Jakarta –

A citizen ChinaGuo Jinpeng became an electronic user Visa on arrival (e-VOA) which first landed in Indonesia. The man entered Indonesia through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang on Friday evening (4/11) around 22:55 WIB.

Guo Jinpeng boarded a Cathay Pacific CX797 from Hong Kong. It is the holder of the e-VOA B213 index which was published on Thursday (03/11/2022). Guo Jinpeng is the first foreigner to enter Indonesian territory during the trial period for the implementation of e-VOA by the director general of immigration. It took only 45 seconds for Guo Jinpeng to complete the process at the passport control point (TPI).

The man from China admitted he was helped by the convenience of the e-VOA as he could easily apply for a visa on arrival (VOA) online via his smartphone without queuing at the airport. With a mobile phone, Guo Jinpeng pays VOA with a credit card as easy as online shopping.

“I’m here for a business meeting in Jakarta. I can apply for e-VOA from my country and it’s quite easy,” Guo Jinpeng said in an immigration press release on Saturday (11/ 5/2022).

Public Relations Deputy Coordinator Directorate General of Immigration, Achmad Nur Saleh explained that the e-VOA is an innovation which is currently being tested before being officially launched on Wednesday (September 11). With e-VOA, foreigners only need to register their visa application via the molina.imigration.go.id website. If approved, foreigners simply pay online with a credit card bearing the Visa, Mastercard or JCB logo.

After making the payment, the e-VOA application will be checked by the agent and if approved, it will be sent to foreigners through the application. Moreover, foreigners simply download the e-VOA which has been approved and just show it at the immigration checkpoint when entering Indonesian territory.

“The goal of the e-VOA innovation is to make it easier for foreigners to use Visa on Arrival so that they can speed up the flow of their arrival. Indeed, people do not have to wait in line at the VOA payment counter at the arrival terminal,” he explained.

Achmad clarified that for now only foreigners from 26 countries are allowed to apply for the e-VOA, namely:

1. Australia,
2. South Africa,
3. United States of America,
4. Saudi Arabia,
5. Argentina,
6. Holland,
7. Belgium,
8. Brazil,
9. Denmark,
10.India,
11.English,
12.Italy,
13.Japan,
14.Germany,
15.Canada,
16.South Korea,
17.Mexico,
18.France,
19.Russia,
20. New Zealand,
21.Spain,
22.Switzerland,
23. Timor-Leste,
24.China,
25.Turkey, and
26.Ukraine;

During this trial period, Achmad pointed out that foreigners holding e-VOAs were only allowed to enter Indonesia through two arrival gates, namely Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Tangerang and Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport. Special e-VOA queues are also available at these 2 airports.

Foreigners using e-VOA, Achmad said, are required to pay 500,000 rupees and will be allowed to stay in Indonesia for 30 days and can be extended for another 30 days at the immigration office. Like the e-Visa, the e-VoA can be used up to 90 days after payment. They are allowed to stay in Indonesia for sightseeing visits, government service visits, business interview visits, commodity purchase visits, meeting visits, and transits.

“We hope that the e-VOA system will not only increase visits from foreign tourists in the tourism sector, but can also encourage investment and create new jobs in Indonesia,” he concluded.

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[Gambas:Video 20detik]

(asp/dnu)