It takes 80,000 JPY to apply for a business visa! - Business trip to Indonesia during Yen depreciation period. (Part1)

Greetings. This is Miura. It’s been a while since I posted [Global Communication skill: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3] articles. Today, I would like to tell you how things were like when I made a business trip to Indonesia back in October of 2022 in 2 parts. For the latest information, please refer to the website of Japan consulate in Indonesia or other appropriate sources.

Although the restrictions to enter Indonesia had loosened somewhat, it’s still not the same as it used to be before COVID-19. There were lots of things I needed in preparation & I was feeling discouraged even before the trip was made.

If you have had more than 3 designated vaccinations, PCR negative test result certification is not needed. Yet, vaccination proof certification is still needed. Local government can issue the certificate; however, it takes time.If you have My Number Card in Japan, it will be easier to use [COVID-19 vaccination proof certificate applet] offered by the government Digital Agency to obtain a certificate. This was actually my first time My Number Card served its purpose.Save the certificate as an image to upload it in the applet. It also needs to be shown when entering the country.

Considering the chance of having my smartphone battery dead, I printed out the certificate as well. For more information regarding the applet, please refer to the website of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. 

Before entering Indonesia, vaccination applet called Penduli Lindungi has to be installed to a smartphone and have the passport copy and vaccination proof certificate be uploaded ahead of time. There is however no need to register the copy of business visa nor flight information. It will take a while for the applet to grant an approval, so registration well in advance is highly recommended.

Since I was going to visit a manufacture’s plant during this business trip, I had to obtain a business visa B211B. A local company of Indonesia has to be a guarantor and apply for the visa. UNIADEX, Ltd. has a related company in Indonesia called Netmarks Indonesia, so they became my guarantor.

Flight information was needed to make the application, so I had to make a plane reservation first. It took 4 days from the application to get the visa. The cost of gaining this visa was 8,000,000 Rupia (560 USD). It is about 80,000 JPY with the current exchange rate! 8 million Rupia is expensive to begin with, but with the recent depreciation of Japanese Yen, it becomes even more expensive.

Custom declaration can be made using e-CD website 2 days in advance of entering Indonesia. When all the necessary registrations are made, 2D barcode is displayed. Completion of the registration is e-mailed at the same time. 2D barcode can also be displayed by clicking the URL in the e-mail. You will need to display this code when going through the custom at the airport. You can register after your arrival, but I recommend you complete the registration ahead of time.  

Before Covid-19, I always took a Limousine Bus from Tokyo City Air Terminal (TCAT) to get to Narita airport. It was very useful as the busses departed every 15 minutes. However, as of today (October of 2022), a bus is only available once every hour. If I did not check the schedule in advance about the frequency of the bus operation, I would have missed the flight. It’s always a good idea to check the latest timetables and conditions. 

It was 3 years since I’ve been to Narita Airport. Japan Airline’s (JAL) check-in counter was empty. Making an overseas trip for leisure has become more difficult for many of the Japanese. This is because the cost of the airplane ticket has gone up due to Yen depreciation and higher oil prices & the cost of stays overseas due to the inflation has gone up.

 Face authentication system was available at the embarkation process at Narita airport from some time ago. But the speed of the authentication got faster. It only took a second for me to pass through. Since July of 2021, Face Express was actually introduced to Narita and Haneda Airport. By registering a facial photo at the time of check-in, you can easily

It’s been a while since I got to go to JAL’s Sakura Lounge. I was looking forward to having [JAL special curry]. I was so ready to serve myself a large portion, better yet a “mega“ portion, but the serving style had changed. The food was to be self-served before COVID, but now the lounge staff served every dish. If I had requested for a large portion, I know they would have accommodated that for me, but I didn’t have the nerve to request it. So, I ended up having a “regular” portion. Do you worry that I won’t be able to eat any in-flight food? No worries! I always have extra rooms in my stomach for JAL curry. <grin>

Before boarding the airplane, I checked the vaccination status in Peduli Lindungi, but the status had remained as “waiting for approval”. I got worried that the status may not get approved even after arriving in Jakarta.

My plane was about 80% filled. My favorite is the in-flight meal. I felt that it tasted better than before, but maybe that’s because it just has been a while (my personal opinion and only). Despite the fact that I just had some curry in Sakura Lounge, I completed the whole meal.