Indonesia’s Visa Options: Your Essential Guide

Planning a trip to Indonesia soon? Then it’s useful to know what visa you’ll need. Depending on your travel plans and the duration of your stay, there are different visa options for Indonesia available.

Do I need a visa for Indonesia?

Yes, a visa is required for Indonesia, except for people from several Asian countries such as Brunei, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Timor. Staying less than 30 days? Then you can easily obtain a Visa on Arrival (VOA) for 500,000 Indonesian Rupiahs (approximately €29 or $33). For a longer stay, there are various options available.

Requirements for a visa in Indonesia:

Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months.
Though rarely requested, it’s handy to have a passport photo with you.
A confirmation of your inbound and outbound or onward flight.

The different visas for Indonesia

Visa on Arrival Indonesia

The standard option is the Visa on Arrival (VOA) in Indonesia. You can easily purchase this upon arrival at a counter. After purchase, you receive a stamp in your passport at the customs allowing you to stay in Indonesia for 30 days.

60 days visa Indonesia

Prior to 2019, it was possible to arrange a 60-day visa in Indonesia through the embassy in The Hague. Unfortunately, this option is no longer available, but you can extend your 30-day visa (VOA) once when you’re in Indonesia.

You can handle this yourself while in Indonesia. This does mean you’ll need to visit the immigration office three times, which can be time-consuming. You need to visit once to submit your passport, once for fingerprinting, and once to pick up your passport. Therefore, we decided to extend our visa through a local visa office. It costs an extra 10 euros, but you only need to visit the immigration office once. Besides, the process was completed within 3 days for us in Lombok.

If you want to handle your visa while in Lombok, this is the place to be:

6 months visa Indonesia (B211A visa)

For tourists, a 180-day visa is possible. Initially, you get a visa for 60 days, and this can be extended twice for 60 days each, totaling 180 days or half a year. However, this visa is only for single entry; therefore, you cannot enter and exit the country with this visa.

For applications, you can visit the website: evisa.imigrasi.go.id. It’s a bit of a puzzle, and it’s unclear what the exact steps are. If you’re interested in arranging this visa, it’s wise to engage a visa office for assistance.

It’s also possible to arrange this visa in advance in the Netherlands at the Embassy in The Hague. Read more here: indonesia.nl.

These are the steps:

Fill out the online visa application form.
Collect all required documents for your application. You’ll find the list of documents needed when you fill out the online form.
Make an appointment with the Embassy.
Submit your documents during your appointment and pay the visa fee.
Collect your visa at least 5 working days after submitting your visa application.

Visa fee for tourist visa: 110 euros (payable at the Embassy)

Extension costs: Rp 2,000,000 (118 euros) per extension at local immigration offices in Indonesia

A 6-month visa for Indonesia costs approximately 350 euros in total. The visa must be used to enter Indonesia within 90 days of the issue date; otherwise, it expires and cannot be used. As mentioned above, every tourist visa is a single-entry visa, meaning they expire once you leave the country.

The following requirements are mandatory for visa application:

B211A Travel Documents with the following conditions:
- A passport valid for at least 12 months for a visa application for a single entry with a validity period of 180 days
- A passport valid for at least six months for a visa application for a single entry with a validity period of 60 days
- A legally valid travel document for a stateless person valid for at least 12 months
A sponsorship letter (except for tourism purposes) or proof of immigration guarantee deposit for a foreign investor
Evidence of livelihood costs for the applicant and/or their family during their stay in Indonesian territory of at least 2,000 USD or equivalent
A return ticket or onward ticket to continue the journey to another country, except for crew members of transport means making a stopover to board and continue the journey to another country
Two copies of colored photos sized 4 cm x 6 cm

Visa Run

Another option to stay longer in Indonesia is through a visa run. You fly, for example, for a day to another country and then have the right to a 30-day VOA again, which you can extend by another 30 days.

Ultimately, cost-wise, it won’t make much difference. So, if you’re sure you want to stay longer than 60 days, the B211A is more convenient as it takes less time.

We stayed 4 months in Lombok with a visa run in between. In total, this cost us:

2x VOA: 500,000 Rupiahs
2x Extension of 1,100,000 Rupiahs via a visa office
1x Visa run to Kuala Lumpur: 800,000 Rupiahs

In total, our visa for 4 months, including the visa run in Indonesia, cost us 4,000,000 Rupiahs, equivalent to 235 euros.

If we had chosen a B211A and extended it through a visa office, we would have spent:

110 euros for the first 60 days
3,000,000 Rupiahs (175 euros) for the next 60 days

In total, the B211A for 120 days would have cost us 285 euros. It’s slightly more expensive but saves a lot of time.

What does a visa for Indonesia cost?

The costs for your visa in Indonesia depend on how long you want to stay and how you want to arrange the visa. Here are the costs:

Costs VOA Indonesia 30 days

500,000 Rupiahs / 30 euros (on arrival, preferably cash)
70 euros if you want to arrange it in advance at a visa office in the Netherlands

Costs 60 days Visa Indonesia

500,000 Rupiahs for your VOA + 500k for the extension (self-arranged)
500,000 Rupiahs for your VOA + 1,100,000 Rupiahs for the extension via a visa office in Indonesia

Costs 180 days visa Indonesia

For the first 60 days, you pay 110 euros
For each 60-day extension, you pay 118 euros
If you stay half a year in Indonesia, it costs approximately 350 euros in total

B211A for 6 months through a visa office: 3,000,000 Rupiahs (175 euros per extension)

What happens in case of an overstay in Indonesia?

What happens if you stay longer in Indonesia than your visa allows? The fine is approximately 1,000,000 Rupiahs per day for an overstay. An overstay of 60 days is considered an offense. Besides facing an entry ban, there’s a risk of imprisonment if the fine is not paid. We never recommend an overstay.

For the most recent and specific information regarding visa regulations in Indonesia, it’s advisable to consult the relevant authorities: kemlu.go.id/thehague/lc.