Extending an Indonesian Visa
There are a bunch of guides out there on the internet but I found they made the process seem a lot more complicated that it turned out to be, so if you are looking to extend your Indonesian visa here are some facts that may be helpful to you…
A free 30 day visa is not extendable after you have left the airport. You must pay the equivalent of $35, in whatever currency you have (cash only), before passport control and get a receipt if you want to extend your stay by another 30 days. This in non-negotiable.
You must attend the immigration office in the third week of your initial 30 day visa. Before 2 weeks and they may send you away and tell you to come back, and you must start the process more than 7 days before your 30 day visa expires.
I extended my visa in Mataram, Lombok and from what I have heard from other travellers, it is significantly quieter than Denpasar, Bali.
You must dress appropriately. Long trousers and shoulders covered.
You can use a guide to do it all for you, but it is expensive and you will have to make at least one visit yourself anyway for the photo and fingerprints.
If you do it yourself (recommended) you will need to make two visits.
1st visit:
You need to take:
1 copy of your passport
1 copy of you VOA stamp plus visa receipt
1 copy of your flight details into indonesia (can be a boring pass stub)
1 copy of your flight out of the country. (Use flyonward.com if you are unsure of onward travel plans)
Your passport.
You fill in some forms which are in Indonesian, but someone will help you, and they aren't difficult questions. You sit and wait and then you leave your passport with immigration and they give you a receipt that you need to keep safe, and a date for you to return to collect your passport. The date is not fixed, you can go back after the date (but not before), so you can go off and have some fun rather than hang around Mataram or Denpasar (try Gili Islands / Rinjani / Komodo Island boat trip / Kuta beach / the ‘secret’ Gilis if you are in Lombok).
2nd Visit
You need to take:
Your receipt
355,000IDR (~£20 – September 2017)
After handing in your receipt there will be a lot of sitting and waiting so allow a couple of hours for this visit. You get called into a room where they take a picture of you which you never see and take all your fingerprints digitally. You pay your money to the cashier, who gives you a receipt, which you then give to the passport person. You wait for about an hour and then they give you your passport with the extended visa and you are free to go!
