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!

67 Comments

  1. Hi. This is our first time to Indonesia and we have applied for the 60 day single entry visa. I have already contacted some agents online who do the extension after that but they all seemed way more expensive than what you’re saying in your post. I’d it easy to find agents once in the country, even if it’s not in Bali? Planning on travelling around a bit.
    Thanks.

    Reply ↓

    • Prices could have gone up since we were there. I’m not sure how easy it is to find agents outside of Bali as that’s our only experience.

      Reply ↓

  2. 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 ↓

  3. 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 ↓

  4. 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 ↓

  5. 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 ↓

  6. 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 ↓

  7. If I Get the social cultural 60-day visa that can be extended several times, what happens if I end up leaving the country during that time frame? will it still be valid for the remaining time when I return or will I lose it?

    Reply ↓

  8. This blog should be updated. There have been changes since it was written. Currently The longest you can stay on a VOA is 60 days and the longest you can stay on a social visa is five months. You cannot apply for a social visa while Indonesia and it must be applied for at a foreign embassy. There is currently no way to stay more than 60 days on a tourist visa.

    Reply ↓

    • I just checked with Bali Viza (who extended our visa on our last trip) and they said they can still extend a 60-day tourist visa (which is basically the same as a social visa). A Visa on Arrival is different from a 60-day tourist visa that you get outside the country.

      Reply ↓

  9. I am leaving for Bali tomorrow (23/10) and I haven’t contacted anyone, I plan on staying in Bali for 6 months….. what is the best plan. Thanks Ke

    Reply ↓

    • If you haven’t got a visa already you will need to leave the country (probably to Singapore) to get one. You might be able to extend the visa you got on arrival first before having to leave. I recommend contacting Bali Viza for advice.

      Reply ↓

  10. Hi, any changes to bali visas now in 2019/2020 ?
    Planning to go in 2020 and want to stay full 4 months without leaving, we’re from USA and don’t have Indonesian embassy nearby, do we have to go straight for social visa and can everything be done online?
    Thanks

    Reply ↓

    • No changes that I know of. If you don’t get a visa in the US you’ll have to get one in Singapore or elsewhere first. You can then extend the 60 day tourist visa twice for a total stay of 120 days.

      Reply ↓

      • It is actually 180 days on a social visa in total. As I do it twice a year. I go to Singapore with my sponsor letter from my husband get 60 days initially and then extend 4 times after that. Which totals 180 days from entering Indonesia to having to leave again.

        Reply ↓

  11. Hey, how many times can you do a visa run? I have done 2 in the past year now but still am not done exploring these beautiful islands

    Reply ↓

    • There’s no official limit and many people do them indefinitely, but there’s always the chance they’ll stop letting you back in.

      Reply ↓

  12. If I get a visa on arrival ( 30$) how soon should I apply for an extension of 30 days. I plan on doing it myself is it complicated. I know I can only extend this once. Thanks for any onfo.

    Reply ↓

    • I’m not sure but I would think a week or two before it expires should be ok. I really would recommend getting an agent to do it though because otherwise you have to visit immigration three times.

      Reply ↓

  13. Hello, could you tell me how soon you can re-enter Indonesia on this visa (is it the tourist or social visa that you’re talking about) once you have used each of your 4 extensions? Do you have to wait a certain amount of time to re-enter (like the 90-day period in Europe), or can you re-enter whenever you have your new visa? Thank you SO much in advance.

    Reply ↓

    • We always get a tourist visa but it’s possible that when the agent extends it she gets it converted to a social visa. We’re not involved in that and just get a tourist visa at the consulate.

      There is no set amount of time and many people do live in Bali indefinitely by getting multiple visas back to back. We’ve never done this though.

      Reply ↓

  14. I rang Indonesia embassy in Canberra. Australia
    They told me only a social cultural Visa can be extended 3 Times.
    Not a tourist Visa obtained in Australia

    Reply ↓

    • We’ve never got our tourist visa in Australia, but we have definitely extended tourist visas we’ve got in London and Singapore. It’s possible that our agent in Bali somehow converted the tourist visa to a social one, but we didn’t need to be involved in that and it was all very easy.

      Reply ↓

    • Well that is incorrect. A social visa can be extended up to 4 times after the initial 60 day visa. I do it twice a year in Singapore and stay in Bali 180 days and log back to Singapore and do it all again, have been doing this for years now.

      Reply ↓

  15. I’ve been researching this and keep finding conflicting information. If I get a VOA (the paid visa that grants a 30 day stay with the option to extend for another 30 days), can I do a visa run once those first 60 days are up, reenter Bali/Indonesia, and get another VOA? Apologies if this seems a silly question, but I’m definitely getting confused between the social visa and the paid VOA. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you!

    Reply ↓

    • Technically yes you could, although with these things there’s always a chance they could deny you entry.

      Reply ↓

  16. Good article but in one thing you are wrong, you need a sponsor also for the tourist visa. I make the extension several times alone already because where I stay (Manado) we don’t have visa agents.. I guess in Bali the agent acts as your sponsor. If you want to make it by yourself you have to bring a local as a sponsor. And just for the first extension you have to go to the immigration 3 times because of the Finger prints, after that it’s twice a month just for give the passport, pay and pick up.

    Reply ↓

    • You don’t need a sponsor to get the original tourist visa, but I had wondered if you needed it for the extension and our agent took care of it.

      Reply ↓

  17. Thank you so much for this guide – it was very helpful!
    Have you heard of any who did the six months left the country and did it all over again?

    Reply ↓

  18. Hi!!

    So technically we can apply for the Tourist visa once we are already in Bali, and visit one of these agents?

    Thanks

    Reply ↓

    • You need to get the 60 day visa in advance (from somewhere like Singapore or your own country) and then can use these agents to extend it.

      Reply ↓

  19. Thanks for this! This feels like a dumb question, but once a person has stayed the 6 months, can they then leave the country and come back and repeat this process again to stay indefinitely? Thanks!

    Roo

    Reply ↓

  20. Hi, my name is Nichole. I am traveling to Bali on August 29th, and I appreciate any help you can give me for my stay and options. I am now booking a flight to Singapore from Denpasar for Oct 29th, because I am getting the 30 day visa and $26 for the extension for another 30 days upon arrival. I originally saved up money for a Yoga Teacher Training in Nusa Lembongan, but my gofund me did not raise enough money, and I had other financial obligations that came up between April and now…..right when I am flying there. It has been quite the journey ;P Anyway, I decided to get all the details and just get to Bali, then figure things out while I have the 60 days. I have a heart of service and am an Intuitive Life Coach as well as a Spirtual Healer and passionate with Yoga and Holistic living, so I want to connect with other likeminded people there in Ubud that I can either do volunteer work, under the table, or some kind of trade for housing/food. As I have a few hundred USD after all of my travelers insurance, expenses, flights, and passport renewals, ect……I am ready for this next chapter though and trust the universe for open opportunities where I can receive, and also give more while staying in alignment with my core desires. I will give you my personal email, and stay connected as I travel.

    This is the very first time going outside of the country, so this is an adventure :) Looking forward to learning and growing….

    Oceans of love and light!

    Nichole

    Reply ↓

  21. When your six months is up, can you leave the country for a day and then start the process all over again? If so, is there a limit as to how many times you can do that?

    Thanks.

    Reply ↓

    • Yes technically you can do that and many people do. There is always the chance that immigration could refuse you the visa though. There’s no official limit.

      Reply ↓

  22. Is it still possible to get a tourist visa that can be extended to 180 days without a sponsor (for a Dutch citizen)? I’ve read somewhere that I need a sponsor and somewhere else that it’s only extendable 3 times. Very useful information on this website by the way!

    Reply ↓

    • You only need a sponsor for the social visa – it is often confused with the tourist visa which you don’t need a sponsor for.

      Reply ↓

  23. Hey guys, I’m about to extend my visa on arrival but just wanted to be reassured about the trustworthiness of Nina and Nika of BALIVIZA! Thanks!!

    Reply ↓

  24. For the 60 day visa in advance do you have to show all accommodation booked while in Bali like the embassy website says. I’ll be travlling booking accommodation as I go so can’t give that info now but want to get the 60 days visa before I leave. I do have an onward flight booked however.

    Thanks,
    Hannah

    Reply ↓

  25. Hi guys! Great post! Just wondering about the onward flights… So when you applied for the original 60 day visa, you had onward flight tickets, but didn’t need onward tickets while extending? You just loosed the money spent on tickets? Some say, that onward tickets are also needed for extensions, but it would get freakin expensive to pay an extra 50$ for onward flight that you won’t use! :D

    Reply ↓

    • Yes, unfortunately you do need an onward flight to get the original visa, but you don’t need one for the extension. On our first visit we bought a changeable ticket from Air Asia and changed the date once we knew when we would be leaving.

      Reply ↓

  26. Hey guys awesome post, and just what we were looking for. We would have just missed you guys as we spent the month of Oct here in Ubud/ Gili Air. Im just curious do we need to visit an Indonesian Embassy in person. We currently live in Danang, Vietnam (Canadians) but it seems the closest consulate or embassy is Hanoi or HCMC or Malaysia/Singapore. Can this be done through mail or not necessarily?
    Also how much was it to extend each month after your initial 60 days?

    Thanks again guys.

    Reply ↓

    • I don’t think it’s possible to do it by post I’m afraid. As I said in the article we paid 650,000 IDR ($49) each per extension.

      Reply ↓

  27. The most informative and straight forward information regarding this visa that I have been searching for for some time.
    I don’t normally leave replies, however I just wanted to thank you for the time you took to help others like me.

    Reply ↓

  28. Thanks for the advice!
    I can remember the first time I had to extend my visa in Thailand. You could either cross the boarder into Myanmar or just pay up. I chose the last option:-)

    Reply ↓

  29. Thank you very much for this information.
    Do we need to provide a flight ticket when we ask for extensions.
    I was looking for this information since a month; thanks again

    Gilles

    Reply ↓

  30. Great post guys! I have a question. Can both the first extension and the subsequent ones be done in other cities besides Denpasar (outside Bali)? Also, do you know if after those 180 days one can do a visa run or just exit the country for x amount of time and re-dp the whole process again (indefinitely)?
    Thank you so much!
    Cheers from Argentina.

    Reply ↓

    • I’m pretty sure that’s possible but we’ve never done it. And yes, people do seem to repeat the process indefinitely. I did hear they were cracking down on this, but people still seem to get away with it.

      Reply ↓

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