arrival for more countries

www.chinaview.cn 2007-04-14 14:42

JAKARTA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia is ready to extend the visa on arrival facility to 11 more countries in a bid to boost revenues from tourism industry, local press said Saturday.

English daily The Jakarta Post said a senior official with the Foreign Affairs Ministry had named the 11 countries likely to receive visa on arrival facilities, including Algeria, the Czech Republic, Fiji, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Panama, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Tunisia.

Several foreign envoys welcomed reports of Indonesia s decision to extend the visa on arrival facility, which is currently available to the citizens of 52 countries and regions.

The main purpose of the extension is to boost tourist arrival numbers, which dropped by 2.61 percent to 4.87 million in 2006 from 5 million in 2005, according to local media reports.

The visa on arrival was first introduced on Feb. 21, 2004.

Under the system, tourists from selected countries do not have to apply out of the country for visas but can instead purchase them on arrival at Indonesia's international airports and seaports.

Indonesia to issue longer visas to draw more tourists

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia is to grant foreign visitors visas for up to 120 days compared to the current 30 days in a bid to boost tourism, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Thursday.

"It is now being processed, that tourists get four months," Kalla told AFP during an interview here.

He said the longer visa was part of the government's drive to attract more foreign visitors.

At present, tourists from 54 countries can obtain a 30-day visa on arrival at a cost of 25 dollars, or free for most Southeast Asian nations.

Kalla said the 54 countries -- which include most of Europe, China, India, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand -- accounted for about 90 percent of Indonesia's foreign tourists.

Visitors have complained that 30 days is far too short a time to take in the vast archipelago, which stretches for thousands of kilometres (miles).

Indonesia's drive to boost tourist numbers has also suffered due to a lack of money to promote the country abroad because of more pressing budget priorities.

"But I said that tourism is also a priority and therefore this year the budget will be increased on top of what is in the state budget," Kalla said, without giving figures.

Indonesia recorded a 2.38-percent drop in foreign tourist arrivals to 3.98 million in 2006.

Tourism has been hurt by a number of terrorist attacks in recent years, including on the popular resort island of Bali, as well as bird flu and a series of man-made and natural disasters.