Indonesia Entry Formalities

PASSPORT

Your passport will have to be valid for 6 months beyond the planned date of entering Indonesia.

Make sure it is not too full yet - it is a formal/legal requirement for entering Indonesia that your passport should have 2 empty pages in it when you arrive (so that it has enough space for their stamps).

  ONWARD TICKET

Officially, every visitor must hold a ticket out of Indonesia to be allowed to enter the country. This may be checked at three places:

• By an Indonesian embassy, if applying for a visa in advance;
• By check-in staff at the airport where you are boarding your flight to Indonesia;
• By Indonesian immigration upon arrival.

If you don't have an onward ticket, check-in staff can refuse to let you board you flight, while Indonesian immigration officials may refuse to let you enter the country, or demand a bribe. You may also be offered the option of buying an onward ticket on the spot, at a price that is likely to be higher than what you could have found online. This is a nuisance for those who plan to leave Indonesia overland by taking a boat to Malaysia or crossing the border to Papua New Guinea, or for those who simply haven't decided how long they wish to stay and therefore would rather not buy their onward tickets well in advance. If you don't have one, you can of course try and risk catching your flight to the country hoping no one will check, but a safer, legal option is buying the cheapest online ticket out of Indonesia available (often costing only around US$ 20-30 with Air Asia) even if you are not planning to use it later. Onward tickets are rarely checked if entering Indonesia by sea, and virtually never if entering through a land border.

ARRIVAL / DEPARTURE CARD

Before queueing up at the immigration upon arrival, you will have to fill in an arrival/departure card, which is usually handed out to passengers arriving by air during their flight. One question on this will ask where you are going to stay in Indonesia - just write down a single hotel and its address from your guidebook. The immigration officer will give part of this card back to you - take good care of it, as you will need to hand it over when leaving the country!

VISAS

VISA-FREE ENTRY:

Nationals of the following 10 countries and territories can enter Indonesia without a visa, and will be given a free but non-extendable 30 day permit:

Brunei, Chile, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore

They still have to use the same entry points as those listed below for Visa on Arrival.

VISA ON ARRIVAL:

Nationals of 64 countries can get their Indonesian visas upon arrival so long as they enter Indonesia through one of the designated entry points. These visas will cost US$ 25 for a 30 day visa and are now extendable by another 30 days within the country. Cheaper 7 day visas for $10 are now only available to those only visiting the Riau islands of Batam and Bintan! You will not need any photos, nor to fill in any forms, but you should ideally have the right amount in hand in US$ cash, as other currencies will be accepted at a poorer rate, if at all.

Important! The day you enter is counted as your first day, the day you leave is your last. So if you enter on 1st January, you must leave on the 30th, not 31st!

List of eligible countries:

Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, East Timor, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America

List of designated entry points:

By Air:

• Bali: Denpasar
• Java: Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Solo
• Nusa Tenggara: Kupang (Timor), Mataram (Lombok)
• Sumatra: Banda Aceh, Medan, Pekanbaru, Padang, Palembang
• Riau Islands: Batam
• Kalimantan: Balikpapan, Pontianak
• Sulawesi: Makassar, Manado

By Sea or Land:

• Bali: Benoa, Padangbai
• Java: Jakarta (Tanjung Priok), Semarang
• Nusa Tenggara: Maumere (Flores), Tenau (near Kupang, Timor)
• Sumatra: Belawan (near Medan), Dumai, Padang, Sibolga
• Riau Islands: Batam (Batam Centre, Batu Ampar, Nongsa, Sekupang, Teluk Senimba), Bintan (Tanjung Pinang, Tanjung Uban), Karimun (Tanjung Balai)
• Kalimantan: Entikong (land border with Sarawak)
• Sulawesi: Bitung, Makassar, Pare-pare
• Papua: Jayapura (by sea only!)

Important! If you plan to use any other entry point to the country, you must get a visa in advance even if you would otherwise be eligible for a visa on arrival! This is most likely to affect those who plan to enter Indonesia by land from East Timor or Papua New Guinea, or by sea from Sabah.

Airport Tax

An airport tax of Rp150,000 is levied by airports on departing passengers on international flights and Rp.25,000 for those on domestic routes.

Customs

Maximum items allowed by customs when you visit Indonesia:
1 liter of alcoholic beverages
200 cigarettes OR 50 cigars OR 100 grams of tobacco
Reasonable amount of perfume per adult, meaning if you arrive drenched in perfume the customs probably will not mind you carrying loads of bottles.
Cameras, video cameras, portable radios, cassette recorders, binoculars and sport equipments are admitted provided they are taken out on departure. They must be declared to Customs.

You are prohibited to carry:

• Firearms
• Narcotics drugs
• Pornography materials
• Chinese printing and medicines
• Transceivers and cordless telephone
• Films, pre-recorded video tapes, laser discs, VCDs, DVDs must be screened by Censor Board.
• Import or export of foreign currencies and travelers’ checks are allowed. However, the import and export of Indonesia currency, exceeding 100 million Rupiah is prohibited.