I’ve always added Sherpa as completely up-to-date and reliable. Don’t know when it comes to days from a country changing its policies though but I think I once saw in there information on an upcoming change so I’d be happy to rely on it. It gives you links to their sources so you can check yourself.
If you haven’t been through the EU in the last six months yes there will be fingerprinting and face pictures. Personally I haven’t experienced the long lines etc either for my first scan or subsequently.
Sometimes when there are very long lines some borders will skip the new ID and process manually.
@RooFlyer, thank you for your thoughts on Sherpa.
I have not been in the EU within the last six months, so, this would be my situation.
I'm assuming that Id still need to comply an ETIAS before arriving?
If so, are these approved relatively quickly (I recall my UK one last year was approved overnight)?
Italy has temporarily suspended EU EES processing until 30 September. So if you’re entering the EU there (prior to the 30th), expect old style processing (ie no long queues for finger printing etc).
Italy has delayed EES implementation until September 30, 2026. Travelers subject to the 90 180 rule will see no immediate changes to border procedure…
www.schengen90.app
Transiting CGK - if you’re on seperate tickets, it’s highly likely that you’ll need to “enter” Indonesia (subject to Visa). The good thing is you can still pay on arrival. But if you know for sure that’ll you’ll need be entering Indonesia, you can get the eVOA online before hand and use the smart gates to arrive and then exit again.
@SYD; my first EU port won't be in Italy, it will be in Germany (which I'm assuming the new rules apply in).
So, it sounds like I'll need to pay for and complete a visa to enter Indonesia. How different is the visa-on-arrival compared to the pre-purchased one? Are they the same price? If so, it would be a matter of saving time to pre-purchase one and use the smart gates as you mentioned above.
Sherpa may be up to date, but I don’t like the idea of a site that tries to be ‘helpful’ while charging a USD35 fee to sell you a visa.
For example I just selected entry for Indonesia, AU passport… the total cost is USD68.20… with $35 of that as Sherpa’s fee.
You can get for half the price via the official channel.
Maybe sherpa has an advantage in saving some research time… but I don’t earn more than USD35 a minute to make Sherpa’s saving worth my while.
@MEL_Traveller; that definitely makes sense.
Can do the eVisa online or VOA.
CGK is very easy to navigate and stacks of smart gates. The VOA desks at CGK are never busy from what I’ve seen and it’s a simple process to get one.
You will need to do the All Indonesia arrival card also which can be done online in advance or at one of the many self kiosks on arrival
Do agree with the above sentiments too, I just go through the official channels and don’t like the idea of paying a company extra to do my visas
@jase05; that's good to know for both the visa and the easability of navigating through CGK.
In a similar vein to how I responded to
@SYD above; if the price of each are the same - would it make sense to pre-purchase one to save time?
Yep. I actually meant to add to my post above that Smarttraveller.gov.au is usually pretty reliable for entry requirements including links to official visa and customs declarations.
@SYD; I'll make sure to keep an eye on their website too. Thanks.
And also the airlines themselves. For example Jetstar has links for Indonesia etc.
Just as an aside… Indonesia has gotta be one of the easiest places to enter now… streamlined declaration which then leads you to a visa application, which they pre-populate. Done in a matter of seconds. and on arrival clearance and entry is now in minutes!
@MEL_Traveller; thanks for the reminder. I do recall seeing that on the JQ website some time back (I won't be travelling with them for this trip but the information should still be relevant).
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