W

e had a disappointing experience with the Indonesian immigration service on Aug. 20 concerning a so-called '€œexpired tourist visa'€.

Maybe this issue is very common and you'€™ve already heard thousands of complaints, but it is still very surprising when you come from Europe, where corruption is a bit more subtle.

We spent one month here and were told by an official that our 30-day visa had expired one day before and we had to pay the penalty.

At first we laughed, but not for too long, as the official took us to a small and dirty room one hour before departure. I wasted my time explaining that on arrival, to deliver the document, the immigration service just asked the date of departure and decided the duration and price of the visa, obviously making a small mistake at this moment.

The guy in charge said '€œwhen you travel to a country you have to know its laws and rules'€. In other words, I should have checked the validity of the visa while I was paying for it, to avoid any problems. We arrived on July 21 and left on Aug. 20, which is almost 31 days depending upon the arrival time '€” which was in late afternoon, as we were leaving at 10:30 a.m. (six hours before the 31 days were up, despite what '€œthe system'€ was showing).

After an exchange of opinions about what was a professional mistake and an opportunity to ask for some money from a tourist, I resigned to paying and saved my flight home, in cash, as they didn'€™t have any card facility.

It appeared that one side knew the other would pay anyway, blackmailed by the danger of losing a flight home. The episode cost us US$120 for two children and two adults, and gave us an image of a country that has deep contradictions, split between the generosity of the population and the legacy of corruption.

Piotr Krzakowski
France