His experience will at least have the merit of serving as an example. (Photo by Atstock Productions/Adobe Stock)
Anyone entering or leaving a country is subject to the controls and regulations of the customs services at the airport. This mainly involves checking travel documents, starting with the passport.
The latter, essential for travel, must not contain any errors of any kind. It should also not be damaged. In which case, the traveler will be refused entry or exit from a country.
Not realizing the error in his passport, this Australian tourist encounters problems with Indonesian customs and is forced to turn around. He tells his story.
Passport error: it is refused by customs
This Tuesday, June 6, Matt Vandenberg, 29, is flying from Sydney, Australia, to a friend’s wedding in Bali, Indonesia.
At the airport, he goes through security without worries and boards his Jetstar flight where he will have a calm and pleasant flight. ” I took the 6am flight, from Jetstar – everyone was well behaved, staff were great “, he says on Twitter. But the trip takes another turn once on the ground, in Bali.
As soon as he arrives in Bali, Matt presents his passport, and that’s when he falls from the clouds.
” I arrive at the DPS, I pay for my visa, I present my passport, they take me to the immigration office which tells me that I have a tear of one centimeter on the page of my passport he says.
The tear in his passport is not visible, unless you fold the page in question to bring out the defect. Matt continues: I am taken to an office to be told that the tearing of my passport is not acceptable “.
Finally, the authorities explain to him that he will not be able to enter Indonesian territory, and that he must return to Australia, not without confiscating his passport. ” I’ve been told I won’t be allowed into the country – and my passport will be confiscated until I catch a flight home tonight “, he says on his social network.
12 hour wait at the airport with attentive staff
Following this news, Matt is forced to stay at the airport until the time of the next flight that will take him home. In total, he will spend 12 hours at the airport, but fortunately for him, the agents who keep him company are very friendly.
” I’ve had two airport cops by my side all day – to be honest, they’re the nicest people you can have around, they feel really, really sorry for me – but the rules are the rules “, he says.
Matt ends up flying back to Australia, where he plans to fix the problem with his passport the next morning. He also explains that this experience cost him 1,500 Australian dollars, or more than 930 euros.
Indonesia: very strict safety rules
Twitter users sympathize with Matt’s plight, as this commenter writes: Man, that sucks “. His experience will at least have the merit of serving as an example: the Indonesian authorities are very strict and do not forgive any deviation.
To a user who plans to visit Bali in the summer, Matt says that about ” one hundred passports are refused every day “. Witness this passenger, John Hammond, whose story was taken up by The Sun. A ” tear the size of a thumbnail on his passport got him in trouble.
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