President Bola Tinubu
Nigeria excluded, as Indonesia offers new e-visa of arrival services to 97 countries
[By VICTOR NZE]
Indonesia has excluded Nigeria in its fresh list of 97 countries’ nationals eligible to access its newly-introduced e-Visa On Arrival (e-VOA) services announced, Tuesday.
The new list includes countries like Armenia, and nationalities from Mozambique and Tanzania, in Africa.
Although the Asian country did not disclose reasons for excluding Nigerian nationalities from its new e-visa policy, it however did point out that nationals from South Africa, in the African region, account for the highest number of tourist visitors who travel to Indonesia.
Nigeria has a fairly large population of its nationals in the southeast Asian countries of Malaysia and Indonesia.
To this end, Indonesia has signed up with VFS Global to handle its newly-opened e-Visa on Arrival (e-VOA) services to the approved 97 countries.
The service also provides for group bookings and the country has further reached an agreement with Emirates Airlines to drive the process for its passengers.
Indonesia had set an ambitious target of welcoming 14 million visitors in 2024 and has so far achieved 9.92 million arrivals from January to August 2024.
The country said its user-friendly eVoA solution aligns with its ongoing efforts to enhance tourism infrastructure and services, adding that travellers to the country will soon be able to enjoy a quicker and smoother visa application journey through VFS Global by completing the entire process online before departure and receiving a pre-approved e-VoA.
“The e-VoA can be easily obtained by visiting VFS Global website, submitting all the required documents, and paying the necessary fees online prior to travel. Once the application is submitted, travellers can receive their visas on their email before departure. With the payment having been made online, travellers can enjoy a smoother and faster entry experience through E-gates or immigration counters,” the country said.
Also commenting, Mr. Silmy Karim, Director General of Immigration of Indonesia, said: “The Directorate General of Immigration offers the latest digital solutions that enhance the experience for foreign nationals who wish to visit Indonesia. In our collaboration with VFS Global, we aim to effectively contribute to increasing the arrival of foreigners, taking into account the network and digital platform owned by our partners.”
Mr. Zubin Karkaria, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, VFS Global Group said, “Indonesia is a very popular destination for travellers across the globe, and we are excited to unveil a service that will make their visa application process quicker, simpler and much more convenient.
“This user-friendly and highly secure digital e-Visa on Arrival (e-VoA) service will considerably enhance the visa application experience, thereby facilitate increase in tourism to the country. We are honoured to partner with the Directorate General of Immigration under the Ministry of Law and Human Rights and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia for this service.”
Travellers applying for Indonesia e-VoA via VFS Global will get a dedicated email and live support in seven languages – English, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, German, and French – to help them with their queries. VFS Global will add more language support in due course of time for key markets.
To further support this initiative, VFS Global has partnered with Emirates Airlines to make Indonesia e-Visa on Arrival (e-VoA) application service seamless for the airline’s passengers.
