Indonesia Mulls Plan to Expand Visa-on-Arrival Program to More Countries, Entry Points

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Indonesian government plans to expand its visa-on-arrival program to more countries and more checkpoints after a trial allowing foreigners to apply for the visa on arrival for tourism in Bali on March 7.

Previously, the government reintroduced its visa on arrival for tourism to foreigners from 23 countries such as Australia, the US, South Korea, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Aiming at promoting the country’s tourism and business amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the decision was taken into consideration of the decline of coronavirus infections.

“The government plans to expand the implementation of visa on arrival program to other airports such as in Jakarta and Surabaya,” said Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan during a press conference on Monday, March 14.

Also read: Foreign Tourists from 23 Countries Can Apply for Visa on Arrival in Bali: Indonesia Government

Luhut said since the visa on arrival trial began last week, 449 foreigners have applied for the program upon their arrival in Bali and the non-tax revenue (PNBP) tariff for the visa on arrival reached 224 million Indonesian rupiahs ($15,600).

“Therefore, the government is going to expand the implementation of visa on arrival program to countries with great tourism potential and G20 nations,” said the senior minister with no elaborate on the countries that have tourism potential.

This year Indonesia serves as the president of the Group of 20 major economies and various meetings have been taking place in Jakarta and Bali.

Elsewhere, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said that the government is targeting to expand the visa on arrival program to foreign tourists from China and India.
“We propose additional countries and based on the recent limited cabinet meeting China and India are the countries whose citizens are eligible for the expanded program,” Sandiaga said in a virtual weekly press briefing on Monday.

However, Sandiaga said that the visa on arrival policy is still in the monitoring stage. The government will continue to evaluate the number of countries that are eligible for the program.

(Editor: Nabilla Tashandra)

Source: https://travel.kompas.com/read/2022/03/14/203000327/visa-on-arrival-bakal-diterapkan-di-pintu-masuk-jakarta-dan-surabaya.