Info on visas on arrival in Port Moresby

Just came back to POM after the holidays, and thought I should post something about visa on arrival here in PNG...this is a great service if you're from one of the countries that can use it.

A few quick notes:

-If you fly in without the necessary 100 kina, the immigration officers will let you go past their desk into the arrivals area to take out money from the atm so you can pay your fee (however, the atm can be fussy so if you can, fly with kina).

-You must have an onward ticket booked out of PNG to show the officers when you get your visa. I know, this is not a new requirement, and has been overlooked in the past, but it seems that it is really being enforced in PNG like never before. There were at least three people from my flight from Hong Kong (who were obviously allowed to board in Hong Kong) who were being denied entry to the country because they only had internal flights booked, or did not have an onward ticket with them.

RE : -You must have an onward ticket booked out of PNG

I was surprised at how easy a visa was. In our case (15 of us) all we did was to slap a 100 kina note on the counter and presto visa. No other paper work but your passport.

Total surprise on that as the website still says you need to fill out an application, have a copy of your passport, plus extra photos. Guess all that went out the window.

I agree it's easy but it can take a very long time. When I arrived in POM a few weeks ago we had to wait in line for about an hour while those who already had a visa went straight through. If you know you're going well in advance I'd advise getting one before arrival, but then maybe I just arrived at a busy time of year....

When I arrived on the 9th I didn't need to show any proof of onward ticket, and have never in the past, neither did and of the other Australians in front of me or a Dutchman I was talking with.

Climb_r, I would be willing to bet that was the reason you saw people from Hong Kong asked for return tickets as there is a lot of illegal immigration from Asian countries to PNG.

The only real issue is the s...l...o...w... processing speed the immigration people have, I was second off the plan, and there was the last of the previous flight there, so I was fifth in line and it took 55 minutes to get through...

Glad to hear that what I saw might not be the norm... It would make it certainly easier for people to come here on a more flexible timeline; particularly considering how much the cost of a ticket OUT of Moresby can fluctuate -- even in a day!

They processed our flight pretty easy and quick. We came on Air Nugine from Australia and the entire airplane was processed in less than 1/2 hour.

I would have a tendency to agree to get a visa ahead of time. I tried to get a visa ahead of time but the PNG embassy was closed the day I went to apply

Were you on the Cairns flight (Fokker 100) or the Brisbane/Sydney flights (Boeing 757/767?)