THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EXTENDING YOUR INDONESIAN VISA IN BALI
We hope this guide will help you understand the process of how to extend your Indonesian visa in Bali. In our experience, we found it difficult to find any information on how to do this without leaving us more confused. We had to go through the process and figure it out and after going through this experience on our trip in Bali there were some steps missed out so we hope you will find this a comprehensive guide on what to expect.
When arriving at Denpasar International airport there are two desks before the customs control. Most passengers arriving will ignore these two desks because they will be looking to arrive on the free 30 day visa. However if you are looking to extend your visa to 60 days then you will need to go to one of these two desks and pay $35 per person for a visa on arrival. This is very important as you can only extend your visa if you pay for the first 30 days at the airport at one of these two desks. You will then proceed through customs and then collect your bags.
When we extended our visa we visited the immigration office in Jimbaran the very next day after arriving. There is also an immigration office in Denpasar. A quick search of ‘immigration office’ on google will show you exactly where they both are. We also found that most taxi drivers knew the location of the immigration offices well.
Immigration Office Visit Number One
When entering the Jimbaran immigration office approach the two desks in front of you an they will give you the forms that you need to complete. You will also need to have a copy of your departing flight details, a copy of your passport and a copy of the visa stamp that you received at the airport. I would suggest doing this before you arrive in Bali. However, there are photocopying stores just around the corner from the immigration office if you need them.
Fill out your forms and then approach one of the automatic ticketing machines to get a waiting number and then take a seat. There is a TV screen that calls numbers and you can see where they are up to. This will give you a general idea of how long you will have to wait. When called you will need to approach counter number 3. The immigration office will ask you to write your full name and passport number onto a red folder. You will hand over your documents, photocopies and passport. You will then be asked to take a seat again. After a few minutes you will be called up again by name this time and given a piece of paper with a return date and time. This piece of paper is very important as it basically acts as your passport. Our first visit was on a Thursday and our return appointment was on the next Tuesday. This was a 4 day wait. Most of the current information online says the whole process would take 5 days so we already knew that the process would take longer than we expected.
It is important to note that previous information said that you would pay for your visa with cash at the immigration office on your second visit. However, the immigration officer informed us that a new procedure is in place. At the top of the document that we were given there was a bar code. We were told that we would need to visit a bank and pay for our visa there. This added another trip into the mix where you have to find a bank and make the payment there.
Bank Payment
We carried out the visa bank payment the day before our second Immigration office visit. We looked on google and struggled to find any banks. There were several ATMS listed. We were staying in the Badung area at Bingin beach and it was fairly isolated. We decided to rent a scooter and ask at the nearest shop where the closest bank was as we could only see ATMS. The store worker showed me on google maps where a local bank was and we drove over on the scooter. It was about a 30 minute ride. The bank was called Mandiri and looked very new and had extremely helpful staff. One thing mentioned on google was that the banks are always busy and to expect long lines. There were no lines when we arrived and the security guard even helped us fill out our forms as they were in Indonesian. We were then directed upstairs to make payment for our visa and received a copy of our form and receipt stapled to our visa document. It was fairly straight forward in the end but not as simple as the old way by making payment at the Immigration office. The payment at the bank was another $35 per visa.
Immigration Office Visit Number Two
On our second visit we hired a scooter to go to Jimbaran instead of a taxi as it was cheaper. It was a 30 min ride from where we were staying. We were in Bali not long after Mt Agung erupted and it was fairly quiet due to a lack of tourists. We have been told over and over that normally it is extremely busy. I would leave plenty of time to make your allowed time as the roads would be gridlocked if any busier than what we experienced. We also managed to get pulled over by the police less than a mile from the immigration office as they were asking for money if you don’t have an international driving license so please be careful.
When we arrived we were told to go straight to counter number 3. We showed our payment receipt and we were given a new ticket and asked to take a seat. This time we were in the photo line. When our numbers were called we entered the foreign photo cubicles on the left of the room. We had our photo taken and fingerprints of every finger copied. The immigration officer then gave us a new date and time to return to collect our passport with the new visa. We were then given a date to return.
Immigration Office Visit Number Three
On our third visit we walked in and went to the counters on the right of the room after entering the doors. The immigration officer took our paperwork and asked us to take a seat, he said we would be called by our names at counter 3 again.
After waiting for around 20 minutes we were called up and given our passports with the new visa stamp inside. We signed a piece of paper to say we had collected them and then left. This was the quickest visit and we were happy to have our passports back.
The whole process was fairly straight forward but took longer than expected with the different visits to the immigration office and the bank for the payment.
If you have any questions about the whole process then please let us know in the comments below and we will do our best to help you. Also after looking online you can have a visa agent take care of most of this for you and you would only need to go to the immigration office for the photos and finger prints stage.
