has the situation improved for visa upon arrival at denespar? i last did it in 2004 and it took about 1.5 hours in line to accompolish this feat.....with little or no a/c...

i may consider a visa here in usa before i leave if it is still a problem...

thanks

When we went at Christmas in 2004 it took about 15 minutes total to pay at one booth and get the stamp at the next booth. Didn't notice it being particularly hot or anything, either.

I went in Sept. 07 and it could not have taken more than 15 minutes.

Almost forgot - you do need cash and you have to have the correct year if you are using a $100 bill. Really, it was simple.

Visitors from the US bringing American currency should bring $100 bills as they get the highest exchange rate. Also the bills should be later than year 2000 with no tears, stains, ink marks or blemishes. There are also certain ’series’ notes that have been flagged for counterfeit that will not be accepted

I go to Bali 3 or 4 times a year, and rarely have to wait more than 15 or 20 minutes in either of the lines. Jakarta is almost always worse than Bali.

As a previous poster mentioned, bring CASH for the visa - EXACT CHANGE. You don't want to waste one of your $100 on that, as you'll get US$ back in change - and as they said, you don't want to change anything smaller than a 100 if you can avoid it.

Check with your bank on ATM charges for overseas use. If they're not horrific, use an ATM for local currency instead of bringing a wad of 100's. Even so, I usually have a couple of $100 bills tucked away somewhere for emergencies.

I think there's an element of luck in the wait time. If it's a holiday or if a couple of 747s land at the same time, you can sometimes get long, long lines.

They take Visa and MasterCard in Jakarta. I've never gone through the visa process in Bali so I'm not sure if credit cards are acceptable there.

If you obtain the required Indonesian Visa in the USA before heading to Bali, do you avoid the Visa line on arrival for sure?

In other words, are you confronted with two lines when you land? The first to obtain the Visa and then a second line for passport control? Or, is it just one line where you purchase your Visa and they also check your passport? If its the former than maybe we would be inclined just to obtain the Visa here before departing. With my luck lately, I seem always to arrive at immigration precisely five minutes after all the passengers from some 747 have deplaned and gotten into the passport line -- directly in front of me.
Thanks.

robert...when we went if you had your visa already you could just go directly to immigration

Thanks, that is what I wanted to know. I will confirm how long the Visa takes to get here in NYC. A woman from the Indonesian consulate told me at last week's NYTimes travel expo at the Javits Center (a really good expo, with great booths and tons of information from most every country, tour operator, etc.) that it might just take a day or so.

From the NYC consulate website, the paperwork requirements seem like a bit of a pain though....bank letter, employment letter. Has anyone applied for a visa at the consultate or embassy?

Cruisin:
The consulate's website does seem to indicate you need all that information for a tourist Visa. Forget that.

I tried calling the consulate here in NYC to confirm but got only a voice mail box. I'll try again next week. If true, and you need all that info., that solves that question.
Thanks.

We are going to Bali in June and are staying at the Four Seasons. They offer a service for visas, is it worth it?

Below is the description:

On your request, we can arrange a personal meeting service immediately upon disembarkation or in the arivals hall. You can relax and enjoy complimentary refreshments at the waiting lounge while your personal assiatants take care of your immigration, Visa on Arrival (VOA) and luggage claim. A charge of US$40 per person plus 21% tax and service will apply for this seamless service exclusive the VOA stamp. Please contact Reservations for advance arrangement.

We had no problem or delay getting our visa. Paying $48.40 for a non-issue doesn't make sense.

So you are paying for someone else to stand in line for you. It's not worth $40 per person for me. The $40 doesn't include the visa fee, nor apparently, transport to the hotel. Since recent experiences indicate that the average wait time is 15 minutes, you'll have to decide if it's worth paying someone $80 to wait in line for the two of you. That's an hourly rate of $320... maybe a good retirement biz for some Fodorite who wants to retire to Bali.

haha, okay, thanks. I wasn't sure if it was totally absurd or not, sounds like it is!

I arrived in Bali in November on a Sunday night and the queue took almost an hour.

In November arrived around 7 pm from Singapore, thru in 10 minutes, was very fast.

Is it really a surprise to anyone that the OP had a problem entering this country of calm and grace? I don't know how his Bobness slipped through at all. Of course, they rolled out the black and white carpet for the Panda.

We went to Jakarta in Nov 09. We paid $10 for visa upon arrival for one week and we waited no more than 10 minutes in line. Very easy.
As with applying for visa from the Indonesian councilate in NYC, you have to pay $45 for a month visa even if you are only staying for a week. That's what DH paid last summer, and he had to make two trips to the councilate, one for drop off and the other pick up. I think you can do it by express mail. Yes, you do have to show letter of employment, bank statements and air tickets.

Then, is US$45 or US$40 the current amount?

_______________________________________________
Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie