The island of Bali is a tourist hotspot for many Australians, but until recently most Aussies weren’t able to jump across the pond for a visit due to quarantine rules and visa issues.
Last month, Bali announced that they were reopening to international tourists from February 4th. However, tourists still had to undergo mandatory quarantine in a government listed hotel and obtain a special visa, making it fairly tricky and expensive for an Australian to head over on a quick holiday.
Now, Bali has announced that they are not only removing quarantine for tourists, but that VOA (visa on arrival) will be reimplemented.
The Indonesian island will be removing quarantine for fully vaccinated travellers as of the 14th of March. This means that tourists will be able to enjoy the island shortly after touching down. The new rules require travellers to show proof of vaccination, have a PCR test upon arrival and isolate until a negative result is returned, have a second negative PCR result on the third day of their holiday and show a hotel booking for the first four days.
The Maritime and Investment Ministry coordinator, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan confirmed the news on Sunday, and said that the removal of quarantine may even be implemented sooner than March 14th.
“This policy can be implemented earlier than March 14 if the Covid-19 transmission continues to decrease. We also plan to implement this zero quarantine policy to the other provinces in Indonesia by April 1,” he said.
Prior to the pandemic, most Australians who arrived in Bali for a holiday obtained a visa on arrival (VOA) at the Bali airport. This visa involved filling out a quick form at immigration and cost around $50. It allowed Australians to stay in the country for up to 30 days, or 60 days if they applied for an extension. This visa was revoked at the start of the pandemic, and only people with special visas (eg. humanitarian visas or business visas) were able to enter the country.
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The government has announced that VOA’s will be reinstated, making the process for an Australian traveller to enter the country much simpler. “We will resume the visa on arrival policy so that travellers can gain access to the island without a sponsored visa,” Luhut said.
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