A 72-year-old man from Down Under was deported on Thursday for having overstayed his tourist visa. The Aussie man said that he thought that he was entitled to stay for three months since arriving in Bali on Feb. 6, when his permit only gave him 30 days.
Reports say that the elderly man, identified by his initials MB, was supposed to leave Indonesia by March 7 per his stay permit.
MB was scheduled to fly home from the I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport last week. However, he was presented with a hurdle when immigration officers discovered that he had overstayed his visa.
MB told the authorities that while he had often visited Bali, he had never stayed for more than a month. But he said he had been under the impression that a tourist visa granted him permission to stay for up to three months.
“During questioning, he admitted that he did not realize that he had overstayed [his visa],” said Ngurah Rai Immigration Agency Head Sugito over the weekend.
“Maybe he was too busy enjoying his vacation.”
The immigration officials did not specify the date of MB’s arrest but did mention that he was deported on May 18 and that the elderly man bought his own ticket home. The officials confirmed that MB had overstayed his visa by more than 60 days.
As a result, MB may be placed in immigration’s persona non grata list for violating Indonesia’s immigration law.
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