How To Extend Your Visa in Bali – Visa On Arrival & Extension

Last Updated on 5th November 2019

I thoroughly appreciate that this post won’t apply to many general readers of my blog but it’s a post that I’ve wanted to write ever since I first Googled how to extend your visa in Bali and went through the irritating process myself a couple of months ago!

There’s a fair bit of information you need to be aware of when it comes to entering Indonesia in terms of visas so this post is full of my top tips, personal experience acquiring a visa extension and everything in between that I think you need to know!

Here’s how to extend your visa in Bali; the whole visa extension process!

Visa On Arrival

*This post is based on my experience of visiting Indonesia with a British/UK passport. It’s important to remember that each country will have different policies on how long you can spend in Indonesia.*

You have two choices when you arrive at immigration in an Indonesian airport; you can enter the country for free without paying a visa on arrival fee OR you can pay the visa on arrival fee which allows you to pay to extend your visa.

If you plan to stay less than 30 days, then you don’t have to do anything, you just go straight through immigration and head off on your holiday in Bali and beyond! You can check the visa-free countries here. There’s no fee to pay and no visa stamp required.

However, if you’re visiting Indonesia and wish to extend your visa for longer than the initial 30 days allowance you must pay the fee for visa on arrival (500,000IDR / £27). It does seem unusual to have to pay to then be allowed to pay more money to extend your visa but that’s the way it works. Many immigration officers at the airport will think it’s unusual that you want to pay for the VOA when you don’t have to, but simply explain that you’re doing so, so that you have the chance to extend your visa for a further 30 days.

There’s an ATM near to the desk as there’s no card machine and you must pay in cash.

When you land in Indonesia, you will also likely be asked to provide evidence of an outbound flight within 30 days, even if you plan to stay longer. As you haven’t been guaranteed an extended 30 day visa yet, you will have to show an outbound plane or boat ticket out of the country.

Even if you know you won’t use it, you still have to buy one so the best bet is to buy a cheap one on Expedia and then cancel it within 24 hours. My fellow travel blogger Ellie has a great post on how to show proof of an outbound flight without actually paying for one so make sure you head over and read that after this post!

It’s really bloody annoying and can be costly, especially if you want to stay longer and don’t actually have any plans of your outbound flight but it has to be done. For example, we bought the cheapest boat from Indonesia to Singapore that we could find within the initial 30 days and then once our extended visas had been approved, we cancelled it and then booked a flight to the Philippines within our additional 30 days.

Important: you must pay for a visa on arrival if you wish to extend as once you leave the airport, you have no way of extending and you must leave the country within 30 days.

The Visa Run – how to extend your visa in Bali

If you left the airport and chose the visa free option (like we very nearly did), then you have no choice but to leave Indonesia within 30 days of your arrival.

However, if you made this mistake but still want to spend longer in Bali, you will have to do something called a visa run. I’m not 100% sure how legal this is and you may be questioned about it so just be aware and make sure you’re fully sure of what you’re doing.

A visa run is essentially leaving the country to another one (such as nearby Philippines or Singapore) and then returning either the same day or a few days after. I personally wouldn’t ever take the risk of doing this but if you’re determined to return to Indonesia and you didn’t pay the visa on arrival fee then you can look into how this works.

Top travel tip: your 30 days includes the date that you arrive in the country.

Visa Extension process

We found the visa extension process to be long, arduous and inconvenient but if you’re set on staying a further 30 days in Bali, then it’s got to be done.

There are three immigration offices in Bali (more on that below) and numerous ways you can go about extending your visa (again, more on that below).

Make sure you choose an immigration office close to where you’re staying so that you have easy access to it. You also need to leave plenty of time in order to be able to get your visa extension approved. Many sites told us that it could be done within 5-10 days and it actually took us 6 business days and a total of 8 days (including weekends) to get ours sorted.

Top travel tip: Leave yourself at least 10 days (including weekends) to get your visa extension sorted.

The immigration offices are generally open between 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday with usually a 1-2 hour lunch break sometime during the day. It’s really hard to predict the exact opening hours so make sure you do your research for the office that you plan to visit.

You need to begin the visa extension process at least 7 business days before your initial 30 days runs out. Personally, I would start looking into the process as early as possible (although you do need to have been in the country for 14 days) as I’m not entirely sure what happens if your extended visa isn’t approved by the time your first 30 days are up…

How to extend your visa in Bali – by yourself

There are two ways you can go about extending your visa in Bali; either by doing it yourself or through an agent.

We personally opted to do it ourselves as we wanted to be in control of the whole process but I know many people who opt to do it through an agent.

If you choose to do the process yourself, you’ll have to visit the immigration office three times (more on that below) and you’ll have to take care of everything yourself.

How to extend your visa in Bali – through an agent

If you choose to extend your visa through an agent however, you will only have to visit the office once (to get your passport picture taken and your fingerprints scanned).

Many people consider this option to be easier as you don’t have to worry about waiting around but it’s also more expensive to do it this way as you’re essentially paying someone to do all the running about for you.

I’m not entirely sure of the exact costs of hiring an agent but you can expect to pay around £40-£50 for someone to do it for you, compared to the £27 to do it yourself.

What you need to bring to extend your visa in Bali

There are numerous things you need to bring with you when extending your visa in Indonesia. While it’s not required to bring all your documents on every single visit (especially the last one), I would recommend having the below altogether in a folder and bring them with you on every visit to the immigration office.

You will need photocopies of some of your travel documents so make sure you’ve got these to hand before visiting the immigration office. We made the mistake of not having everything photocopied and we had to leave and go to a photocopier shop nearby; it’s not the end of the world but it’s definitely better to be fully prepared.

• Black pen
• Passport
• Copy of your passport photo (not always needed but better to have with you just in case)
• Scan of your passport details
• The address and contact details of the current place you’re staying in Bali
• Proof of your outbound departure from Indonesia within 30 days of your extension
• 500,000IDR (£27) in cash to pay for your visa
• Your VOA ticket receipt and a photocopy of it from your passport page

Top travel tip: some people will claim that you need a sponsor to extend your stay in Indonesia but that’s not the case if you’re just doing the 30 day extension.

You will however, need to be staying at the same hotel/hostel for the duration of your visa extension process as the immigration office will keep your passport for the entire time. In most places in Bali, you need your passport to check into another hotel which you won’t be able to do while extending your visa so make sure you book accommodation for a long period of time that will cover your visa extension.

P.S. Bear in mind that even when you extend your visa by 30 days to a total of 60 days in the country, this is the absolute maximum amount of time you’re allowed in Indonesia before you have to leave. Once your 60 days are up, you must leave and then return again and repeat the process if you want to stay for months at a time.

Visit 1

The first visit you make to the immigration office is where the process begins. Depending on which office you choose, there’ll be a slightly different process. I would highly recommend beginning the process on a Monday so you have a full working week to play around with (we thought we’d be finished by the Friday but we had to wait until the following Monday – more on that below).

You’ll likely have to collect a ticket from the machine that will have a number on it, then you’ll take a seat (there’ll be a lot of flitting between sitting and standing during the process!) until your number is called.

Once you’ve been called, you’ll go and collect a pink folder with all the forms in which you need to fill in (including the front page of the folder). Take extra care that all your details are accurate to the best of your knowledge and ensure that your writing is readable and comprehensible.

You’ll then take the completed forms back to one of the desks (there may be a queue) along with your passport, scans of your passport, your VOA receipt and proof of your departure from Indonesia. You will then be told to take a seat again (told you it was a lot of faffing!) until they call you back up and offer you a receipt.

The receipt will have the date of your next scheduled visit which is entirely dependant on many different factors. Our first visit was on a Monday so our next visit was on Wednesday (there’s usually at least one business day in between your visits).

Important: This receipt is the most valuable thing you have on your possession until your next visit. The immigration office keeps your passport so you need to protect your receipt at all costs in order to get your passport back!

Top travel tip: Get there as early as you can to avoid long queues. We didn’t have any issues with this in Singaraja as it was so quiet but it can get very busy in the Denpasar office, especially during high season.

Visit 2

Your second visit to the immigration office is where you’ll get your pictures taken and your fingerprints scanned. You’ll also pay the 500,000IDR fee on your second visit. I think you can pay anytime between your first and second visit but we were explicitly told to pay after we’d had our pictures taken so just ask at the office if you’re not sure.

The second visit (in our case anyway) was a lot smoother and quicker. You take another ticket and once you’re called up, you’ll be told to head to the photo room where you’ll have a picture taken in a passport-like way, as well as all your fingerprints scanned.

You’ll then be given another receipt with the date that you can come back and collect your documents and your newly extended visa. Again, this timeframe differs immensely on numerous factors including how busy it is, whether any of the machines are down and whether it’s high or low season.

We were told to come back in 2 days (on the Friday), which meant we should have completed the process in 5 working days…

Visit 3

As I said, we should have been done in 5 business days but when we went to collect our visas on the Friday, we were told that the whole system had been down for the last 12 hours and that we had to return either on the following Monday or Tuesday when it would hopefully be back up and working again.

As you can imagine, this was incredibly frustrating as we had to pay a decent fee for a taxi driver to take us there and back every time so it was really starting to rack up. They also weren’t very convincing as to when we could actually return so I politely asked (read: very much insisted) that they took our phone number and email and let us know when we could definitely return and collect them.

We did manage to go back on the Monday to pick our passports and documents up and it took all of two seconds. The last visit is very quick providing that there are no long queues and then you can rest assured that you’ve got another 30 days to enjoy Indonesia!

Top travel tip: Your extended 30 days begins on the same day that your initial 30 days ends so make sure you count your days correctly so you know exactly when you have to leave. If you’re not entirely sure, the people at the immigration office will clear it up for you.

Important things to note – how to extend your visa in Bali

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• Dress appropriately; the two pictures of Matt above show what’s allowed in the immigration office vs what’s not. It might seem odd that gecko trousers and bright trainers are permitted when smart shorts aren’t, but it’s imperative that you dress appropriately. Matt turned up to the office in shorts the first time and we had to go off on a hunt to find some trousers; it was an expensive nightmare and one that I’d urge you to avoid at all costs! I wore a dress and flip flops and had no issues but I’ve heard that some woman are told to cover up so just use your initiative and be on the safe side and just wear something that you know will be appropriate.
• Make sure you have all your documents printed off and ready to hand over, as well as enough cash on you. You can see what you need to bring in the section above.
• Be prepared for long waiting times, depending on which immigration office you choose (more on that below).
• Be respectful and appropriate at all times once you’re in the immigration office. It’s a legal premise after all and you need to show that you’re worthy of having your visa extended for 30 more days.

Bali Immigration Offices

There are three immigration offices in Bali that you can visit to extend your visas; each office will likely have slightly different policies and opening times so make sure you check well in advance so you know which office will be best suited to you.

• Ngurah Rai Immigration Office – Jl. Raya Taman Jimbaran No.1, Jimbaran, Kec. Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia
• Singaraja Class II Immigration Office – Jl. Seririt, Desa Pemaron, Singaraja, Pemaron, Kec. Buleleng, Kabupaten Buleleng, Bali 81119, Indonesia
• Kantor Imigrasi Kelas I TPI Denpasar – Jl. Panjaitan No.3, Sumerta Kelod, Kec. Denpasar Tim., Kota Denpasar, Bali 80234, Indonesia

As you can see, the visa extension process in Bali is quite the experience and one that I’m not in a rush to repeat anytime soon! It is great that you’re able to stay in the country longer provided that you carry out all the necessary steps! If you have any more questions about how to extend your visa in Bali/Indonesia, feel free to email me or send me a DM!

Related posts:

• The Truth About The Gate To Heaven Bali (Lempuyang Temple)
• My Top 13 Favourite Experiences in Indonesia
• Why I Didn’t Love Bali As I Much As I Thought I Would
• A 10 Day Travel Itinerary For Gili Trawangan
• Day Trip From Ubud: Tirta Empul, Tegallalang, Mount Batur & More!

Pin for later – how to extend your visa in Bali

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Have you ever had to extend your visa in Bali? Do you think it’s worth the hassle? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @imjustagirl_16.

*Prices mentioned in this post are accurate as of the current exchange rate in November 2019.