Digital Nomad Visas for Bali & Indonesia

The Indonesian island of Bali has become a hotspot for digital nomads from Australia and around the world. With its tropical climate, beaches, laid-back lifestyle and affordable living costs, it’s not hard to see the attraction.

Over a million Aussies holiday in Bali each year. But if you work remotely and you’d like to stay longer – perhaps a whole year – Indonesia now has visas that are suitable for digital nomads.

A digital nomad visa lets you live in another country while continuing to work remotely for an employer in your home country, or while working for clients who are based outside of the country. It doesn’t give you the right to work for an employer or conduct business in the host country. However, as you wouldn’t be receiving your income from the host country, you also generally wouldn’t need to pay income tax there.

For example, as an Australian, you could get a digital nomad visa and do your regular Australian job from Bali. You could also run a business serving clients who are outside of Indonesia. You’d continue to pay income tax in Australia (or wherever you’re a tax resident and/or your business is based).

Indonesia recently launched a digital nomad visa suitable for Australians who want to work remotely from the country. This is one of several visas that digital nomads who want to live temporarily in Bali may consider.

You can apply online for most Indonesian visas on the official e-Visa website for Indonesia.

Stay up to six months with a single-entry visit visa

As an Australian citizen going to Indonesia for a holiday, you can simply apply and pay for a B1 tourism visa on arrival. This lets you stay in Indonesia as a tourist for up to 30 days. This visa can be extended once (only) for another 30 days.

Note that if you wish to extend any Indonesian visa, you must do this before it expires.

But if you want to stay in Indonesia for 2-6 months, and you don’t work full-time for a foreign employer, a different type of single-entry visit visa that you apply for in advance may be more suitable.

For example, a B211A tourist visa might be a suitable option if you want to stay up to six months and are not planning to work full-time, nor do any work for an employer or clients in Indonesia. The tourist visa costs IDR1,500,000 (~AUD150) for 60 days.

This visa can be extended twice, for 60 additional days at a time, giving you a total stay of up to 180 days.

Note that this is a single-entry visas so you cannot leave and re-enter Indonesia on the same visa. It doesn’t give you the right to work full-time in Indonesia for an overseas employer.

To apply for a 60-day tourist visa, you would need:

A passport valid for at least 6 months
A recent colour passport-sized photograph
Proof of at least USD2,000 (~AUD3,050) in savings to cover living expenses.

Stay up to a year in Bali with a E33G remote worker visa

If you plan to work full-time from Indonesia for an overseas employer or clients, and you’d like to stay for up to a year, the E33G (remote worker) visa is designed for you.

This E33G visa lets you:

Stay in Indonesia for up to 1 year
Leave and re-enter Indonesia as often as you like
Carry out work for a company based overseas (i.e. outside of Indonesia)

This visa does not allow you to receive any income from an Indonesian employer or conduct business activities in Indonesia. But if you’re a remote worker earning money from outside of Indonesia, this visa could be suitable.

There are a few requirements to apply for this visa:

You must receive a salary of at least USD60,000 (~AUD91,500) per year
You must have had at least USD2,000 (~AUD3,050) in your bank account for the last 3 months
Your passport must be valid for at least six months
You need to provide a recent photograph and show an employment contract with a company based outside of Indonesia.

It costs USD150 (~AUD229) + IDR2,700,000 (~AUD263) to apply for this visa. That’s approximately AUD492 in total for a visa to live in Bali for a year as a digital nomad.

Other types of visas

The Indonesian government also offers a Second Home (D1) visa which lets you stay in the country for up to five years.

However, this would not be suitable for most digital nomads. It’s more aimed towards wealthy retirees.

That’s because the Second Home visa requires you to deposit at least 2 billion Indonesian Rupiahs (approximately AUD200,000) into an Indonesian bank account. You’d also need to keep the money there while your visa remains valid. Alternatively, you could buy a house in Indonesia worth at least this amount.

While best efforts are made to keep this information updated, we do not guarantee its accuracy and this is not official immigration advice. If you spot an error, would like to suggest new information to be added or simply have a question, please let us know in the comments and we’ll endeavour to respond or update the article as quickly as possible!