Tourist denied entry to Bali over tiny passport error

‘The experience was a roller coaster of emotions,’ Matt Vandenberg tells The Independent

Mr Vandenberg with his two chaperones at Denpasar airport (Twitter/@M1D3V)

An Australian tourist was denied entry into Bali and almost missed his friends’ wedding – all because of a tiny tear in his passport.

Matt Vandenberg had flown to Denpasar on 6 June. His six-hour, 6am flight with Jetstar had gone smoothly, but on arrival, immigration officials told him he had a 1cm tear on a page in his passport which rendered the travel document invalid.

Recounting his ordeal on Twitter, Mr Vandenberg said he was then “brought into an office to be told that my passport tear isn’t acceptable and I won’t be allowed into the country”, despite the tear not being noticeable “until you bend it back”.

“Immigration officers in Sydney were fine when they scanned it”, he added.

His passport was confiscated until he could board a flight back to Australia; he wasn’t allowed to leave the airport and was given police chaperones for 12 hours before the six-hour return leg.

“I’ve had two airport police by my side the whole day – to be fair they are the nicest people you could have stuck by my side,” he said at the time.

“So flying home tonight and I have an emergency meeting tomorrow about my passport tomorrow morning, so hopefully can get a new one and get back over.

“Still have another seven hours left at DPS. I’ll be in a state when I take off, but at the moment all I can do is laugh.”

Speaking to The Independent, Mr Vandenberg said the experience had been “a roller coaster of emotions” but added that “if it had to happen to anyone, I’m glad it happened to me.”

He said that he was “disappointed at first”, and felt that “if I had gotten a different officer on the day, I would have been let through.”

But Mr Vandenberg was determined to make it to Bali for his friends’ big day, managing to obtain an emergency passport and return in time for the ceremony.

“At the end of the day as soon I was denied entry I was motivated to do whatever it took to get back there for Blayne and Amy’s wedding – even if it cost me A$2,000 for a one way flight!”, he said.

It’s not the first time travel plans have been scuppered by a damaged passport. In 2019, Ben West wrote about his experience of being denied entry to Qatar due to a small edge of the laminated photo page peeling back, and advised other travellers on how to avoid the same fate.