Bureaucracy:

Clearing in and out of Indonesia is involved and confusing, primarily due to bureaucratic bungling and misinformation, which pretty much necessitates hiring an experienced agent familiar with the pitfalls.

Visa Misinformation:

Getting the correct visa, some of which cannot be extended, is a challenge, primarily due to incorrect information on the official immigration department visa application website, molina.imigrasi.go.id. Entering the required information in the prompts on the website identified the appropriate visas for my intended six-month visit, none of which was the B211A visitor visa (the correct one). It indicated the 211A tourism visa was an appropriate visa, and like the B211A visa, can be extended after the initial 60 day stay period, or converted to another visa.

As Indonesia requires tourists intending to stay in the country longer than 60 days to have a registered Indonesia sponsor when applying for a visa, I applied for and received the 211A visa which does not include that requirement. On arrival in Saumlaki, the Immigration officer stated the 211A visa could not be extended and that I had to be out of the country within 60 days. I went into the Immigration office in Tual a week later with copies of the Immigration website information in hand and the officer there was less than helpful. He repeated that the 211A can’t be extended, that I should have applied for a B211A, and claimed the website information regarding the 211A was meant to apply to an entire class of 211A visas, which made no sense, since he was also saying the 211A couldn’t be extended. (The heading on the website page expressly states the terms listed are for the 211A visa and no other.)

The following text is copied from the official Indonesian e-visa website:

Type of Visa 211A – Tourism – 60 Days
Information
________________________________________
1. Stay – Up to 60 Days (extendable)
2. Cost – IDR 1,500,000
3. Processing time
a. Most tourist visas are processed within five working days.
b. We will contact you when your visa application is completed.
c. Your visa application may take longer to process if the information required for your visa is incomplete or missing.
4. With this visa you can
a. Visit family or friends.
b. Visit Indonesia for the purpose of tourism.
c. Attend meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions as an atendee.
5. You must
a. Be staying in Indonesia for visit purposes only.
b. Be financially sufficient during your stay in Indonesia.
c. Comply with all visa conditions and Indonesia laws.
6. Other information
a. You can extend this visa or convert it into another visa or stay permit.
b. You are prohibited from staying in Indonesia after your stay permit expires..
c. You are prohibited from carrying out any profit-making activities in any form.
d. You are prohibited from attending events as a speaker.
e. Performing prohibited activities, not complying with the terms of your visa, and/or not complying with the laws of Indonesia may result in you paying fines, being deported, and/or other legal charges.

-ends-

The officer refused to acknowledge that the information in the department website (above) is incorrect, that my error was the result of relying on information provided by the department or to assist in resolving the problem. So I had to hire an agent (4 million rupiah), fly from Sorong to Jayapura, take a bus in to Papua New Guinea, stay in a town on the north coast a week and, while there, have the agent obtain a B211A visa so I could re-enter Indonesia and return to the boat, at a total cost of $2,000 U.S. Worse, the immigration department continues to misinform visa applicants on the official website that the 211A visa is extendable, causing many applicants to fall into that trap.

In addition to requiring visa applicants to leave the country to apply for another visa, Indonesia appears to be in a minority of countries that requires tourists, as opposed to journalists, workers, academics and other non-tourists, to obtain a government registered sponsor to visit the country. This can be difficult and adds another layer of bureaucratic paperwork and expense.

Cruising Permit Pitfalls:

Cruisers are required to get a cruising permit which requires listing every intended port of call in advance of arrival, another difficulty in a huge archipelago with which most cruisers are unfamiliar and where cruising routes are heavily influenced by changing winds and currents during different seasons. It is especially important that the cruising permit identify the intended final (international) port of clearance. (Although I included my intended departure clearance port in the permit application, the Saumlaki harbor master failed to include it in the permit, something I discovered later.)

There is much misinformation, official and anecdotal, about the need to clear in and out of every domestic port visited. Like many of the purported immigration, customs, quarantine and harbor master regulations, it appears to be either ignored or enforced at random at the whim of individual harbor masters. Presidential Decree 105, issued in 2015, discontinuing domestic clearance, would appear to be the final word on the matter, but again, some officials in some areas may take the position that compliance with federal rules is discretionary on their part, and failure to clear in or out of some port may result in problems with the local authorities. In any event, it might be a good idea to “clear out” with the harbor master from your last domestic port before arriving at an international departure, so officials at the international departure port cannot use the “omission” as an excuse to delay your departure or impose a fine. Download a copy of Presidential Decree 105 from the internet (Bahasa Indonesia only) to have on hand to show any recalcitrant official.

Is the Green Book Still Required?

Similarly, there is much confusion surrounding the “green book” which is supposed to be obtained from the quarantine office when initially clearing into the country and presented to every public health officer in every port visited, another archaic and pointless annoyance. A reliable source here in Sorong states that isn’t routinely enforced, but another source on the Noonsite website states some vessels have been delayed for days at departure clearance ports because they didn’t have green books, which are supposed to be turned in on departure.

Douglas McLean
SV Gillean

See Indonesia Formalities for further details.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising.

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