As per the title: On January 25, 2022, I flew from Xiamen to Jakarta with the intention of trying for a visa-on-arrival (VOA) sticker. It seems that your experience can vary greatly depending on who you encounter, but I was quite fortunate.
Here’s my experience at Jakarta’s CGKT3 terminal:
First: After disembarking, continue walking, and you will come across VOA counters twice along the way. These counters only provide the email type of VOA, which definitely won’t have a physical sticker. I inquired at the first counter, and the staff were very polite, though their English had a strong accent, it was mostly comprehensible. They explained that if I wanted a different type of VOA, I needed to proceed to the last and largest VOA counter before immigration.
Second: The largest VOA counter is located just before the immigration area. When we arrived, only two windows were open, and there was just one person in line, so our wait was only about two or three minutes.
At this point, things started to get a bit intriguing. I had heard that they now charge additional processing fees for cash payments for the VOA, so I was prepared for that.
The people queuing behind me were fellow countrymen who weren’t very fluent in English, which added a layer of complexity to the situation.
The female staff member asked me for my email address in Chinese, and I responded in English: “When I arrived in Indonesia, I found out that I couldn’t connect to my email, and I don’t remember the password, so I might not be able to receive the visa.” She then directly asked, “Cash or card?” I said cash, and she informed me that the cost was 500,000 IDR per person, 1,000,000 IDR for two, plus a processing fee. The processing fee is 3,000 IDR per person, so 6,000 IDR for two people.
I began to worry because I didn’t have small change. I handed her a total of 1,100,000 IDR and was concerned she wouldn’t give me the correct change, but she returned all the change to me and even apologized, saying she didn’t have enough small denominations, including two 1,000 IDR coins. She then promptly gave me the small purple slip.
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