No visa extension, unless, of course...

No visa extension, unless, of course...

I am French and arrived in Bali on Sept. 29. I got a tourist
visa on arrival and paid US$25.

As I wanted to extend my stay, I called the immigration office
and they told me that it would be impossible to extend a tourist
visa and I had to go out of the country to Singapore. So I
contacted a few travel agents and most of them said I could
extend my visa for from Rp 1.5 million to Rp 2 million. As it is
cheaper to do this than to travel to Singapore, I paid for the
visa extension.

I have traveled to more than 60 countries around the world and
this is the first time that I was unable to legally extend my
visa through the immigration office. This is another form of
corruption and I hope that the new government will change this
stupid regulation.

PIERRE MICHEL
Bali