I Gusti Kompiang Adnyana, the Head of the Bali Regional Office of the ministry of “Justice and Human Rights”, ensures that there are no more rogue immigration officers who commit extortion against foreigners during the examination of travel documents at the Denpasar Ngurah Rai Airport.
The statement refers to the issue of Immigration staff offering bribery to foreigners who don’t want to stand in the immigration queue for the passport control, often also called “Fast Track”.
“There are no more rogue officers, I guarantee no more. This was an issue a few months ago and has now been rewired, and it doesn’t happen any more,” said Kompiang Adnyana in Denpasar, Bali, on Thursday (11/27/2014).
The issue of alleged illegal payments (bribes) taken by immigration officers came from comments from Made Pastika, the Governer of Bali, through complaints from foreigners who visit Bali. Governor Pastika says he will make a video recording of the poor service from the immigration officer at the airport. Moreover, when long lines occur at the passport control, the number of officers is actually at a minimum.
“We continue to fix. What was once a long queue, we try to improve in order to serve well. It is already better now,” he said.
In addition, long lines take about 2-3 hours to serve 3,000 to 6,000 people. Under these circumstances, the number of immigration officers and technical services should be reconsidered so that tourists, especially foreigners to Bali, can feel comfortable.
Source : http://regional.kompas.com
Have you arrived in Bali recently, how were the immigration queues?
Have you used fast track services in the past and was it worth the price?
Hello Ketut, we arrive this Sunday at 2:40pm. USA visitors. Our hotel offered us Fast Track. Should we accept it or decline it? Thank you.
Hello, the queues at the Bali airport immigration are considerably shorter than they were a year ago when this article was published. Although there are currently still fast track providers, it is not the same service as it used to be. Nowadays it is no longer possible to have your passport stamped in the “back office” allowing you to skip the queue. Even if it was still possible to have your passport stamped in the back office you would probably be faster just joining the (short) queue.
Nevertheless, some hotels in Bali (e.g. Aman Resorts) still offer a modified fast track service to their guests. You will still need to queue at the immigration counter but they will be there to guide you, help you find your luggage, show you through customs and then out to meet your driver or book a taxi. If this service is offered free of charge by your hotel then go for it 🙂 If they charge for this service then I would probably decline unless you enjoy having a personal assistant to help you with your arrival.
Hi Ketut – we will be visiting Bali in a few weeks and was wondering if you could provide some input. Our flight arrives on a Saturday at 7:10PM. We won’t have any check-in luggage as we are trying to get out of the airport as soon as possible. How long do you think it would take us to get through immigration and then to Ubud at that time of day?
Thanks!
Hi Nolan, if you don’t have any luggage then I think it will take you less than 20 minutes from the moment your plane lands and the moment you are at the airport taxi counter. The ride from airport to Ubud center will take about 75-90 minutes.
Thanks for your response Ketut!
Thanks Ketut, my flight arrives in at 3:15 p.m. and I’m debating if I should book the 4:50 p.m. flight from bali to Lombok or a later flight given that I have to get through immigration, check-in bags for a domestic flight.
When you say “excessive long” do you mean 30 minutes or 1 hour?
Hi Jerry, in perfect conditions you can possibly make it but I think it will be unlikely.
If the plane touches down at 3:15pm you will probably be in the arrival terminal building at 3:20 or 3:25pm. You will then queue twice (unless you are from a visa free country) at the visa payment counter and the immigration counter.
Even if these queues are fast or if you were to skip the queue (you can mention you have a tight connection), the longest wait is for luggage and can be an extra 10-20 minutes (after you have cleared immigration).
Often there are no luggage trolleys left and you will need to haul all your bags (or pay for a porter). Then you need to process customs which takes maybe 5 minutes. Then you are out and will need to run to the domestic terminal building.
If you know your way around the Bali airport you can run this in 5 minutes. If this is your first visit and/or do not know where the domestic building is you will need to ask for directions and will possibly need 10-15 minutes (get a porter to help with luggage and show you to the domestic terminal).
If I were you I’d play it safe and book a later flight to Lombok.
Thanks I appreciate the advice. I’ll let the forum know how things turn out!
Is it very busy to get through immigration on Saturdays from 3-4 p.m.?
Hi Jerry, Saturdays are not that much different from weekdays what concerns international arriving guests (the domestic terminal does get a bigger crowd on weekends). 3-4pm is just after peak time when a lot of planes land in a short period. Having said that, the immigration department adds more staff during peak hours and I think the queues will not be excessive long. I hope you will come back here to let us know how it went for you.
Sir I along with my family will be coming to bali for sight seeing . I could heard that on arrival visa from. -India is a difficult process at your airpoort ; it maynot be true . otherwise please advice me what should we do and what all documents require for on arrival visa in Bali
Dear Prakashchandra Banerjee. India is one of the 62 countries who are eligible to get a 30 day Visa On Arrival. I have not heard of any issues for India visitors to enter Indonesia or Bali. I don’t expect you to have problems entering as long as you fulfill the requirements such as minimum 6 month passport validity, proof of return flight home, USD 35 visa on arrival fee and at least one blank page in your passport. Please have a look here for the full details on the most current visa on arrival regulations. Wishing you a wonderful trip.
Are the lines still very bad? I’ll be arriving on a Tuesday at 430pm and wondering if I should buy some vip service from my hotel to help expedite.
Hi Jz, the lines are not as bad as they used to be. There are now more immigration officers processing arriving passengers. Also, 4:30pm is not really peak time for arrivals which is more around 1:30 – 3:30pm.
The VIP service is also not as regular/reliable as it used to be. It is not allowed anymore. Some immigration officers will still do it although very low profile and not on every shift.
If you do book the VIP service there is still a chance you will need to queue if there are no immigration officers on duty who are still willing to offer fast track passport services as there are harsh punishments if they get caught.
step up bali you need visitors
Would happily pay for fast track OR fix the crazy long wait times with more staff
Hi David, did you recently pass through the Bali airport immigrations? How long did it take you?
We recently arrived in Bali from Bangkok. There were no immigration or customs forms available on the plane so all the passengers had to hunt around to find some and they were in very short supply. When various people asked uniformed officials if they could help locate the cards, they were treated very rudely and unhelpfully. The cards we were finally able to find only had the two piece arrival section and didn’t have the inclusion of the third part which is the departure card. This meant that we had to ask for a departure card from the check in counter when we left.
We love Bali yet feel sad when visitors are treated shabbily at the entry point, this gives a very wrong first impression of a beautiful place.
Landed in Bali 24/11/14 visa on arrival and immigration lines where full. We had to wait almost 2 hours to get thru. I don’t see any improvement on wait times. Bali seriously need to employ more staff in these areas. They are aware of the plane schedules so should have staff rostered on to accommodate the people.
Did you see anyone offer fast track? I am so scared that we have to wait 2 hrs at airport after a long fly 🙁
Hi Chenn, the queues are supposed to be shorter now with more immigration staff on duty. Enjoy your holiday 🙂
Been to Bali many times and used fast lane and cannot see the problem? everything within life isn’t free so you pay whatever it may be . To whinge about people that use his service is nothing more then sad when they are going to a country for holiday which is very cheap but whinge because they don’t want to spent the money to use it . After hours of travel to our airport then wait to check in and after that wait around for your flight the hours to get to Bali is a very long day ‘ so who want’s the wait yet again ? I know I just want to get to the Hotel . Shame on Bali to stop this service when your visitors help support many families . If this be the case I doubt I will return and also this will effect my friends in bali I help each and every visit which has kept me going back yrs after yr . Shame Shame Shame /
Love fast track. We have used it many times. Arrived in August and waited 1 1/2 hrs. It was ridiculous happy to pay the extra
It took and hour to get through in october and i treid to offer people money and no one would fast track me -at least the bags were waiting when we finally got through.
Yes i have used fast track and i think it was worth the money