Visit Visa for Indonesia

Although it is allowed to use the visit visa for tourism purposes, it is mostly used by foreigners to visit their friends, family or partner or for social-cultural (educational) purposes such as a course, research or training (often named Sosial-Budaya visa). To obtain this visa at the Indonesian embassy outside Indonesia you will require an invitation letter from your sponsor. This sponsor can be an Indonesian individual, an expat with a temporary (ITAS) or permanent (ITAP) resident permit, or an Indonesia-based institution (for example an educational/training center).

In the invitation letter your sponsor should mention the following:

• Full name, address and passport number of the foreign visitor
• Purpose of the foreigner's visit to Indonesia
• Address where the foreigner will stay during the visit
• Estimated duration of the foreigner's visit to Indonesia
• Include a copy of a recent bank account statement that shows the sponsor can cover the foreigner's living expenses and transportation costs during the visitor's time in Indonesia
• Include a copy of the sponsor's identity card

After your sponsor has provided you this letter you need to visit the Indonesian embassy of your choice for the following:

• Visa application form; fill in the document you obtain at the Indonesian embassy for the visit visa (visa kunjungan)
• Give the invitation letter from your sponsor (including the copy of your sponsor's identity card. In case your sponsor is an expat living in Indonesia, you need a copy of his/her ITAS/ITAP and passport)
• A copy of your (electronic) round trip ticket that shows the departure date to, and from, Indonesia
• Your original and undamaged passport (valid for at least six more months)
• One or two photographs (head shots)
• Pay the visa fee (for the initial 60 days the price should be around USD $45)

About the copy of the round trip ticket, it is possible to have a departure date from Indonesia beyond the initial 60-day period. However, considering the visit visa has a maximum of 180 days (including the four extensions) the departure date from Indonesia cannot exceed the 180 days after the planned entry into Indonesia.

The documents you gave to the officer at the Indonesian embassy will be processed in Jakarta and therefore it can take about 4 (four) days before a decision is made and the visa is granted (but of course your request can be rejected). If approved, a telex visa will be sent from Jakarta's immigration office to the Indonesian embassy abroad and you should be notified by the embassy to collect your passport, complete with visit visa. Once issued, you have to enter Indonesia within 90 days. If not, the visit visa expires.

If you visit Indonesia for the purpose of meeting family, attend business meetings, or for governmental visits, then you can request a multiple entry visa, implying you can leave and re-enter Indonesia various times during the 60-day period. If you do not request this facility, then immigration will grant you a single-entry visa, implying you can only enter Indonesia once during the designated period. Per June 2016 Indonesian authorities set the validity of a multiple entry visit visa at five years (revised from the previous one-year validity). Foreigners who want to visit Indonesia to meet family, friends, to attend courses/training or to conduct research can apply for this five-year visit visa. Once you have entered Indonesia using this five-year multiple entry visit visa you can stay in Indonesia for a maximum of 60 days. But - contrary to the single entry visit visa - it is not extendable! So you will need to leave and re-enter the country to obtain another 60 days in Indonesia.

We want to emphasize that you are not allowed to work in Indonesia with the visit visa. This would be an abuse of the visa and constitutes a serious offense.

Extending Your Visit Visa in Indonesia

If you want to stay longer than 60 days in Indonesia under the visit visa, then you can request for an extension at the local immigration office (be aware that this request can be rejected). You can extend the visa four times, each time by a 30-day period, thus in total you can spend 180 days in Indonesia with your visit visa. Each extension is estimated to cost around IDR 250,000 (approx. USD $19). Make sure that you start the process about 10-14 days before the deadline.

In case the immigration office rejects your request, ask for a document that cites the reasoning for the rejection (in Indonesian: Surat Keterangan Penolakan). It is mandatory for the immigration office to provide this document. If you have not done anything illegally during your stay in Indonesia (for example taking up employment) and delivered all required documentation (such as departure ticket and other required documents mentioned above) when requesting the extension, there should not be any reason for immigration to reject the request. You can visit the immigration division head at the local regional office (in Indonesian: Kantor Wilayah) to file a complaint.

Make sure that - when you request to extend your visit visa - you visit the immigration office nearest to your temporary Indonesian address that was mentioned in the original visit visa application.

Additional Information for Former Indonesians and Family

Per June 2016, ex-Indonesians (those who were born Indonesian but later took citizenship of another country, usually for marriage) and their family (spouse and under-aged children) can obtain a multiple entry five-year visit visa. With this visa they can stay in Indonesia for an initial period of 60 days. However, it can be extended twice, each time for an additional 60 days, hence in total people can visit Indonesia for 180 days using this visa.

Last update: 27 January 2017