Immigration in Denpasar

Immigration in Denpasar

From Kompas

On Jan. 5, 1995 two of us arrived in Denpasar from Brisbane. Because Garuda's departure from Brisbane was delayed we were late for our connecting flight from Denpasar to Jakarta with the next flight available at 8 p.m. We hated waiting at the airport for six hours, so we asked for permission to go into Kuta after completing all the necessary arrangements, including the boarding passes.

What surprised us was that immigration did not let us leave the airport simply because we already had the boarding pass. Why? We are Indonesian citizens, wanting to go home, and had all the immigration documents. Unfortunately Garuda could not do anything about it, it was entirely the business of the immigration office.

A family who arrived at Denpasar from Darwin a few days earlier had the same problem. Ironically, foreign tourists can go into Kuta by leaving their boarding pass and passports at the immigration office. This inconsistency is confusing us. Could the immigration office explain, please.

Name and address

withheld