I mentioned in a post yesterday that I would report on my arrival into Jakarta last night - and the new security measures at Immigration.
Following my arrival on Air Asia from Singapre, there would have been around 50 ahead of me for VOA - purchase/issue. This process is handled smoothly at Jakarta with the purchase counter and issue counter adjacent to each other and totally separate from Immigration control area. My process was completed in around 12 Minutes.
At Immigration control there were 6 lines with around 100 passengers with 8 counters open - all of which equipped for the photo/fingerprint processing. An Immigration Officer was directing passengers to counters as these were vacated - smooth and efficient. There was a banner at VOA explaining the procedure for photo/fingerprinting so people would be prepared for this. Camera is mounted on top of counter with the fingerprint pad fitted down lower in the specially-modified counters. The entire process seemed to take on average around two to three minutes - little different from before at Jakarta.
When I arrived at counter, I advised the officer that West Jakarta Immigration Office already had scans of my fingerprints and electronic photograph on file (in fact already done with them now on three occasions). By scanning my passport he was able to confirm this and I was told that I was not required to have this done again.
It would appear from media reports that the main issue which will cause initial delays in Bali is that all counters are not yet set-up with the new equipment needed for photos/fingerprints.
Maybe there were initial delays in Jakarta during a 'learning curve' for the new equipment but not now and I was impressed with the efficient way in which passengers were processed here last night. I hope that this will dispel some of the fears people have about long processing times.