Sacred Mt Agung watching over Sanur beach

TRAVEL TIPS: Guide to Indonesian Visa Options

Recently I’ve met a lot of travelers who don’t know that it’s quite easy to visit Indonesia for 6 months at a time, without leaving the country. Many are veteran travelers who have been moving around Asia for many years, even many decades. But even they don’t know it’s easy to stay in Indonesia for more than 1 -2 months at a time.

Other people I’ve met who are confused about Indonesian visa options are travelers new to SE Asia who want to visit the country.

With so many travelers clearly in need of accurate Indonesian visa information, I’ve decided to write this post explaining the three visa options available to travelers.

I’ve been visiting Indonesia regularly since 2001, mostly to Bali. But I’ve also traveled through Java and Lombok. I always stay at least 2 months, but usually 4-6 months at a time. As a result, I’ve had a lot of experience acquiring and extending various Indonesian visas.

In truth, Indonesia visas can be confusing. That’s because the country offers three different types of visas to travelers. In addition, there are work visas, retirement visas, business visas and others. However, those don’t apply to travelers/tourists, so I won’t include those visas here.

In this post I explain, in depth, each of the three tourist visa options available: how/where to get them, how long they’re valid for and how much they cost. I also briefly explain the basics of how to do visa extensions inside Indo after you’re there so you don’t have to leave Indo for up to 6 months.

Note that some details may differ for nationals of different countries, so be sure to double check what’s allowed for your nationality, especially if you’re not from USA, Australia, Japan or a major country in Europe.

In addition, rules about these visas do change occasionally from year to year. This information is accurate as of 2015. If you’re heading to Indonesia from 2015 onward, be sure to confirm this information before you go.

1. Visa on Arrival

Nationals of 64 countries can arrive in Bali and several major entry points around Indonesia without a visa. In that case, at the arrival airport you purchase a Visa on Arrival when passing through immigration. It costs $35 US and is valid for 30 days.

You can extend it once only, inside Indonesia, for one month, for another $35 US at any Indonesian Immigration office. After that you must leave the country.

Note that this in not a Tourist Visa, which is an entirely different kind of visa (below). It’s officially called Visa On Arrival.

I point this out because many travelers mistakenly end up calling this a Tourist Visa, which then causes a lot of confusion about extending it.

2. Tourist Visa

This is a 2-month (60 days) visa which you must get at an Indonesian Embassy or Consulate before you go to Indonesia. Apply at any Indonesian Embassy/Consulate with their application form, photos, photocopies of your passport and money.

It costs roughly $50 US. The exact amount will be affected by the currency of the country in which the Embassy is located. You can only pay in the local currency of the country where you apply. (NOT Indo rp and not $ US)

Tourist Visas can currently be renewed after arrival in Indonesia 1-4 times, one month each, for a total of 6 months’ stay before you must leave the country. Each month you must visit an Indonesian Immigration office in the country, pay 250,000 rp, and do a bunch of paperwork.

Alternately, you can hire a visa consultancy agency, who will do all the work for you. It will save you a lot of time and energy. The drawback with hiring an agent is that it costs about 450,000-650,000 rp.

Note that Indonesia sometimes changes the status of the Tourist Visa from year to year. Some years they allow extensions, the same as Social Visas, but some years they don’t. Since 2010 they’ve been allowing extensions. If you intend to stay more than 2 months in Indonesia, be sure to ask at the Indonesian Embassy/Consulate where you’re applying if the Tourist Visa can be extended, and how many times, before you purchase it.

3. Social Visa

Just like the Tourist Visa, this is a 2-month (60 days) visa which you must get at an Indonesian Embassy or Consulate before you go to Indonesia. The application process is the same except for one additional point.

What is identical is that you apply at any Indonesian Embassy by submitting their application form, photos, photocopies of your passport and money. It also costs roughly $50 US. The exact amount will be quoted in the currency of the country in which the Embassy is located.

To obtain a social visa, you also must have an Indonesian citizen ‘sponsor’ you. That simply means your sponsor must send a letter and specific application forms to you or to the Embassy/Consulate where you’re submitting your application, in order for your visa to be processed.

The ‘sponsor’ does not have to pay any money, provide any personal financial information, own any assets or jump through any hoops. It’s quite simple. He or she just has to fill out the application form, which just requires his identification: name, address, national ID number, marital status, age, phone number, occupation and signature.

He also must place a special stamp called ‘metarai’ on the application, on top of his signature. The stamp costs only 6000 rp / $0.60 US and can be purchased at any Indonesian post office and many small shops.

Therefore, it’s quite easy for an Indonesian citizen to sponsor a foreigner for a social visa. The only hitch on your side is that you must know somebody. So this visa is much easier to obtain after you’ve been to Indo at least once and have made an Indonesian friend, know a guest house owner or someone else who’s willing to sponsor you.

The official purpose of the Social Visa is to allow visitors to study Indonesian art, music, dance, culture or to visit friends/family. In reality, nobody checks to see if you’re studying or staying with friends/family. Practically speaking, it functions just the same as a Tourist Visa.

Final notes:

And that’s the low down on Indonesian visas for tourists.

Note that none of these visas allow travelers to work inside the country. If you intend to work in Indonesia, you are legally required to get a Work Visa aka Kitas. That’s a time consuming and expensive visa to obtain and I wont’ get into that here.

Find all up-to-date information at the Indonesian Embassy in USA website

stone carvings - Borobudur Temple - Java - INdonesia

stone carvings line walls at famous Borobudur Temple in Java – Indonesia

Extending a Visa inside Indonesia

Tourists have two methods to extend an Indonesian Tourist Visa or Social Visa after arriving in the country. You can go directly to any Indonesian Immigration Office within Indo yourself and make the application. Or you can hire a visa agency to do it for you.

If you go yourself, be prepared for long waits and repeated returns to the Immigration office to complete the process over about 10 days, assuming you don’t make any mistakes with the application procedures along the way. Otherwise it could take longer. Not surprisingly, this is the least expensive way to extend your visa. But it involves a lot of time and probably mistakes that will have to be corrected.

Hiring a visa agency is a lot more expensive. Their fee is as high or higher than the visa extension itself. You’ll be paying double or more. However, it’s infinitely easier and takes no time on your part.

Basically it boils down to your time or your money.

Total cost for visa extensions: 350,000 rp / about $35 US per month, if you extend yourself. About 650,000 rp / $65 US per month if you hire an agency. I can recommend Bali Mode, which has offices in Kuta and Ubud. Check out their website online for details.

This topic entails its own full post. So I’ll be writing on that next. Stop back for full details.

—————————————————————————————————————————

You might also find the following posts useful:

10 Cautions & Tips for Visiting Bali

Costs of Budget Travel in Bali in 2012

Travel Tips for Visiting Java

———————————————————————————————————————————-