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We recently arrived in Bali, Indonesia and will be spending the next two months in the hippy town Ubud working, practicing yoga, scooting around the rice paddies, and enjoying all the delicious vegetarian food. As UK citizens we are allowed to enter the country without a visa for stays up to 30 days, but this can’t be extended so it wouldn’t be enough time for our intended stay. Instead we applied for a 60 day tourist visa before we entered Indonesia. This can be done at Indonesian embassies all over the world but as we were in London we applied there.
We couldn’t find much information online about applying for an Indonesian visa at the London embassy except that it was stricter than other embassies in Asia (we found it easier in Singapore). It took some preparation but ultimately getting the visa was easy so we thought we’d share our experience here.
Preparing the Documents
First check the Indonesian Embassy in London website for the documents that are required to apply for a tourist visa and read their procedure to apply.
When we applied in July 2015 this is what we needed:
- Passport (with a minimum validity of 6 months from the date of entry into Indonesia).
- One completed visa application form.
- One coloured passport size photograph.
- Must be UK Resident (with a minimum validity at least one month exceeding the validity of the requested visa).
- Travel itinerary (proof of bookings), including details of onward or return journey.
- Hotel Reservation (if applicable).
- Bank Statement dated less than a month with a minimum balance of £ 1,000.
- A recent letter (less than 1 month old) from applicant’s employer. If applicant is self employed, retired or pensioner, a confirmation letter from applicant’s solicitor, or accountant, or Bank Manager is required. For a student, submit confirmation letter of attendance from school, college or university. “au pair” or domestic help will have to show employer’s passport and submit copy of the said passport and letter from employee. All of the abovesaid type of letters must certify the applicant’s obligation to return after the visit to Indonesia.
- Written approval from the Immigration Office in Indonesia (only for applications that need referral to the Authorities in Indonesia ; See various visas issued on Approval).
- £40 fee by postal order or bank draft, or debit card on collection.
We prepared all of the above except for number 9 which isn’t needed for UK citizens. Some of these things were quite tricky so here’s how we dealt with them:
Application Form
We heard this needed to be printed doubled sided so we did that in advance from their website. You could ask for a form at the embassy when you apply but it saved us time to have already filled it out.
Update: You now need to fill in a visa form online, then print it, sign it, and take it with you.
The application form is used for all types of visas so some of the questions aren’t valid. We didn’t fill in the “For Limited Stay” or “Sponsorship in Indonesia” sections.
Travel Itinerary
We provided printouts of our flight bookings into and out of Bali. The onward ticket was tricky as we probably want to extend our visa and stay for more than 60 days, but the onward flight needs to be within 60 days for the visa application. You have a few options:
- Fake a onward flight ticket.
- Buy a cheap ticket out of Indonesia and never use it. Medan to Penang with Air Asia is usually cheap (£20).
- Buy a changeable or refundable ticket.
We did the third option and bought an Air Asia ticket from Bali to Singapore, which is the route we’re likely to take after our stay. We paid extra for Premium Flex which allows us to change the date of the ticket twice for free. It cost us £60 each.
Hotel Reservation
We booked a guesthouse for our first few nights in Ubud and showed the Booking.com reservation.
Bank Statement
We got the bank to send us a statement as we weren’t sure if printouts from online banking would be allowed, but they probably would have been. We gave the embassy a photocopy of the original statement.
Letter from Employer
This was the really difficult thing. We don’t have an employer as we’re self-employed and we also don’t have a solicitor, accountant, or business bank manager. I looked through our paperwork to see what we had that could prove we were self-employed and all I could find was a bill from the Inland Revenue for our Self-employed Class 2 National Insurance contributions. We photocopied these and they worked fine.
British bloggers Our Big Fat Travel Adventure successfully got a visa at the London embassy by giving them a letter from their parents that said they planned to return to the UK. I have a feeling that they just need something to tick the box.
Applying for the Visa
You can apply by post but we went to the Indonesian Embassy at 38 Grosvenor Square in central London. You can apply for a visa from Monday to Thursday from 10am to 1pm or on Fridays from 10am to 12pm. We thought Mondays might be busier after the weekend closure so we arrived at 10.02am on a Tuesday. There were four people queuing outside and they opened the doors to the consular section downstairs just as we arrived. There was no formal queuing system in the office so we sat in the chairs and waited our turn.
We didn’t have to wait long before it was our turn to go up to the desk and show the woman our application form and paperwork. We had to explain that the Inland Revenue letter proved we were self-employed but she seemed to accept it. We did hear her asking other people for onward tickets and bank statements so it does seem they expect everything that’s on the checklist.
We were given our receipts and told to return a week later to collect our passports. We were both out in 10 minutes and it was the easiest embassy experience we’ve ever had.
Collecting the Visa
On the embassy website it says processing the visa takes 3-6 working days; for us it was five. You can collect visas Monday to Friday from 2.30pm to 4pm. Simon went without me and was able to collect my passport by showing my receipt. He didn’t have to wait and paid the £40 fee by debit card.
The tourist visa is single entry and we have to enter the country within 90 days of the issue date.
It was a bit complicated to make sense of the requirements for the Indonesia tourist visa and prepare all the paperwork, but applying at the London embassy was quick and easy, so it’s worth doing if you are in the area.
You could also consider getting your visa in Singapore if you are passing through on your way to Indonesia. It takes two working days and is easier than in London. See our guide to getting a 60-day Indonesian tourist visa in Singapore.
Extending A Tourist Visa in Bali
We can stay in Indonesia for 60 days with our tourist visa but we plan to extend it for at least 30 days. You can extend a tourist visa every 30 days up to a maximum of 180 days. The easiest option is to pay extra for a visa agency to extend it for you, otherwise, it involves three trips to the immigration office in Denpasar.
Update November 2015: We had no problems extending our visa in Bali. We used the independent agent Elizabeth who has an office near Alchemy restaurant in Penestanan, just outside Ubud. She charges 605,000 IDR ($44) and needs your passport 10 days before your visa expires. For your first visa extension you need to go to the immigration office for fingerprints and photos. Elizabeth arranges this for you—she met us there at 9am and we were out in 15 minutes. It took an hour to ride our motorbike there (look for Denpasar Immigrasi Kantor 1 on Google Maps). You don’t need to do this for subsequent extensions.
Elizabeth is rather terse but seems efficient and we were happy with the service. To find her office stand with your back to Alchemy, go right and a few doors down on the left side of road you’ll see a sign for Ayu Masari. Go down there through the hotel like complex and her office is on the left towards the back with green curtains. You can also call her on 0813 3842 4617 or ask for directions in Alchemy.
Update 2017: On our latest visit to Bali we used the visa agent Bali Viza to extend our visa. They will collect and deliver your passport from your accommodation for free. Read our guide to getting an Indonesia visa extension in Bali for more details.
Just filled in the online app form. Wow – from an IT point of view, there are many bugs in the system, and lack of clarity. I got to the point where I ‘Submit’ed my application, and a page comes up with a calendar so I click on the date when I can go to the embassy. Rather than showing me time slots or an option to book an appointment, the page simply refreshes, So, I’ve left it at that. I took photos of my whole application so know my ID, and will keep an eye using the ‘Track my application”.
I assume I can go to the embassy and simply give them the Visa application ID, plus the other bits of documents that they require?
Having been to Indo before and been subjected to 2-hour meaningless immigration interviews at the airport in Jakarta, I have little confidence that this application in London will be run any more efficiently.
I will try and keep you posted.
When we got our visa in London they didn’t have an online process, so I can’t really comment. I imagine if you take all the required documents you’ll be ok though. Good luck with it!
Wonderful article! Question – I’m going to follow your route of applying for the 60-day visa in London. When I go to Indonesia, does that mean that I can simply stay there for 60 days and fly back, OR, do I have to do visit a local immigration office withing 30 days to get my passport stamped etc?
(Eg. when you get a 60 day visa on arrival, you actually have to visit an immigration office there before 30 days to extend it up to 60 days – I want to avoid this time wasting bureaucracy, so if the 60-day visa in London means I no longer have to do anything more in Indo, then that would be great.)
Many thanks.
If you get the 60 day visa in London then you won’t need to do anything – just leave within 60 days. You’d only need to go to immigration if you wanted to extend from 60 to 90 days.
Hi
What a fantastically helpful post!! I’m just wondering how far in advance you suggest us applying for the 60 Day Visa in London? If the visa is valid from date of issue not date of arrival in Indonesia I’m guessing it’s best to try and get the visa a week or so before we go rather than a month or so before our trip?
Thanks!
You have 90 days to enter the country after the visa is issued and the 60 days starts when you enter. I wouldn’t leave it until a week before in case you have any issues. A month or two before you plan to go to Indonesia should be fine.
Oh that’s perfect! We can go ahead with our appointment then. Thanks so much :)
Hi
my daughter is going to Bali and stay for 6 months we have the sponsor letter and ID from an Indonesian resident via agent in Bali now I am in the process of filling in the online application for this visa
my daughter has quit college and is at home with me , so what does she say on the form regarding ‘letter from employer/teacher etc
Also we already have her ticket leaving in180 days, is this ok? as if we get a social visa for 60 days, wont they know we will be extending it, ?
Also as we have the indonesian sponsor letter/id do we still have show letter from person we are staying with or is their address enough
So much mither phew
hopeyou can help
I’m afraid we’ve always applied for a tourist visa rather than a social visa, so I don’t know the answers to these questions. I’d recommend trying to call the embassy to ask them. Or just try with the paperwork that you have and allow enough time in case you have to provide more information. Good luck with it!
Success! I managed to fill out the online application. Tip – when you get to the end, there is a page which asks you to select a date for dropping off the application. On selecting a date, it appears that nothing is happening as you end up on the same page again. However, just on the RHS you will see a link appear which tells you what to do next – ie. print this, sign that, etc etc.
In reality you can go and drop off the forms on any day you like. When you go to the embassy, take a number from the ticket machine (next to the TV screen). I waited all of 4 minutes before being called. I gave them everything in terms of documentation etc, and was asked to take a seat again. 5 mins later, another person called me up and asked me to pay £50 using a debit card. Then she gave me a receipt and a collection date. I had to ask her to check that she was happy with all paperwork – bank statement, accountants letter, hotel booking etc etc, since no checking of your application is done when you are there. PS, for hotel booking, I reserved 2 nights using Booking.com with their ‘cancel until 24 hours before’ option, and this was obviously enough for the embassy.
I went back 4 days later and picked up the passport and the visa inside. Voila!
I don’t know what hassle it would have been if there was an error on my application form. Maybe they don’t really check thoroughly, and this whole visa thing is a revenue generating exercise?? Who knows.
I’m flying out in 3 weeks time.
Thank you SO much for creating this site.
I’m so pleased the new system does actually work and glad you got it all sorted. Thanks for reporting back.
I had the impression they weren’t terribly fussy about the paperwork as long as you give them something that allows them to tick the box.
Enjoy Indonesia!
Do you know if you can still get this 60 day tourist visa from the embassy in london? I cant seem to find any details about this type of visa on their website!
It looks like they are still available. Here’s the info page: https://consular.indonesianembassy.org.uk/faq/
Simon, Erin,
Do you have any contact details for Elizabeth the visa agent?
Thanks
Colin
I think her number is still 081338424617. This year we are trying someone new though. I’ve been in contact with https://baliviza.com/ and they seem good and will pick up/drop your passport off at your accommodation. They have good reviews on the Ubud Community Facebook group. I’ll let you know how it goes next month.
Thanks so much – we’re about to do the same for our family of 6… your explanation has made this much clearer – really appreciate you taking the time to share. Hope you had an amazing trip!
Thank you!
Hey guys,
I have booked my flights in and out of Indonesia. I’ve done it for just shy of 90 days as I would like to spend a while out there. Do I still need to show I’m leaving before the 60 days before I can get the visa to then extend it once I’m there?
I’m not entirely sure. We got the impression the flight needed to be within the 60 days which is why we got a changeable ticket. You might get away with it – let us know!
Hey Erin, here’s an update on my 60 day visa request. I ended up speaking to someone at the embassy over the phone for a bit of information.
I bought my ticket for just under 90 days which covered the duration of my trip. To obtain the 60 day visa, I also purchased a return flight to Kuala Lumpur from Jakarta (£36). I then filled out the form as if it was only for the 60 days but provided them with the details for both flights.
Hey guys, thanks for publishing this. It’s been really helpful :) Wondered if you could help me with one question on the application form though… it’s probably really simple and I’m just being really dense, but question 5. Where it says Return / Through Ticket / Airline Company, I think I need to select Through Ticket as we’ll be flying onwards to another country. But then it asks for place of issue, date of issue and expiry. This confused me… do they mean the ticket? Do tickets expire? And would place of issue be… y’know… the internet?
Sorry for the questions hey.
the link for the Indonesian Embassy in London website says it isn’t found? i want to apply online from scotland for 60 days and I’m struggling to find a way online for less than £80 :|
The new link is https://consular.indonesianembassy.org.uk/faq/
I don’t think you can apply online though. We had to go there.
Did they really ask for all that info? I’m going to apply from here in Bangkok. Before they gave away free 30 day visas or even 30 day on-arrival visas that you paid for, I’d gotten 60 day visas with a form and the photos. I need to go for 60 days but I’d almost rather fly back here to Bangkok after 30 days to see my girlfriend. Did they really need to see all those documents etc??? Thanks!
It’s much more strict in London than it is in Bangkok, so you shouldn’t need all that.
Hi, me and my girlfriend have already booked flight to indonesia for 6 weeks. But we just read about the £1000 issue just now… We know we will be able to save the money in time but we want to apply for our visa ASAP. i was thinking if we just got a loan from our parents to show we have £1000 in the bank to get statement then return it pretty much straight after to our parents would that work? then we would make sure we had the cash in our banks upon arrival in the country?
Cheers, Cian.
That should work I think.
Thanks! any idea if you can use the balance of your personal ISA savings account as proof?
I can’t see why not. We got the impression they just wanted to see something they could use to tick the box.
Hiya,
Was just wondering if the bank balance needs to be much higher than £1,000 my boyfriend lives in Bali and hence I don’t spend much when I’m there anyway
No, £1000 is fine.
Hi guys, I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Ubud. There are any number of visa places, they all do the same job. Last time there, I used a lady named Elizabeth, located near Alchemy vegan restaurant…but I don’t know how I would describe how to get to her.If you are in a villa, the owner/manager will probably know someone.
You may already have plans to visit the sacred springs of Tirta Empul in Tampak Sering. If not, you might like a quick day trip there. Check out my last few posts for some info and a couple laughs, here: https://badfish2.wordpress.com/
I like watching you guys travel!! Keep on truckin’…as we used to say back in the day before “rad” and “awesome” were fashionable.
Thanks for the tips! We are actually planning to go and see Elizabeth this week! Someone else recommended her for visa extensions and said just to ask for directions at Alchemy. We definitely plan to visit Tirta Empul.
Welcome to Indonesia. Just found out about ur blog while browsing about Japan and instantly in love with what u 2 are been doing since 2010 and love everything about this blog also :) I’m a fan!
I’m from Jakarta Indonesia and so excited to know ur here. Bali is great for tourist, u should go to Lombok & Komodo Island from bali. Well there are many other cool destinations like Yogyakarta, Borobudur temple, and soooo many beatiful places and beaches that will blow ur mind like Raja Ampat. Hope you had the chance to visit those destinations :) meanwhile, enjoy Indonesia! Drop me a note if you need any tips/info. Is Jakarta in ur Indonesia itinerary?
Thanks for the suggestions! There are so many places we want to visit in Indonesia but on this trip we’re settling down for a few months in Ubud. We’ll definitely do a side trip to the Gili islands but we’ll probably have to save the rest for the next visit!
Erin and Simon
Ubud is wonderfully relaxing! Have you both been to Borobudur and the Prambanan group of temples in Central Java? It is beautiful. Please upload pictures of Bali when you have a moment.
Thanks!!
We haven’t been anywhere else in Indonesia yet – we really must go! More posts about Bali coming soon – we’re loving it here in Ubud.
Hey Erin,
Whaa you guys are in Bali!?!? We’re thinking of going there next month for 2-3 months or so. Thus our purpose for being on this post. We’re trying to get into yoga and meditation there to create a yoga/meditation hotel in the Philippines. Also, gonna try to crank out an ebook while we’re out there. If your down we’d love to meet yall!
Love from Manila,
Mark
Yes, we’re in Ubud until the end of December. So much yoga here! Let us know when you get here, we’d love to meet up.
Didn’t know you needed a visa to go to Indonesia. Thanks for sharing. Did you have a great trip?
If you are from the UK and quite a few other countries you don’t need a visa for stays up to 30 days. We’re still in Bali and loving it!
Slightly off topic, but have a stroll out to Sari Organik. It’s a lovely walk from Ubud through rice fields and you can enjoy a coffee and food with a beautiful view.
We did that yesterday! Lovely!
As I ponder heading off to see more of this world yours is a site I return to time and time again. You constantly provide excellent information — and it’s always simply conveyed, readable and spot on.
Just wanted to say a big thank you — I don’t comment on sites as often as I perhaps should, but the time and effort you spend sharing your life with we, the readers, does not go unnoticed.
Thank you!
Alex
Aw, thank you Alex. That’s very sweet of you to say and much appreciated :)
Good Day Erin
Indonesia is no doubt a very beautiful place to be in. And getting a 60 day visa there is really worth it. The tips you have written in your blog about how to get this visa, are so very useful to the UK citizens.
Yeah, I remember that despite all the paperwork this visa was pretty easy to get. Very little queuing and not much time wasted. Those letters from our parents were pretty handy to keep them as well as the embassy happy that we were coming back too! I’ll be interested to see how ready it is to extend…?
Hi guys, welcome to Bali :) hope that both of you will enjoy your time in my hometown :)
Glad that you made it, have a good time and enjoy!!
Cheers,
Sri & Kian Radojewski
Thank you!
Hello,
I am thinking about going to Bali for 6 months, I am an American living in Hawaii, how do I start this process,and how long can I stay?Thank you,
Donna
I’ve written more about visas here: http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/digital-nomad-guide-living-in-ubud/
You should get a 60 day visa before you arrive. You can visit your nearest Indonesian consulate or you could stop in Singapore on the way.
The 60 day visa can be extended monthly for up to 6 months.