Comments on: Indonesia: On-Arrival Visas up to 120 days soon?

By: Sergey

Sergey — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 10:58:01 +0000

One guy on russian forum told me that we will not need sponsor letter for extending voa visa.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 06:26:15 +0000

Andrew Blane, seriously? Even to extend the VOA you had to visit the Immigration Office 3 times AND fill out all the forms also AND provide a sponsor???? Oh my, I really hoped they would have streamlined the process. That’s pretty bad, as it shows, that there is no improvement for the cumbersome Visa process at the horizon.

Thanks for explaining your experience to extend your VOA, Andrew!

It may be okay, if you really just want to stay 1 or 2 months, but for long-term stay it’s pretty much a disaster.

By: Andrew Blane

Andrew Blane — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 05:58:35 +0000

In case anyone’s interested, I have recently extended my Indonesian visa on arrival in Bali.

It took about a week, three visits to the immigration office, and Rp251,600, but it was quite smooth and easy.

I can confirm that you definitely need a sponsor, which is a reputable local person who knows you and has a valid identity card (KTP). Since I used my wife, I had to provide a copy of our wedding certificate. Presumably, if you use someone else, this won’t be necessary.

In my case, I went to the immigration office in Singaraja, north Bali, as that’s the nearest one for me, but I imagine the procedure is the same in all immigration offices in Indonesia. I don’t think you can do this in the airport.

You have to fill in 3 forms. One of these is a sponsor’s letter, which my wife completed. The others I completed myself (with some help from my wife as one is entirely in Indonesian). One of the forms needs a “materai” (stamp) which costs Rp6,000. You stick in on the indicated square at the bottom of the form and both you and your sponsor sign so that your signatures overlap it.

You also need to provide photocopies of your passport (showing my identity details and current visa), your sponsor’s identity card (KTP), and your marriage certificate (if your spouse is sponsoring you).

5 days after dropping the forms off, I returned to the immigration office and paid Rp250,000 (equivalent to 25 US dollars)

3 days later, I returned to pick up my visa. Oh, and I had to pay Rp1,000 for them to photocopy my passport with the new visa stamp in it.

I was initially concerned that, since the whole process was going to take a week, I would end up overstaying on my original visa (which ran out 2 days into the process), but this wasn’t a problem as I started the process before my visa expired. Ideally, you should go in one week before your visa expires but, even though I didn’t do that, they back-dated the new visa to start from the day my original one ran out. Nice!

It’s not as good as a 120-day visa of course, but it’s a lot cheaper and easier than travelling abroad on a visa run. There’s another advantage too: the visa stamp they use only takes up half a page in your passport compared to a full page for the standard VOA stamp.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:14:35 +0000

So far this interesting alternative for Indonesian Visas hasn’t come to life. Tough luck! Maybe someday within the next 10 years?

By: Want to stay longer in the Philippines? Now you can! | nomad4ever

Want to stay longer in the Philippines? Now you can! | nomad4ever — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:58:54 +0000

[...] Indonesia introduced a Visa-On Arrival (VOA) for maximum 30 days with respective fees only back in 2004 – before you could get a 3 months stamp for free. The bureaucratic processes to attain and extend a Social Visa are legendary. Although there were some rumours of longer VOA (up to 120 days) a few months back, those have yet to materialize. [...]

By: Working Nomad

Working Nomad — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 21:03:16 +0000

Any work on the longer Indo visas? They should definetly do it in my opinon!!

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 09:48:16 +0000

Lia, yes it works. You as his fiancee can practically sponsor him.
That’s how I live in Indonesia with my fiancee. But it would work with her parents or relatives as well. You just have to apply in an Indonesian Embassy abroad, so in your case in China. I do that in Singapore, as it’s more my second home.

He has to apply for the 2 month Sosial Budaya, with you/your family sponsoring him. After getting the Visa granted and traveling to Indonesia, he can extend it after 2 month for another month. Or up to 4 times to a total time of 6 months in Indonesia. It’s an easy and well documented, though highly bureaucratic process. For instance for the extensions in Indonesia, he has to show up 3-4 times at the immigration, depending on their flexibility. 1. Application of Extension 2. Payment of Extension few days later 3. Pickup of Extension, another few days later. Sometimes he has to show up a 4th time for finger prints or playing courier of the application to bring it to another department within immigration. He can use an agency though, then he doesn’t have to show up himself, but it’s usually a bit more expensive (usually double around Rp 400.000 per extension). Anyway, here is some more information regarding the process:

http://www.nomad4ever.com/2006/12/15/visa-extension-in-bali-how-does-it-work/

Anything still unclear? Drop me an e-mail with your questions!

By: Lia

Lia — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:47:13 +0000

Hey, i’m an indonesian currently living in China, my fiancee is a US citizen who also lives in China.
Can anybody tell me how to get this sosial budaya visa for my fiancee coz he’s planning to go to Indonesia n stay for at least 3 months? seems like everybody talks bout it but nobody is able to show how to get it step by step.

Any help will be much apprecialted!!!

Thank you.

By: ubertramp

ubertramp — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 11:22:36 +0000

fingers crossed for longer Indo visas!

By: chris

chris — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:45:43 +0000

I have spent well over 20 years travelling throughout SE Asia(lived in Thailand for 12)and hear more and more,mainly young travellers saying things like”Thailand is the land of smiles”and”The Thais are just so friendly” Many,many long term travellers are now deserting Thailand in large numbers,as in hindsight,they can see it for what it really is…a very pale imitation of what it used to be.The beaches are dirty,the people ARE friendly(as long as you’re dollars are lining their pockets),the so called jungle treks are a farce,as they take you about 1 kilometre from a main road,food which was once the best in the world,is now customised for the package tourist industry market,and I’ve even heard that there is a shop in BKK somewhere,where you can get kitted out in the”traveller”type look ie henna tattoos,dreaded hair,and fishermans pants…how very original!
Of course,if it is your first time in SE Asia,and you’re young,then everything about Thailand is wonderful,but if you are really looking for an adventure,head to Indonesia.This is a much overlooked country with huge potential.Of course they have many problems(tourism probably being the least of them)but these are problems Thailand also had over 20 years ago.
I was in Thailand in Dec/Jan for the first time in about 5 years,and was deeply saddened to see exactly how lazy most so called young”travellers”have become.Virtually none of them actually go to the local bus stations,or train stations on their own,but instead,walk 10 yards to the reception desk at their hotel,and buy a ticket to another drab tourist destination”on the circuit”Come on people…MAKE AN EFFORT!