kumiko

Hello,
Has anyone on this group had to pay a bribe to enter Bali? My passport was being refused - it is perfectly legal - as we had 28 days hotel prepaid and the customs official could see we were staying a month - we relented and paid a small fee. Obviously not enough. Our passports entry forms were mucked up by the official.
Does anyone know how much to pay to leave Bali?
I have been told by someone here - not able to confirm this - that there will be a fee to leave with the expensive jewely --read cheap stuff - bought here.
Any idea of what our bribe will cost us? How do w handle the muck up with our --not legal passports ---
Thank you.
Kumiko

KimJapan

No idea what you are referring to. There is a fee for visa on arrival...you do know that, right? I read your other post and remain clueless. I've entered and left Bali on a temporary US passport issued in Athens, Greece that had been extended to the full 10 year term in Boston while living in Japan without a bit of trouble. I've also entered and left on a US passport issued in Osaka, Japan without trouble. Also never had any trouble leaving Bali with any items purchased, so I'm not sure what this bribe to leave is you are talking about.

Perhaps when you are at the airport, just relax and smile. Avoid getting angry or belligerent and things will go smoothly I'm sure.

kumiko

To respond. My husband and I purchased our 25US$ visa at the customs area. When we reached the customs official at the entry gate he stated my Canadian passport was NO GOOD - reason it was issued in London, UK not Canada - I am a resident of UK married to a UK resident - I am still using a Canadian passport because I am only eligible to apply for a UK passport in Feb 2012. My husband carries both Canadian and UK passport. The official stated for an administrative fee - read bribe - he would permit me to enter Indonesia. My Canadian passport is valid for 4 more years. He then demanded my husbands UK passport as well as his Canadian passport. He stamped the passports, closed them, handed them back and asked us to move on. Afterwards what we discovered was he had put my husbands Canadian documents for entry into Indonesia into his UK passport so that my husband will have problems leaving the country. He apparently did not like the fact that my husband did not have much cash on him and he did not get a large enough administrative fee.
We were relaxed, we smiled carefully and did not argue. We are not rude people and are very respect of others. We never ever make negative comments when travelling or at home. Obviously because we were staying for a month he felt we were people to get a bribe from. Since being here, a woman has informed my husband that I should be prepared to pay an adminisrative fee if I purchased any jewelery here, no matter how cheap the jewerly is. At this point, we just want to get through customs and onto the plane with as few problems as possible. We are also concerned that we may be split up and interrograted separately - apparently this is another little system used for more cash.
We have traveled in Canada, US, UK, Australia, Japan and have never encountered these problems before. Our flight out takes us to Malaysia for one night before we reach Osaka. We have spent time in Kyoto before and cannot wait to be there again.

Hanuman

Maybe the immigration people read your first post on the "Bali hmmm..." thread.

KimJapan

You don't really have anything to do with customs when you depart, just immigration. Are you saying that your visa is pasted into your husband's passport and vice versa? You should have gotten that corrected at the airport when you entered. At the airport. you pay at the first counter then proceed to the next for your visa. No money changes hands at the visa counter itself, so if you paid there, and it seems you did, you were scammed, and it seems you knew it, so why did you pay? Well, that's done, but you still have the problem that seems to be your visas are swapped? And you haven't done anything about that? You might go to the immigration office in Denpassar before your departure day, and apologize for not being more careful, and ask them to swap them for you.

Overall, I really think you are overreacting, assuming you'll have to pay bribes to carry home your purchases. Honestly, that's a new one for me. And considering customs has nothing to do with your departure, pretty far fetched. Your bags are checked in when you check in for your flight, then you clear immigration. That's it. There is a departure tax of RP150,000 that you pay at a separate counter...that's not a bribe, it's a tax.

Also, why would you be interrogated? Sort your visa issues out beforehand, if that is indeed an issue and I haven't misunderstood, and you'll be good to go.

Seems like you visited a different Bali than I did.