Hi,

I have been to Indonesia 7 times and half of those have been through Jakarta but I have never been asked for money never ever. I am Australian so not sure if that makes any difference.

I have heard of others experiencing similar situations to yours.

Some travellers have demanded a receipt which seems to stop the person from going through with the demand for money or have demanded to see the person in charge and that has helped prevent any money exchanging hands.

From what I read Indonesia is trying to stamp this out so if I was you I do one of the above and do not pay anymore money.

Pamela

001

This normally happen to asian at the immigration.

The officer are very corrupted.

They sometime bring them to the office to be "interview"

To smoothen the process,slip a 10,000 rupian inside the passport for hassle free immigration stamping.

This normally happened to frequent visitors .

Targeted as cash cow.

Well, I cannot comment much on this as it's all depending on the officer you're dealing with.

My suggestion is to stay cool and pretend that you're looking at other thing (such as the queue lines or shops) while the immigration officer checks your passport. No need to say him 'hello' or try to befriend or stare at him all the time. Just stay quiet, look at what he's doing to your document (at a glance), and when he's finished, take your passport.

Hope this time you won't get such terrible experience anymore.

By the way, for the money matters, it is stated in the customs declaration form (the yellow or purple colour one) that the maximum money you can bring into the country is not more than Rp100 million. No minimum amount is mentioned. And the people in charge to asks about your money is the customs guy, not the immigration guy in this matter.

So in case you're asked by the immigration guy again, you can reciprocate your action in 2001 (but this time let's say you only left $5 in cash since you use the money to buy chocolates at airport duty free ;p)

Last Dec.07 we were a group of 5 travelling to Jakarta. Upon Arrival, one of the member was asking many questions such as where to stay? How much money bring in etc? Since all of us can understand Bahasa and this member can answered the immigration officer, at last he let him in.

When we departed from the airport after 3days holiday, the same person was questioned again by another immigration officer at departure, but this time the lady officer just asking some money as she got family and small salary at last our friend gave her Rp15,000. We all not are frequent visitor and this person was first time to Indonesia.

Our friend look like a businessman or a richman, so everybody targeted him. Ha!

Hi,

Sorry I will never give anyone any money in this way-NO WAY. You are only adding to the corruption of a country that I dearly love.

Pamela

HI, which airport you are going to?

As recent as 2003, the immigration officer or people inside usually harass the non indonesian speaking visitors. I felt embarassed but I always forewarned my foreigner friends so they were somewhat prepared for me.

But lately, all my foreigner friends, including my husband, has noticed a lot of improvements. My husband, US citizen with asian origin, has been to Indonesia many times, even he's amazed that he no longer has people harassing him for his american dollars. Everything is very smooth and no more blackmailling or illegal money extortion. I think you should be ok.

However, this is based on the main Jakarta airport (sukarno-hatta). If you land in different cities, I suspect there is still some harassment going on but I think they won't go too far nowadays as they are more scrutinized and the Indonesian govt put tighter control in the major airports.

What restless say is true, the immigration officers are getting better nowadays, and in this year, the Visit Indonesia 2008 should bring some improvement to the tourism of Indonesia ;p

Hi;

You should not give the money to Immigration officer at the airport if you check in as a USA citizen .

This is the case at Bangkok International airport.

However, Jakarta may different due to Visa on arrival

requirements. I may pay a visit to JKT in the future

this is not happening to me when i;m arrived in jakarta

this is not happening to me when i;m arrived in jakarta