How to Get an Indonesia Visa Extension in Bali and Stay up to Six Months

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Yes, it is possible to stay in Bali for up to six months on one visa! We just finished our second five-month stay and spent our entire time in Bali without having to do any annoying visa runs.

Here’s how to get your Indonesia visa extension in Bali:

1) Get an Indonesian Tourist Visa in Advance

Before you arrive in Bali, you need to apply for a 60-day Indonesian tourist visa from an Indonesian embassy in your home country or a neighbouring country like Singapore or Malaysia.

Here’s how we got an Indonesian visa in Singapore and London. Applying in Asia is easier as there are fewer requirements (you’ll still need an onward ticket though). Flights from Bali to Singapore are cheap, so it’s easy to stop there for a few days on your way to Indonesia.

Some people think it’s necessary to apply for an Indonesian social visa but a tourist visa works just as well, and you don’t need a local sponsor.

Once you enter Indonesia with your new visa, you’ll be able to stay for 60 days.

If you choose not to get a visa in advance, you can pay for the 30-day Visa on Arrival at the airport, which can be extended for an extra 30 days but only once, so you’d need to leave the country after 60 days. The free 30-day visa waiver is not extendable.

As for most countries, make sure your passport is valid for at least six months after your arrival date.

2) Find a Bali Visa Extension Agent

You could get your Bali visa extension yourself, but it’s a real hassle and involves three separate trips to the immigration office in Denpasar every month. Chances are you’re in Bali to relax on the beach or do yoga in Ubud, so you don’t want to be spending so much time in Denpasar (an hour’s drive from Ubud).

Instead, you want to find a Bali visa extension agent who will take care of it all for you. We paid 650,000 IDR ($49) each, but it was worth it for the time and stress saved.

There are many visa agents in Bali, but you want to choose someone reliable—a personal recommendation is best.

We get our visa extensions in Ubud. On our first trip we used Elizabeth who is based near the Alchemy restaurant in Penestanan. She was rather terse and not the best at communication, but she was efficient and reliable. You can call her on 0813 3842 4617 or ask for directions to her office in Alchemy.

On our second visit we used Bali Viza, who will conveniently collect and deliver your passport from your house or hotel. I communicated with Nika on Facebook (search for Nika Baleva) and she always responded quickly and we never had any problems. Bali Viza operates over most of Bali and can collect and deliver passports for free in south Bali and Ubud.

You can also look for agent recommendations in the Ubud Community Facebook group

Getting an Indonesia visa extension in Ubud - sunrise volcano view.
The sunrise view from our house in Ubud

3) Start the Process Two Weeks Before Your Visa Expires

After you’ve been in Bali about six weeks, you’ll need to start your visa extension process. Your agent will advise you on the best time to start taking into account public holidays that can close the immigration office and delay the process.

Our first visa expired during Eid when the office was closed for over a week, so we handed over our passports to Bali Viza 2.5 weeks before our visas expired.

Remove any passport covers before you send them to immigration as ours returned without them.

4) Visit the Denpasar Immigration Office for the First Extension

Unfortunately, you do have to visit the Denpasar Immigration Office on one occasion, but it’s only for your first extension to get your fingerprints and photo taken.

We went to the office about a week after we handed over our passports. It took us 50 minutes to drive there on a motorbike from Ubud—look for Immigration Office Class 1 on Google Maps.

We arrived at 10 am and it took us 1.5 hours because the photo machine broke and they were busy before the holiday. Last time we were only there for 15 minutes. The agent meets you and takes care of everything. They give you a queue number and you just have to wait for your number to be called.

Usually, your passport and new visa extension will be delivered three or four days after fingerprinting. For us, it was delayed because of the holiday and our passports were away for over three weeks. Make sure you keep a copy of your passport.

5) Extend Up to Four Times

60-day tourist visas can be extended four times for 30 days each time for a total stay of 180 days. Note that 30 days is not a full calendar month. We also ended up losing one day for some reason on our first extension.

Subsequent extensions are easier. You don’t need to go to Denpasar and can start the process a week or so before the expiry date. You should expect to be without your passport for 10–14 days a month though.

If this is too much time, you can pay extra for an express extension. Bali Viza charges 1,000,000 IDR ($75) and it takes 2–3 working days.

6) Enjoy Bali!

Enjoy your extended stay on this beautiful island!

If you are looking for some ideas, see our favourite things to do in Ubud, our yoga in Ubud guide, a digital nomad guide to Ubud, and a fantastic off the beaten track Bali road trip.

Let us know if you have any questions and share your experiences with getting a visa extension in Bali.

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Wondering how to stay up to six months in Bali? Here's a step by step guide on how we extended our Indonesian visa!

65 Comments

  1. My father has been in bali for 4 years and his visa has been expired for 3-4 years is there any way he can get back to Australia or does he have to get to malaysia first to get a visa to avoid penalty at bali airport?
    Any help please as he is old and was unaware of what he was doing and is in need of medical help

    Reply ↓

  2. Hi, I was wondering if I get a sponsor for my 60 days visa from Australia can that person to help with my extension every 30 days and do I need to go to consulate with them?

    Reply ↓

  3. Hello Erin,
    Thanks for sharing , all your posts are so useful! I’ve a question tho, my nationality is Brazilian, do you know if the rules are the same about this extensions of tourist visas?
    Thank you so much xx

    Reply ↓

  4. HI
    I have been reading a lot about the Visa for Bali and just want to be sure I have this right…
    I am coming from Canada for 31 days!! which is a drag because I think with that extra day -making it over the 30 days- it seems I need to apply for a visa extension? I can’t tell for sure?? And can I get whatever visa I need at the airport?
    Ruth

    Reply ↓

    • That isn’t ideal. If you were staying for 30 days you could enter the country visa free. For 31 days you need to pay for a visa on arrival at the airport and then get an extension. That will all be quite expensive so I’d change your plans if you can.

      You could also overstay your visa and pay a fine (per day you overstay, not sure how much it currently is).

      Alternatively, you could get a 60 day visa in Canada (or elsewhere such as Singapore) and then you won’t need to worry once you arrive.

      Reply ↓

  5. I arrived in Bali 4 days ago (USA passport) and didn’t pay anything, so I must have a social visa.
    I told immigration my plans to stay 3 weeks in Bali. Then I’m going to India for a yoga program, and later, to Singapore to visit a friend. I plan to spend Spring in Italy, so I won’t be back to Bali until June.
    I’m glad I found this because now I know I should try to get the 60 day Visa while I’m in Singapore.
    What I’m not sure of is, when I get the Visa, do I need to have a R?T ticket to Bali?
    And do you know if the 60 day Visa starts on the flight ticket date?

    Thanks!

    Reply ↓

    • Yes, it’s a good idea to get the visa in Singapore. You’ll need to show a flight out of Bali and the visa starts on the day you arrive in Bali.

      Reply ↓

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