In Reply to: EXTENDING VOA posted by the phantom on Friday, 7. October 2011 at 03:18 Bali Time:
Hi,
Thank you everyone for your helpful replies.
I will be contacting the consulate and trying to get a long term visa (possibly a temporary stay or a socio cultural visa). According to their website, once issued the visa has to be used within 3 months, so I can't apply until early next year, but I will contact them very soon to find out my eligibility. That will be my number one choice as I don't wish to have to worry about either extending or overstaying.
I am staying at Bali Gardens for 42 nights and have a sponsorship letter to cover that part of my trip. So hopefully, that, and email confirmations of accommodation booked in Lombok will satisfy the consulate.
Overstaying should be my last resort, which it is. From what I can ascertain though, on the internet, overstaying only becomes a jail offence if you overstay by more than 60 days...up to then it is 200000rp per day, but certainly, it's best to avoid overstaying and being in the hands of an immigration official. If I can't get a long term visa, my naive hope is that 2 days overstaying would be not a major problem. A couple of replies on the forum have said this.
My understanding is that you can extend the 30 day VOA, but only once, so getting it extended for the extra 2 days would not be possible.
I have been referred to BaliMode. Has anyone dealt with them or can recommend a different agent?
Any further advice/tips from anyone in this matter will be very greatly received.
Cheers,
David