Travel Guide - How to extend indonesian Tourist Visa or Social Visa

Indonesian VISA on Arrival

Indonesia offers VISA on arrival at all airports and border crossings. The VISA costs 25 US $ and is valid for one month (30 days). This tourist VISA can only be extended once, no matter what. Do this as early as possible, at best already in the first week after arrival. The VISA extension can take up to 7 work days which can stretch up to 2 weeks if many oficial holdays fall into that time. It is your responsibility to apply for the VISA in time. After the VISA on arrival was successfully extended once, the only way to get a new VISA is to leave and re-enter the country.

Requirements to get VISA on Arrival:

Passport has to be valid at least 6 month at the day of departure
One empty page in the passport
A valid return ticket or a ticket to leave the country (We heard of people getting around that)
Arrival at one of the following Airports: Medan, Pekanbaru, Padang, Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Denpasar (Bali) und Manado, Yogyakarta, Surakarta/Solo, Mataram, Balikpapan, Makassar, Kupang

Requirements for extension of a Visa on Arrival VISA

Passport and Copy of Passport
Filled out Extension Forms (you’ll get them at the imigration office)
Two up to date Photos with a red background
250.000 Rp or $25 payment

How to extend your Visa on Arrival:

Day 1 – Go to any Indonesian Immigration office, fill out the required forms and present them along with your passport, photocopies of you passport and two passport photos

Day 2 – Return to the office to pay your 250,000 rp / $25 US fee

Day 3 – Return to the office again to pick up your passport

Immigration offices in Bali

Bali has three immigration offices, the one on the North Coast is in Singaraja city, near Lovina beach. In South Bali exist two Immigration offices. One in Renon, the central district of Denpasar, and one close to the airport.Careful, it recently moved (2012) and some taxi drivers still drive to the old address. The new adress is marked in the map below.

If you are sincere about the place where you stay (Kuta, Seminyak Area) than you must go to the Airport Immigration Office anyways. In Renon are far less tourists, but although the officers are more friendly than at the Airport Immigration, they almost speak no english and love to stick to their silly rules and bureaucracy, At the Immigration close to the airport, expect long waiting hours and severe corruption. Don’t speed things up with extra payment, this only feeds the mob.

Indonesian Social Visa

If you plan to stay longer than one month in Indonesia, its best to apply in an indonesian embassy in your country for a VISA. Thats the only way to get a two month VISA for Indonesia (called Social VISA) which can save you a lot of stress once your inside the country. The Visa you’ll receive in advance is valid for a period of 3 month, during this time you need to enter Indonesia. But don’t worry, the actual 2 month VISA time starts not until you actually enter the country. Regardless of the day you entered, from that day on you have a valid Indonesian VISA for 2 month. Period.

How to extend your Social Visa?

The social VISA can be extended up to four times for 30 days each, but it is important to know that you will need an indonesian citizen to act as a sponsor for you. That can be anyone – guest house owner or staff, a friend or acquaintance with an ID Card that lives within the jurisdiction of that specific immigration office. Having found a balinese Sponsor is not enough, if he is from another part of the island.

What do you need to extend your social Visa?

We were lucky because we befriended a worker from our guest house who did it without any charge. But at several Guest Houses they know someone who speaks english and is willing to be your sponsor for some money, probably around 100.000 – 250.000 Rp. In front of highly frequented Immigration offices (e.g. the Immigration office close to the Airport in Bali) several “agents” are loitering and offering you their sponsorship service, but they charge serious money for it.

The Sponsor has to “bail” for you but is not required to reveal his assets or financial situation. He does not have to pay any fees or put up any money up as collateral, He or She will just need to fill out and sign two forms and you’ll need a copy of his/her ID-Card. But remember, your sponsor is kind of vouching for your good character and that you won’t do anything illegal in the country (Including DRUGS or working without the permit). If you get caught, he or she will get into severe trouble!

Requirements for extension of a social VISA

Photocopy of passport (personal information, Indonesian Visa with the entry stamp), minimum 2 free pages and a validity of 18 months minimum.
Two up to date Photos with a red background
Documents of sponsor such as: Indonesian Resident ID Card, Indonesian Family Registry, proof of having saving on your bank account, phone number
2 Materia Stamps (details below)
250.000 Rp payment

How to extend your social VISA yourself?

You’ll have to visit the immigration office 3-4 times and the process will takes around 9-12 days until you finally have your social Visa extended. It could take even longer if indonesian holidays get in the way. But it is by far the cheapest option with only 250.000 Rp Fee and there gladly is no corruption involved.

To Save time you can bring you sponsor with you to the Immigration office and thus do step 1 and 2 at the same day, given that you have all the required documents with you (READ BELOW ABOUT THE SPECIAL STAMP THAT YOU NEED). Having your sponsor with you can also be of great help with filling out the forms.

First visit – Go to the immigration office and pick up all the forms & instructions. MAKE SURE you got everything you need, especially the forms for the sponsor.

Second visit – Take in all your forms, photos, photocopies of passport. Expect them to make pictures of you and to take your fingerprints.

Third visit – Soonest 3 working days later, you can return to pay the 250,000 Rp Fee

Fourth visit – Another 3 working days later, you can finally return to pick up your passport.

ATTENTION:

The requirements for the 1st and 2nd Social VISA extension are identical, but the 3rd and 4th extension require different forms and an additional step.

How to fill out the forms?

First Visit to Immigration

Make sure to get all the forms and to ask the officer what each and every line in the forms means. For one thing, the forms are only in Indonesian language and there are some parts for your personal data and for the sponsors’ information. To make things complicated, on the different forms those sections are switched and everything is really chaotically placed and not logical at all. You will get 2 copies of each form, which you’ll have to fill out both by hand.

Carefully fill out the forms following your notes and have your sponsor fill out the forms as well. He/she will have to provide the following information: full name, address, phone number, marital status, religion, occupation, Indonesian ID number.

ATTENTION:

On the Sponsor form must be affixed a certain very special stamp (called Materia) to make it official. Buy this stamp in any post office (or possibly even at the immigration office) for $0.60 and stick it on the illustrated area. Your Sponsor MUST sign his name on top of the Materia. Don’t ask why, we gave up on that question dealing with indonesian officials, but this is very important.

Second Visit to Immigration

Return to the Immigration office with all your forms, two pictures in front of a red background, your passport and the photocopys of your passport. At the first extension they will take your finger print. If you did everything right and the officers have a good day, they’ll tell you to come back in three working days

Third visit to the immigration office

At this visit you are instructed to pay the 250,000 Rp fee. Again, it’s hard to wrap your mind around the fact that you are NOT allowed to do that at your second visit.

Fourth Visit to the Immigration office

Three working days later you can finally pick up your passport with the extension and look forward with pleasant anticipation because you’ll have to repeat the entire process every month. If you plan to extend your Visa several times possibly in different immigration offices throughout the country its wise to pick up all the forms you’ll need later on your first visit.

If you’re trying to travel through Indonesia, this procedure will get quite annoying since you need around 10 days every month to stay at a certain city. The only thing you might consider doing is to hire an agency to take care of almost all the process. They will charge a lot of money upfront, a good price for your VISA extension will be in between 450.000 and 550.000 Rp per month. Don’t accept higher prices!

You’ll still need a sponsor (or it costs even more), but you could prepare together the required 8 overall forms for four extensions. If you leave your passport at their office, you don’t even have to come back and can continue travelling. Don’t worry, for flights inside Indonesia a passport is not necessarily needed, a photocopy is enough. But if you buy your plain tickets, buy them via an agency to be able to explain your situation – they should be able to help you out. This way you’ll only have to return once to that office at the end of your trip to leave the country.

Our personal travel tips for you about Indonesia:

Find general helpful Information about Indonesia in this article!
Travel Guide Indonesia – General Tips| Towards New Horizons

Unsere ganz persönlichen Reisetips:

Du willst mehr über Indonesien wissen und viele wertvolle Tips für deinen Trip erfahren?
Reisetips zu Indonesien – General Tips| Towards New Horizons

Wie beantrage ich ein Touristenvisum für Indonesien in Deutschland das zwei Monate gültig ist?

Dieses Visum gilt für 2 Monate und wird in Indonesien wie ein Social VISA behandelt, auch wenn in der Botschaft von einem Touristen Visum gesprochen wird.

Das Visum muss in der indonesischen Botschaft in Berlin beantragt werden. Dies kann entweder persönlich oder auf dem Postweg geschehen. Die maximale Aufenthaltsdauer beträgt 8 Wochen und das Visum kann vor Ort bis zu vier Mal um jeweils einen Monat verlängert werden.

Folgende Dokumente werden bei dem Antrag für ein Tourstenvisum benötigt:

Ausgefüllter und unterschriebener Visumsantrag
Zwei farbige Passbilder der Gräße 3,5 x 4,5 cm
Reisepass im Original & Kopie 1. Seite (mit Namen, Geburtsdatum, etc.)
Kopie des Hin- und Rückflugtickets
1 freie Seite im Reisepass
Gebühr von € 45 p.P. in bar oder Überweisung (bitte Überweisungsbeleg beifügen!)
Ein ausreichend frankierter Rückumschlag per Einschreiben (wenn alles auf dem Postweg erfolgen soll)
Kopie eines aktuellen Kontoauszuges (nur wenn der Aufenthalt länger als 2 Monate dauern soll)

Das alles kann auch per Post per Einschreiben geschickt werden. Falls die Rücksendung per Post erfolgen soll muss ein Rückumschlag (min. Größe A5) beiliegen, der per ebenfalls per Einschreiben zurückgeschickt wird (daher mit Euro 3,25 bzw. Euro 3,60) frankiert.

Das Antragsformular könnt ihr HIER downloaden

Die Seite der indonesischen Boschaft in Berlin ist sehr schlecht und die Formulare sind schwer zu finden, aber auf dem folgenden Link erhaltet ihr eine Übersicht über alle Vorraussetzungen für die Beantragung der verschiedenen VISA: Indonesiche Botschaft Berlin

Kontoverbindung und Adresse der indonesischen Botschaft in Berlin:

Kontoinhaber: Indonesische Botschaft; Kontonr.: 2660108; BLZ: 100 400 00 (Commerzbank Berlin)

Botschaft der Republik Indonesien: Lehrter Straße 16-17, D-10557 Berlin

Tel: (030) 47 80 70. Fax: (030) 44 73 71 42. Konsularabt.: Tel: (030) 47 80 70

Internet: www.botschaft-indonesien.de

Konsularabt.: Mo-Do 09.00-12.30 und 14.30-15.30 Uhr und Fr 09:00-12:00 Uhr.

Indonesische Botschaft in Österreich

Botschaft der Republik Indonesien: Gustav-Tschermak-Gasse 5-7, A-1180 Wien
Tel: (01) 47 62 30. Fax: (01) 479 05 57. Konsularabt.: Tel: (01) 476 23 19.
E-Mail: info@kbriwina.at
Internet: www.kbriwina.at
Mo-Fr 08.30-12.30 Uhr und 13:30-17.00 Uhr. Konsularabt.: Mo-Fr 09.00-12.00 Uhr und 14.00 bis 17.00 Uhr.