VOA vs E-VOA in Bali : Important differences you should know
VOA and e-VOA visas are the two most popular visas to enter Indonesia as a tourist. If they are very similar in many regards, they do have some differences that you should consider carefully depending on your travel plans.
Here is what you should know.
What is a Visa On Arrival in Indonesia?
As the name implies, a Visa On Arrival, often shortened to VOA, is a visa that you can directly purchase at your entrance on the Indonesian territory, typically an international Airport.
The Indonesian Visa On Arrival that you can buy in any Indonesian international airport is valid for 30 days, and can be extended for another 30 days. After these 60 days, you will have no choice but to exit the country.
Two important notes regarding VOA in Indonesia:
- The VOA is for tourist stays only. It is absolutely forbidden to work in Indonesia and/or with Indonesian companies on a VOA.
- Not all nationalities can apply for a VOA. Refer to the list here to know if you can qualify. If you do not qualify, apply for a B211 instead.
What is an e-VOA in Indonesia?
The e-VOA is the younger brother of the VOA.
Instead of purchasing your visa on arrival upon landing in your destination, you instead apply online few days before your trip to Indonesia, and directly purchase your visa.
If your application is accepted, great, you don’t need to buy your visa upon arrival in Indonesia. You can go straight away to the immigration lane and enter Indonesia after the immigration agent has verified your visa and passport.
But the difference between e-VOA and VOA doesn’t stop here.
The similarities between the common VOA and the e-VOA
Before detailing the differences you should be aware of between a VOA and an e-VOA, here is what is exactly the same regardless of whether your visa was bought on the spot at the airport or online:
- Both VOA and e-VOA have a maximum validity of 60 days with no possible extension after that
- The price of getting a VOA and a e-VOA is the same
- Both e-VOA and VOA are for touristic purpose (no work allowed, you are not a resident)
- Both e-VOA and “offline” VOA are single entry: you will lose it if you exit Indonesian territory
- The eligible countries for both e-VOA and VOA are the same. If your country is ineligible for VOA, you won’t have better chances with e-VOA.
What are the main differences between a VOA and an e-VOA?
The main differences between the VOA and e-VOA can actually be more important than you think, especially if you plan on staying between 30 and 60 days in Indonesia.
Here are the main ones you should know.
The VOA can only be purchased at the airport, the e-VOA is purchased online
Of course, the VOA can only be purchased upon your entry on Indonesian territory. You can’t book it in advance.
On the other hand, you apply and book your e-VOA, so you take your plane with it.
The main benefit is that you will skip the queue for buying a VOA once you arrive.
How big can the VOA queue get, you might be wondering? Well…It depends. If you are lucky, you can be done in 5 minutes. In other instances, it can take a few hours if you are very unlucky.
It goes without saying, if you are going down from a long flight to Indonesia (say Europe), the wait can be fairly irritating if you are not the patient kind and / or if you are very tired.
The e-VOA has a 60 days option, the VOA doesn’t
One of the major differences between the e-VOA and the VOA comes from the possibility to apply directly for 60 days with an e-VOA (so basically doing the extension in advance) which is not possible with the usual VOA that only allows 30 initial days and the extension.
You WILL need to go yourself to the immigration office to extend your regular VOA 30 more days
If you have a normal VOA and want to extend it for another 30 days, you will have to go to the immigration office one way or another a week before the expiry date of the initial 30 days.
You have two options here:
- Do the whole process yourself. It involve 3 trips to the immigration office. One for applying and schedule a photo / fingerprint session, one for the photo/fingerprinting and a last one to pick up your visa.
- Use an agent that does all the paperwork for you, along with dropping / picking up files and passports. All you have left to do is go to the immigration office for the photo and fingerprinting session, which is obviously something your agent can’t do on your behalf.
You can extend your e-VOA yourself without going to the immigration office
On the other hand, if you didn’t directly pick the 60 days option of the e-VOA, but only the 30 days one, you can renew for 30 more days without having to go to the immigration office.
Simply go from the same website you applied the first time and request a 30 days extension, pay and you are good to go.
When should you pick an e-VOA over a VOA?
If you are still hesitating between the e-VOA and the VOA, here is when you should probably go for the e-VOA over the VOA.
If you already know you want to stay between 30 days and 60 days in Indonesia, the e-VOA is a more practical option
There is no question about it, the e-VOA makes these stays between 30 days and 60 days simpler. Either you go directly with a 60 days e-VOA, or you go for the 30 days e-VOA and extend once it arrives at its term.
In all cases, you won’t have to visit an immigration office with an e-VOA, which is quite convenient. If you experience issues with your e-VOA application, we can help you get it.
You have time to apply for the e-VOA before your trip to Indonesia
Applying for the e-VOA is one more thing to do before your trip to Indonesia. Is it mandatory? No, not really. It’s more of a convenience: less queue at the airport and easier potential extension.
If you have the time and energy to do it, then by all means.
E-VOA is better than regular VOA if you stay in remote locations and plan to extend
Let’s face it, immigration offices are quite well spread over the Indonesian territory, but they are not in every village either.
If you plan to stay between 30 days and 60 days while staying in remote locations that are far from any immigration offices, do yourself a favour and spend some time beforehand to get your e-VOA. You will be thankful you’ve done it. Again, if you are currently struggling with your e-VOA application, feel free to contact our team to get help.
When should you pick the regular VOA over the e-VOA?
There are also cases where VOA can be preferable, or at least as convenient as an e-VOA. Here are some of them.
You stay in Indonesia less than 30 days, VOA or E-VOA doesn’t really matter
If you stay in Indonesia for less than 30 days, the difference between a VOA obtained directly at the airport and an e-VOA is very slim. Most benefits of the e-VOA lies in the ease of extension, which are not a matter for stays under 30 days.
There is truly only one benefit left: less queue at the airport. But since you may have to apply, potentially struggle to upload your documents, pay and then receive an answer, it’s hard to tell which is the longest or more energy draining.
The choice is yours, really.
You have issues with the e-VOA application website
Many people encounter issues when they try to apply for e-VOA themselves. If you can’t make it work, we can help you.
Worse case scenario, you can also buy your VOA once you arrive at the airport, which would lead to a similar if you stay less than 30 days in Indonesia.
You don’t have time to apply for the e-VOA
You can’t apply at the last minute for an e-VOA.
So if you were too excited about your next trip to Bali and completely forgot the visa situation (it happens!), don’t beat yourself up and simply get a VOA once you land.
You are staying in a location not far from an immigration office
If you are staying close to an immigration office and have a little bit of time on your hands, a VOA can be very easy to get, and relatively easy to extend, even by yourself. With an agent, it gets even faster and easier.
So if you forgot to apply before your trip or decided at the last minute that a week or two in Bali wouldn’t hurt, do not worry, you won’t have any issue doing that with a VOA in any case.
How we can help you with your VOA extensions and e-VOA applications
We can help you streamline your visa on arrival situation in Indonesia in several ways:
- We help you get your e-VOA (and its extension if necessary)
- We can help you extend your VOA (only one trip to Immigration needed)
- We can extend a VOA at the last minute if you are late
- We help you get a B211 visa if your nationality is not eligible for VOA or for visit stays longer than 60 days
Summary of the E-VOA vs regular VOA match for your trip to Indonesia
| Regular VOA | E-VOA | |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility | Nationals from selected VOA countries only | Nationals from selected VOA countries only |
| Purpose | Touristic / visit only | Touristic / visit only |
| Maximum duration including extension | 60 days | 60 days |
| Max initial validity without extension | 30 days | 30 days or 60 days |
| Application location | At your entrance in Indonesia (airport, usually) | Online |
| When you should apply | When you enter the country (airport usually) | Few days before you leave to Indonesia |
| Extension for 30 more days | In an immigration office only | Online (if 30 days was initially chosen) or no extension (60 days) |
