Job Discussion Forums

[eddie honda]

if you need a ticket simply for the purpose of satisfying visa requirements (i.e. you dont actually intend to fly) DO NOT buy a cheap ticket, instead buy FULL PRICE ticket on a full service airline (not air asia, etc). this SHOULD be fully refundable (i.e. can be cancelled for a 100% refund with no 'handling charges' etc) check terms and conditions before you buy and ask for a fully refundable ticket cos some fare classes do not qualify.

I have done this before after i was not allowed to board a plane due to lack of onward ticket. buying a 'cheap' ticket with no intention to use it is a ludicrous waste of money...

[travelNteach]

to phis and malu......... yes i have been on both sides of the fence, as a teacher, HOD, and a DOS in the 13 years i have been in indonesia. i understand the costs involved in procuring documents for new teachers. However, when i look at the initial payment to the agent for getting the approval letter compared to the total expense of the balance payment to the agent, the bule tax, the trip to singapore and agent there, airfare and other expenses, i think getting the approval letter is not the majority of the cost involved in getting someone their work visa. of course i am not including recruitment, housing and all the other costs as they are not important in factoring the amount of money needed to get approval letters sent to an embassy.

phis... regarding 7/8 sorry if there was any confusion. the OP stated that she was buying a one way ticket to malaysia. i thought u were merely talking about the round trip ticket out of indonesia which i agree with u. perhaps i was confused by the part in 8 when u were talking about malaysia to home country. i thought this was in reference to the OP saying that they had only bought 1 way tickets to malaysia and had not purchased the ongoing tickets. i didnt read that she was going to buy ongoing ticket when she hit london. my bad. guess i should read more carefully.

9. subjective on both our parts. the vast majority of teachers i have known in jkt have gotten it within 30 days. and i stated that everyone has different experiences based on location and school.



finally, i was not directing my statement to anyone in particular or even at this thread, but there is a common attitude that you can bribe your way out of everything and that rules are made to be broken. working on a tourist, social, or business visa is breaking the law. arriving wtihout an onward ticket is breaking the law. can u get away with it? in most cases, yes. however, i wonder if we would be encouraging people to come to our home countries and flaunt the laws. i just dont think it is right to suggest to newbies that it is perfectly acceptable to arrive in indonesia and violate immigration laws. maybe if teachers quit coming here and working on the wrong visas, schools would sort out the proper visas before new teachers arrive. before indonesia was like the wild wild west where anything went, but it is less and less like that everyday.

nothing i wrote was a personal attack on anyone and should not be taken that way. you wrote about your personal experiences and i wrote about mine because they were somewhat different. i didnt state that 1 of us was wrong while the other was right, just different experiences in what i hoped would provide a more balanced picture for the OP.