August 2, 2022 – Sugito, the head of the immigration office at the Ngurah Rai Checkpoint in Bali, provided clarification on Monday in response to Sebastian Powell’s blog post over the weekend entitled “Bali Airport Has Become a Nightmare With Up To Five Hours Immigration Lineups!”
Sebastian Powell, according to Sugito, arrived from Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, July 29, 2022, and made it to I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport at 2:43 p.m. local time. He next went through the health document inspection process before going to the BRI desk to get a Visa on Arrival (VOA).
Sugito discovered from information in the immigration crossing application that Powell had an immigration examination at 3:47 p.m. local time. As a result, it took a total of about 54 minutes to complete the immigration examination after Powell had disembarked the plane, undergone a health inspection, and paid the VOA.
He also added that as a result of the expansion of immigration laws to accommodate, the rise in the number of nations requiring visas on arrival (VOA) and the granting of (visa exemption facilities) for nations in the Southeast Asian region, more planes, and more travellers are arriving in Bali. It can be seen from the increase in the number of tourists visiting Indonesia according to a report from The Central Bureau of Statistics.
Thus, international flight schedules in Ngurah Rai airport are now very busy as a result of the rise in flight volume. It’s possible that this situation will lead to crowding in the arrival area during busy times.
Sugito highlighted that the immigration checks can still run smoothly even though there is a chance of overcrowding in the arrival area of the Ngurah Rai Airport. It is because the officer in immigration checks has taken proactive measures to address the possible passenger overcrowding during peak hours. They can inspect 1,500 travellers each hour at the 25 counters in the arrival area.