Tourists Must Arrive Extra Early For Flights At Bali Airport As Immigration System Is Disrupted

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Tourists in Indonesia are being instructed to leave extra time when traveling through international airports in the coming days.

This is because the National Data Center, which is managed by the Ministry of Communication and Information, is experiencing a range of technical issues with its servers.

In a statement published on the Directorate General of Immigration account, travelers across Indonesia, domestic and international, are urged to leave extra time when traveling while the issue gets resolved. 

The statement explains, “PDN Server Disruption, Immigration Still Serves Crossing and Passport Applications: Immigration services at technical enforcement units (immigration office, passport processing units, immigration work units) as well as immigration checkpoints at air cities and ports are temporarily impaired. This is a glimpse of the system disruption at the Ministry of Information’s national data center (PDN) that is ongoing on Thursday (20/06/2018).

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Immigration officials add “Although the system is under control, Immigration still provides the optimal service as possible so that the passengers keep departing according to the flight’s schedule, as well as upon arrival. In the meantime, passengers are encouraged to arrive earlier to the airport, anticipating the inspection process that has not yet gone as planned.”

The issue could also affect travelers who are waiting for visa applications and renewals and Indonesian citizens who are applying for a new passport.

The statement concludes “For the people who are scheduled to come to the immigration office today for interviews and passport biometric data retrieval remains served as usual. However, the one-day passport acceleration application has not yet been served and will soon be operational again after the normal system.”

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The Director General of Immigration, Silmy Karim, has spoken to reporters about the server failure. He explained, “We are trying to restore services as soon as possible. The Directorate General of Immigration will immediately inform the public when the Ministry of Communication and Informations’ PDN system has returned to normal and Immigration services can fully operate.”

The issue, which has been at play for over 24 hours now, has been given no estimated time of completion.

The issue is affecting travelers at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. The Immigration system failure is now causing queues for passengers at both airports just as the peak season gets underway. 

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As a result, Immigration checks are now being completed manually which is a fair lengthier process than when Immigration Officers can make use of the digital system. While there are queues at present, officials from Bali Airport have confirmed that the queues are moving and that the issue hasn’t impact flights. 

Ramadan Yogisworo, from PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia, the company in charge of Bali Airport, told reporters that anticipatory steps have been taken at both of Indonesia’s big international airports to help mitigate the situation. 

Yogisworo said, “As a step in anticipating services for airport service users, we as airport managers have increased the number of operational officers, especially at the airport terminal, to assist Immigration officers in managing queues for the smooth inspection of immigration documents.”

He added, “We also appeal to airlines serving international flight routes to inform prospective passengers to arrive earlier than the scheduled departure to minimize queues during the immigration process.”

He concluded, “We hope that the immigration service system can return to normal soon, so that services to airport service users, especially international route passengers, can soon return to running optimally.”

Bali Airport is set to welcome a record number of tourists in 2024, with traveler numbers set to finally surpass pre-pandemic figures. Tourists arriving in Bali for a vacation are eligible for the visa on arrival, which costs IDR 500,000 and is valid for 30 days.

Tourists can also apply for the e-visa on arrival prior to touchdown in Bali; this costs the same and is also valid for 30 days. Both can be extended one time for an additional 30 days.