Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Jayapura / Vanimo border crossing

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea

Hi there

Has anyone had any recent experience in crossing from Jayapura to Vanimo or Vanimo to Jayapura recently?

I would just like to check that the border crossing is operating smoothly.

And how long has is taken to get the necessary PNG (in Jayapura) and Indonesian (in Vanimo) visas?

I will be crossing in late November.

Many thanks for your help.

James

If this post is about Jayapura (Indoneisa), there is another branch for Indonesia.

SEASia Islands & Peninsula.

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Spotty, are you lost? In case you strayed onto this branch by mistake, this is definitely the correct forum to be asking that question, as it is labelled Pacific Islands and Papua New Guinea, and this question is about the border crossing between Papua in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The indigenous people of both are Melanesian, and hence Pacific Islanders, not Asian.
OP, several posters on this forum have done this crossing, some quite recently, and you might find those posts if you do a search on the branch.

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And sadly, most of the recent posts indicate that while the crossing is open, obtaining a PNG visa in Jayapura can now be time-consuming, expensive and difficult.
Also, if you entered Indonesia on a Visa On Arrival, you may have trouble exiting that way (a non VOA crossing).

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I am so sorry! Must have thought that this was the Aust & NZ branch.

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