Visit visas/permits for Indonesia

10 min readAug 29, 2023

This article discusses all of the visit visas/permits for foreigners to visit Indonesia, whether that be as a tourist, family visitor, businessman, etc.

It is based on the new visa regulations of 22nd August 2023. Older information will not be accurate. Note that the revised fees remain unclear.

A foreigner who enters or stays in Indonesia can do so a visitor or resident. Some differences:

visitors are not allowed to have BPJS health insurance
visitors are not residents and have no duties to register with the civil registry, nor do they need to report their presence or exiting from Indonesia beyond normal immigration formalities; if there are registration requirements for owners of accommodation these are with the accommodation management, NOT the visitor
visitors cannot have ownership of cars/motorbikes
visitors cannot obtain a tax number and if they spend more than 180 days in a year in Indonesia they will typically acquire worldwide tax liabilities, although certain kinds of tax liabilities can be paid by non-residents. This tax liability creates a theoretical legal issue if you do not (and cannot) pay the tax you are liable to pay, although it does not seem to be enforced.

Visitors can:

buy land using hak pakai or lease it using hak sewa
have bank accounts from certain banks
rent vehicles; while the driving licence law in Indonesia does not in fact permit it, an IDP with its accompanying foreign licence (for the class of vehicle being driven) will be accepted as legal permission to drive
perform certain paid work and commercial activities which are consistent with the purpose of the visit visa they have. For example, a foreigner who works for an international firm and has a meeting in Indonesia can arrive on VOA and do his normal work during that brief visit. In addition, a foreigner can submit an application for a visit visa and do paid emergency work and other activities, providing the paperwork supports it.
perform multiple ‘low risk’ activities that are consistent with the issue of their visa/visit permit. For example, the holder of a VOA is not asked about the reason for their visit, and no supporting documentation is requested. It follows that they can perform any of the eight activities listed.
In general the lowest risk activities are family, tourism, medical treatment, and transit, and these can be mixed with other activities.

Visitors cannot:

perform ‘higher risk’ activities that they have not been verified for. For example, if you apply for a visit visa for tourism, you should NOT perform social (charity) activities, since that requires supporting documentation, and carries a verification fee. However, if you apply for a visit visa for social reasons, you can perform tourism, which is an unrestricted activity. Similarly, if you applied for a film-making visit visa, which is of a similar ‘risk level’ to social visit, then you should NOT perform social activities, but can again do tourism.
perform activities outside the scope of the list that are covered by other visa types. In particular, running a business is a regulated activity (for foreigners via a foreign investment company) and working, outside of the special cases below, is also heavily regulated (requiring the correct residence permit AND typically a work permit). Similarly, working as a priest or imam would not be legal on a visit permit since there are special residence permits for this, although you could potentially perform religious activities using a social visit permit.

Visit visas/permits are comprised of:

visa waiver for ASEAN & Timor Leste citizens only (in future reciprocity suggests this list will be expanded), for one entry for a non-extendable 30 day period
visa on arrival (including eVOA) for one entry for 30 days, extendable to 60 days. There is also a non-extendable 7-day VOA.
paid single-entry visit visa for one entry to Indonesia of 60 days extendable to 180 days, except preinvestment and apprenticeship (180 to 360), government (60 to 360), and foreign worker trial (60 to 120)
paid multiple-entry visit visa valid for 1, 2, 5 or 10 years for unlimited entries during the validity, each of 60 days extendable to 180 days, except preinvestment (180 to 360) and government (60 to 360)

Visit purposes

The following 8 activities are valid purposes for all four visit types, with required supporting documentation (not required for VOA/visit visa waiver):

tourism — no extra supporting document for single-entry; for multiple-entry a documentation from a government/private body (lembaga) is required explaining the relationship with the foreigner.
family — for multiple entry must provide a letter from spouse or parents explaining familial relationship and activities of the foreigner in Indonesia, plus their KK or similar
transit - for multiple-entry a letter/documentation from a government/private body (lembaga) is required explaining the relationship with the foreigner.
business — for single/multiple entry must provide documentation from a government/private body (lembaga) is required explaining the relationship with the foreigner.
attend meeting — ditto
buy goods — ditto
undergo medical treatment — for single/multiple entry a statement from the foreigner stating they will undergo treatment in Indonesia
governmental duties — for 1x/multiple entry an invitation or letter from government body

The single-entry visit visa for sixty days can be issued by an Indonesian consulate or embassy, while the multiple-entry visit visa or 180-day single-entry visit visa must be handled by Jakarta. VOA/visit visa waiver are issued directly at the border.

These three activities are valid for single and multiple entry visit visas, with the additional documentation required:

pre-investment — documents as per business
perform audit/QA — statement from government agency or the private agency performing the activity
film-making — permit from the relevant government agency

Visas for these activities can only be issued from Jakarta.

These activities are only permitted with a single-entry visit visa (not VOA, not multiple-entry), which must be applied for from Jakarta, with the exception of journalism, which can also be issued by a consulate or embassy, with the additional documentation required:

journalistic activities — letter from a government agency
social ( to perform activities of social benefit (NOT for socializing!)) — detailed description of foreigner’s activities in Indonesia from government or private agency (lembaga swasta)
art and cultural (for PERFORMING, NOT attending) — invitation from those conducting the event for public events, or a work contract and a visa application from a registered impresario company for performers in paid events
non-commercial sport — invitation from the holder of the event
short academic study — proof of registration or letter from the private or government agency saying they are performing the study
give lecture or attend seminar — itinerary for the event as well as the topics that will be covered
attend international exhibition — an invitation or statement from those holding the exhibition
join as crew of a ship or aircraft in Indonesia — a letter from the government agency or from the operator of the ship/aircraft stating they will join the ship/aircraft
perform urgent work — a letter from the government or private agency that explains the work is so urgent it must be done immediately and cannot be done by anyone else, or else there would be fatal consequences for the company or for the public
provide assistance in improving quality/technology of Indonesian industry — an invitation from a government or private agency that is carrying out the activity
foreign worker trial period — an invitation for a trial work period from the government or private agency
aftersales support — proof that the foreigner is carrying out after-sales service for goods that have been purchased
install and repair machines — a letter from government/private agency that states this must be done by a foreigner and cannot be done by others
attend legal proceedings — a letter from the relevant government legal body to state the foreigner’s presence is required
apprenticeship — an apprenticeship agreement or other letter from the government or private agency carrying out the activity

Visit visa waiver and visa on arrival

The visit visa waiver and visa on arrival are similar but VOA costs 500,000rp, while visit waiver is free. The visit visa waiver is currently only available to ASEAN and Timor Leste citizens, while the VOA is available to around 90 countries.

The requirements for both are:

passport valid for six months, national of the valid countries OR be from a country which lacks an Indonesian embassy AND obtain permission to apply for visa on arrival
pay the fee (zero for visit visa waiver)
return or onward ticket to another country
be in Indonesia for one of the core eight purposes (listed above)

The VOA is for 30 days extendable for a further 30 days, and the visa waiver is for 30-days non-extendable.

Visit visa

The single and multiple-entry visit visa is issued on application subject to the following requirements:

visa fee
a verification fee, which is exempted for visits for the purpose of attending legal proceedings, transit, medical treatment, tourism and family. The verification fee is ‘category 2’ for QA, after-sales, machine repair, pre-investment, apprenticeship, trial period worker, emergency work, process/technology improvement, and ‘category 1’ for everything else.
an Indonesian guarantor/sponsor, except for tourism, family, pre-investment, transit, business, attend meeting, buy goods, journalism
proof of funds to support a stay in Indonesia
1 colour photo
other supporting documents based on the trip reason, except for transit, family, and tourism
passport or other travel document, that is valid for at least six months, regardless of the length of the visa.

For holders of travel documents other than passports, they can apply for a SINGLE-entry visa only, and the valid purposes are the first seven items in the list above, plus non-commercial sport, academic studies, emergency work, attend/give seminar, pre-investment, join ship/aircraft as crew.

Multiple-entry visit visas are valid to enter Indonesia unlimited times during a period of:

1 year
2 year
5 years
10 years (only available to someone who has held a 5-year visa within the previous 3 years)

Length of stay and extension of visit permits

A visitor to Indonesia can stay:

7 days if they got a 7 day VOA
30 days if they got a visa waiver
30 days if they got a 30-day VOA extendable to 60 days via online/at the immigration office
60 days for most visit purposes for single/multiple entry visit visas, extendable twice at the immigration office to 180 days total. For government tasks the permit can be extended to 360 days, and for foreign worker trials only to 120 days.
180 days for preinvestment & apprenticeship for for single/multiple entry visit visas (apprenticeship is not available for multiple entry), extendable for a further 180 days

Extensions of a visit permit from a VOA, single or multiple-entry visa, can be submitted by the foreigner or their guarantor/sponsor no more than 14 days before the current permit expires, and not after they have expired.

In order to extend the following documents are required:

proof of guarantor/sponsorship if the application was originally guaranteed/sponsored. This can be a different guarantor or sponsor from the original one, if the foreigner states that they are no longer willing to be sponsored by them, or if the original sponsor supplies a letter to this effect.
valid passport/travel document
proof/statement of activities in Indonesia

If a foreigner’s extension application is declared incomplete, they are given two days to provide the missing documents, or it will be rejected. (Note: the immigration office might refuse to accept an obviously incomplete application, so this does not necessarily buy you more time.)

For overstay in Indonesia a fee of 1 million rupiah per day applies, up to 60 days. Beyond 60 days no fee applies, however you must be deported, at your own expense. You will also be blacklisted for at least six months.

For overstays of less than 60 days foreigners pleading poverty may be able to request deportation, again at their own expense, which will again result in blacklisting.

Visit visa online

The newer visa website is https://molina.imigrasi.go.id/. This is a ‘self-service’ website.

Currently you can apply for:

eVOA at a cost of 500,000rp which can be extended online after arrival in Indonesia providing you register for an account. The website is not foolproof and some people have mistakenly applied for new eVOAs in Indonesia, instead of extending their existing one, resulting in huge overstay fees.
60-day tourist visa at a cost of 1,500,000rp

only. This website is likely to be updated to support more types in future.

The older visa website is https://visa-online.imigrasi.go.id/. This requires an Indonesian applicant to apply for the visa.

Fees

From September 2023:

Recommendations

For a single visit of up to 60-days it is simplest to use the eVOA. When extending it is necessary to take care to ‘extend’, not apply for a new VOA. The cost will be 500,000rp per 30 days (plus a small electronic admin fee). For less than 30 days it can be ok to pay at the airport.
Both multiple and single-entry visit visas can typically be extended to 180 days per visit. This will typically require two visits to immigration for each extension, although the task can often be delegated to an agent for a further fee. Although the cost is higher than 2 eVOAs, it may be less time consuming and expensive than leaving the country.
For those who live as tourists in Indonesia, a multi-year multiple-entry visit visa may be more convenient. For example, a 2-year multiple-entry visit visa would cost the same as 4 single-entry tourist visas, and would have similar total validity, but only require 1 visa application instead of four.
For those who have family ties to Indonesia (spouse or possibly parents or children), a residence permit (ITAS or ITAP) may be more convenient. Under new rules a family ITAS is valid for 2 years. This costs $150 for the initial visa, and 3.75 million for the subsequent residence permit. This carries the additional required burden of reporting to the civil registry office, and worldwide taxation liability. In addition, an ITAS or ITAP will automatically expire if the holder is out of the country for more than 12 months, whereas a multiple entry visit visa only expires at the end of its validity.