DENPASAR – Long delays being experienced by arriving passengers at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport have angered local politicians.
According to media reports carried by Bali Update (www.balidiscovery.com) a member of the Bali House of Representatives has complained about the numerous steps in the clearance process confronting passengers entering Bali’s arrival terminal.
In addition to paying for and securing a 30-day visa-on-arrival (VOA) and presenting their passport for inspection to immigration officers, Bali visitors must now submit to a fingerprinting and photo session before making their way to the Customs area where each piece of baggage is x-rayed before being subject to possible hand inspection.
The entire process can take up to two hours from the door of the airplane to the airport’s greeting area.
Some tourists complain that the process can, in fact, take four hours for those arriving at peak traffic times.
Gede, a Balinese guide said passengers arriving on an 11:00 pm flight are only clearing the airport at 3:00 am.
In another example, he told of how some passengers arriving on a 7:00 am flight only manage to clear the procedures at 2:00 pm.
Immigration officials claim that the entire fingerprinting and photography process should take no more than 1.5 to 2 minutes for each passenger, but long delays are caused by the limited number of fingerprinting machines.
