Visa policy of Indonesia

Most visitors to Indonesia may obtain a visa on arrival to Indonesia, unless they are a citizen of one of the visa-exempt countries. However, some countries must obtain a visa in advance from one of the Indonesian diplomatic missions before being allowed to enter Indonesia.

All visitors must hold a passport valid for 6 months as well as a valid return ticket.

Passport with validity of more than 3 months can be accepted in special cases or business travel.

The immigration officer at the port of entry may ask the passenger to produce any necessary documents (such as hotel reservation and proof of finance).

Visa policy map

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Visa policy of Indonesia
  Indonesia
  Visa not required (30 days)
  e-VOA / Visa on arrival (30 days)
  Visa required
  Visas issued only with government approval

Visa exemption

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The Directorate General of Immigration publishes a list of countries whose nationals are visa-exempt.[1]

Citizens of the following 13 countries may enter Indonesia without a visa, for a maximum stay of 30 days:[1][2]

# - Permanent residents of Singapore are eligible to get 4 days visa-free entry to Batam, Bintan and the Karimun Islands.[3][1]

Citizens of a visa-exempt country may enter Indonesia through any of the designated border crossings, comprising 15 airports, 91 seaports and 12 cross-border land posts.[1]

APEC Business Travel Card

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Holders of passports issued by the following countries who possess an APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) containing the "IDN" code on the reverse, which indicates that it is valid for travel to Indonesia, can enter visa-free for business trips of up to 60 days.[2]

ABTCs are issued to citizens of:[4]

Visa on arrival

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The Directorate General of Immigration also publishes a list of countries whose nationals are eligible to obtain a visa on arrival (VoA/e-VoA) to Indonesia,[5] Despite its name, it can also be applied for online prior to arrival in Indonesia via its eVisa portal.[6]

Citizens of the following countries may apply for a visa on arrival. This visa costs Rp500,000, and is valid for a maximum stay of 30 days. The visa can be extended once inside Indonesia for another 30 days at designated offices for an extra Rp500,000.[7]

N - Already exempt from visa requirement.[2][5]

Citizens of a country eligible for a visa on arrival may obtain it at any of the designated border crossings, comprising 16 airports, 95 seaports and 11 cross-border land posts.[8]


Non-ordinary passports

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  Indonesia
  Visa not required for diplomatic, official or service category passports

Holders of diplomatic or official / service category passports issued by the following countries are allowed to visit Indonesia without a visa for 30 days (unless otherwise stated):[9][10]

D - Diplomatic passports only.
1 - 14 days
2 - 90 days

Indonesia signed visa exemption agreements with Algeria, Eswatini, Gambia, Nepal, Iraq, Rwanda and Syria for diplomatic and service passports. These agreements are yet to be ratified.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

Transit without a visa

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Passengers transiting through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and not changing terminals, or those transiting through Ngurah Rai International Airport and not staying after 2 AM, do not need a transit visa if transiting for up to 8 hours.[2]

Visa required

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Nationals who wish to obtain a multiple-entry visa, extend their visa (up to a maximum of five extensions) or who are not eligible for either visa-free entry or visa on arrival must apply for a visa in advance at an Indonesian embassy or consulate.

Approval required (Calling visa)

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Citizens of the following countries require prior approval from the Directorate General of Immigration in Jakarta. Besides a visa, they must hold a reference letter issued by the Directorate General of Immigration, as well as the invitation letter used to apply for their Indonesian visa before travelling to Indonesia. This policy is called the Indonesian Calling Visa.[2][19]

As of 28 November 2023, the Directorate General of Immigration was evaluating a proposed removal of calling visa requirements for citizens of Guinea.[20]

History of visa policy reforms

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  1. In March 2015, Indonesian authorities announced that from April 2015 visas would be waived for citizens of 30 other countries, namely Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Russia, Qatar, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.[23][24] For a visa waiver to enter into force Indonesian law stipulating mandatory reciprocity must be changed.[25] In October 2015, the list was further extended by a new Presidential decree with another 45 countries.
  2. Indonesian Government expects additional US$1.3 billion revenue for the foreign-exchange reserves as a result of the visa waiver.[26]
  3. In May 2015, Vice President Jusuf Kalla announced that the visa-waiver will be extended to 60-70 countries as soon as the reciprocity clause was removed from the immigration law.[27]
  4. On June 12, 2015, the Indonesian Government announced that it formally waived visa requirements for the 45 countries listed above for 30 days but the visit permit cannot be extended or changed to other permits.[28]
  5. On September 19, 2015, Indonesian authorities release the name of 45 additional countries and regions that will be eligible for visa free travel to Indonesia by the end of September 2015, namely Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominica, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Monaco, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Tunisia, Turkey, Vatican City and Venezuela.[29]
  6. On December 21, 2015, Indonesian Maritime Coordinator Minister, Rizal Ramli announced that the visa-waiver policy would be extended to 84 additional countries by the end of 2015. The complete list are, Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, North Korea, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Paraguay, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Serbia, Solomon Island, Somalia, Sri Lanka, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines, Sudan, Tajikistan, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe, make it total of 174 countries that can enjoy visa-waiver policy to Indonesia.[30][31][32][33]
  7. President Joko Widodo signed a Presidential Decree on 2 March 2016 with regards to the revision of list of countries that were granted short-term visit visa-free facility. Out of 84 additional countries that were initially planned to be added, only 78 were passed. Citizens of Cameroon, Guinea, Montenegro, North Korea, Pakistan, and Somalia would continue to require a visa prior to visit Indonesia.[34]
  8. On 5 August 2020, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi signed a visa exemption agreement with Colombian Foreign Minister Claudia Blum allowing ordinary passport holders from Colombia to enter Indonesia visa-free for up to 30 days. It went into effect on September 15, 2020.[35]
  9. The visa waiver system was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. Visa free entry was restored for only ASEAN and Timor Leste citizens in 2023. Citizens of 92 countries can obtain an e-VOA or a visa on arrival, essentially reverting to the pre-2015 system.[36]

Visitor statistics

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Most visitors arriving to Indonesia were from the following countries of nationality:

Source: Statistics Indonesia[37][38]

Country 10/2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
  Malaysia 1,882,977 1,901,242 1,212,574 480,723 980,118 2,980,753 2,503,344 1,238,276
  Australia 1,393,372 1,431,177 655,370 3,196 256,291 1,386,803 1,301,478 1,188,449
  Singapore 1,111,478 1,414,447 736,797 18,704 280,492 1,934,445 1,768,744 1,512,813
  China 1,030,942 787,924 169,378 54,713 239,768 2,072,079 2,139,161 1,972,405
  East Timor 632,926 728,586 703,780 819,488 994,590 1,178,381 1,762,442 960,026
  India 584,674 606,439 281,814 6,670 111,724 657,300 595,636 485,314
  South Korea 356,050 347,185 122,221 9,497 75,562 388,316 358,885 378,769
  United States 353,233 392,310 188,764 21,962 91,782 457,832 387,856 331,132
  United Kingdom 337,017 335,209 170,881 5,177 69,997 397,624 392,112 361,197
  France 313,415 273,682 134,541 3,776 43,438 283,814 287,917 268,989
  Japan 282,994 251,866 73,913 5,952 92,228 519,623 530,573 538,334
  Netherlands 272,232 250,201 115,052 12,229 53,495 215,287 209,978 205,844
  Germany 247,128 263,534 128,634 3,429 46,361 277,653 274,166 260,586
  Philippines 199,163 209,458 78,436 9,375 50,413 260,980 217,874 162,726
  Taiwan 158,470 155,150 25,750 1,398 35,680 207,490 208,317 211,489
  Russia 137,318 161,323 75,578 8,392 67,491 158,943 125,728 110,529
  New Zealand 136,049 116,603 44,125 482 19,947 149,010 128,366 106,914
  Spain 126,545 106,581 51,563 3,255 11,829 83,373 85,560 81,690
  Italy 118,941 104,393 47,415 2,339 13,260 91,229 94,288 90,022
  Saudi Arabia 110,044 107,684 47,472 2,053 31,906 157,512 165,912 166,111
  Thailand 101,367 111,786 61,128 3,992 21,303 136,699 124,153 106,510
  Papua New Guinea 95,523 76,471 22,509 31,703 20,975 78,433 142,648 141,299
  Vietnam 92,203 121,879 68,067 2,008 19,608 96,024 75,816 77,466
  Canada 73,118 83,696 36,042 1,242 23,200 103,616 97,908 96,139
   Switzerland 51,027 48,459 23,192 782 8,362 57,484 60,293 61,191
  Turkey 42,414 30,433 14,424 1,122 6,038 23,883 20,861 34,433
  Myanmar 40,478 40,920 22,637 3,093 12,669 46,381 28,612 48,133
  Poland 40,251 41,988 18,401 752 9,055 41,637 31,437 32,704
  Hong Kong 38,620 13,885 7,086 2,432 2,625 50,324 91,182 98,272
  Belgium 38,299 42,888 21,120 798 5,902 46,780 50,050 48,477
  Denmark 36,759 39,555 20,913 557 10,533 45,090 46,825 43,721
  Austria 33,610 34,984 17,708 2,103 4,858 28,476 29,492 27,208
  Ireland 32,247 34,466 16,003 291 5,167 28,602 28,742 29,400
  Portugal 31,409 32,029 14,393 476 6,245 35,434 36,804 33,223
  Sweden 31,020 37,481 19,885 3,516 17,600 56,402 50,381 51,417
  Brazil 29,233 29,497 14,855 952 5,945 30,232 26,503 32,403
  South Africa 24,902 31,872 13,267 572 15,142 47,657 41,962 38,073
  Romania 22,219 25,031 9,896 510 4,320 18,650 14,092 18,787
  Ukraine 22,102 22,204 11,428 3,044 16,491 35,537 26,697 32,964
  Norway 18,544 19,577 10,069 336 5,072 23,886 24,906 22,838
  Czech Republic 18,146 18,388 7,607 496 6,178 23,941 22,848 20,125
  Pakistan 17,905 14,264 5,247 974 4,110 14,663 13,448 11,424
  Egypt 16,463 16,832 7,326 611 4,337 21,354 18,075 20,345
  Hungary 16,276 16,689 6,384 218 3,664 14,218 13,434 12,600
  Kazakhstan 15,515 8,198 2,282 378 3,735 9,781 7,955 7,219
  Mexico 13,189 14,341 5,092 135 2,375 13,663 12,418 11,497
  Colombia 12,132 14,572 3,992 96 1,324 6,304 5,445 5,051
  Finland 11,622 12,345 5,480 240 6,376 22,665 27,127 24,447
  Argentina 9,988 10,322 3,528 114 3,066 9,994 11,468 15,280
  Bulgaria 7,722 7,233 2,488 211 2,575 7,652 8,405 8,695
Total 11,565,981 11,677,825 5,889,031 1,557,530 4,052,923 16,106,954 15,810,305 14,039,799
Indonesian Tourism Statistics[39][40][41][42][43][44]
2000 5,064,217
2001 5,153,620
2002 5,033 400
2003 4,467,021
2004 5,321,165
2005 5,002,101
2006 4,871,351
2007 5,505,759
2008 6,429,027
2009 6,452,259
2010 7,002,944
2011 7,649,731
2012 8,044,462
2013 8,802,129
2014 9,435,411
2015 10,406,759
2016 11,519,275
2017 14,039,799
2018 15,810,305
2019 16,106,954
2020 4,052,923
2021 1,557,530
2022 5,889,031
2023 11,677,825

The ten most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia recorded by Central Statistics Agency (BPS) are Bali, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Jakarta, North Sumatra, Lampung, South Sulawesi, South Sumatra, Banten, and West Sumatra (which would make it 11 provinces today due to Banten previously having been a part of West Java).[45]

As with most countries, domestic tourists are by far the largest market segment. The biggest movement of domestic tourists is during the annual Eid al-Fitr, locally known as lebaran. During this period, which is a two-week holiday after the month of fasting during Ramadan, many city-dwelling Muslim Indonesians visit relatives in their home towns. Intercity traffic is at its peak and often an additional surcharge is applied during this time.

Over the five years up to 2006, attention has been focused on generating more domestic tourism. Competition amongst budget airlines has increased the number of domestic air travellers throughout the country. Recently, the Ministry of Labour legislated to create long weekends by combining public holidays that fall close to weekends, except in the case of important religious holidays. During these long weekends, most hotels in popular destinations are fully booked.

Since 2000, on average, there have been five million foreign tourists each year (see table), who spend an average of US$100 per day. With an average visit duration of 9–12 days, Indonesia gains US$4.6 billion of foreign exchange income annually.[39] This makes tourism Indonesia's third most important non-oilgas source of foreign revenue, after timber and textile products.[46]

After toppled Japan two years ago, China as the world's biggest tourism spenders now toppled Australia to become number three with 30.42 per cent increase year-on-year (y-o-y), while foreign tourists growth by 10.6 per cent y-o-y set to more than 2.9 million. The top countries of origin Q1 2014 data comes from the Asia-Pacific region, with Singapore (15.7 per cent), Malaysia (14.0), China (11.0), Australia, and Japan among the top countries of origin.[47]

Around 59% of all visitors are travelling to Indonesia for holiday purposes, while 38% for business.[48]

In 2012, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, travel and tourism made a total contribution of 8.9% of GDP and supported 8% of total employment in Indonesia.[48]

See also

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References

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  2. ^ a b c d e "Visa and passport". Timatic. International Air Transport Association through Emirates. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
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  34. ^ Prodjo, Wahyu Adityo (18 March 2016). "Inilah 84 Negara Bebas Visa ke Indonesia". TribunNews.
  35. ^ "Foreign Ministers of Indonesia and Colombia Signed Two Agreements Virtually". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.
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