The Bali Secret guide
Short answer
Most nationalities get a 30-day Visa on Arrival, extendable once for another 30 days. You need a passport valid at least six months from arrival, proof of onward travel, the completed All Indonesia declaration form, and the separate IDR 150,000 tourist levy.
In this guide6 sections · 3 min
Entry to Bali involves four separate things, and travellers routinely discover the third and fourth at the airport. Here is the whole list.
The entry checklist
- Passport valid for at least six months from your arrival date. Not from departure — from arrival. This is the most common refusal reason.
- Visa on Arrival — 30 days for most nationalities, IDR 500,000, purchasable on arrival or in advance as an e-VOA.
- Proof of onward or return travel. Checked at your departure airport as often as on arrival.
- All Indonesia declaration form — the customs declaration, completed online before you fly or on arrival.
- Tourist levy — IDR 150,000 (about $9.30) per person, separate from the visa.
e-VOA or at the airport?
Same visa, same price, same 30 days. The difference shows up only if you later decide to stay longer — and by then it is too late to change your mind.
| e-VOA (online, before you fly) | VOA (at the airport) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | IDR 500,000 | IDR 500,000 |
| Stay | 30 days | 30 days |
| Buy when | Valid 90 days from issue — enter within that window | On arrival |
| Arrival queue | Shorter — you skip the payment counter | Pay, then queue again for immigration |
| Extending | Generally online, without an office visit | More likely to require attending in person |
That last row is the one worth planning around. Since a mid-2025 immigration circular, in-person attendance has become the default for extending most permits — but e-VOA holders can generally still extend through the same online portal they bought from. If there is any chance you will want the second 30 days, buy online.
Extending the 30 days
The Visa on Arrival can be extended once for a further 30 days, giving 60 in total, and the extension costs IDR 500,000 again. Start the process well before expiry — it is not same-day, and processing takes time you may not have.
If you know in advance you want longer than 60 days, a different visa class is the cleaner route than extending. Once you are in, where you base yourself matters more than how long you stay.
Overstaying is expensive, immediately
Worth stating plainly because the numbers are larger than people assume and there is no soft landing.
- IDR 1,000,000 per day, from the first day past expiry.
- No grace period. Indonesian immigration law does not provide one. A single day late is a single day of overstay, charged in full.
- Up to 60 days of overstay can generally be settled by paying the accumulated fine on departure.
- Beyond 60 days, it escalates: detention, deportation, and a blacklist entry that affects future travel to Indonesia.
Doing it before you fly
Both the e-VOA and the declaration form can be completed online in advance. Both produce a QR code.
Screenshot every QR code. Airport wifi after a long-haul flight is not something to depend on, and the queues for people fumbling with their phones are long.
A warning about third-party sites
Plenty of sites will process your visa or levy for a markup, and they rank well because they advertise. Use the official Indonesian immigration portal at evisa.imigrasi.go.id for the visa, and the official Love Bali portal for the levy.
Two quick tests. Official Indonesian government sites end in .go.id. And if a site quotes more than IDR 150,000 per person for the levy or more than IDR 500,000 for the visa, you are paying someone a margin to fill in a form you could complete yourself in three minutes.
