I recently extended my Indonesian Visa on Arrival (VOA) to Bali. It took about a week, three visits to the immigration office and Rp251,600, but it was much easier than leaving the country to get a new one.
Fortunately for me, I live near an immigration office (in Singaraja), so the whole process only took about an hour in total, including travel time. If your nearest office is further away, you will have to decide if it is easier to do all 3 trips or just one trip abroad.
In my case I needed a sponsor, but I have heard from other people that they do not. When you do this for the first time, I suggest you take a suitable local person with you just in case. They can always help with the translation and filling of the visa application forms.
Also, I didn’t need a photo, but I’ve heard other people have been asked to provide one, so it’s probably best to bring one just in case. It’s always a good idea to take some passport photos with you when you visit an immigration office, as you never know when they might ask for one. These should have a red background.
Since I used my wife as my visa sponsor, I had to provide a copy of our marriage certificate. Presumably, if you use someone else, this won’t be necessary.
I had to fill out 3 forms. One of them is a letter from a sponsor, which my wife completed. The others I completed myself (with some help from my wife as one is entirely in Indonesian). One of the forms needs a “materai” (stamp) which costs Rp6,000. It is pasted into the indicated box at the bottom of the form and both you and your sponsor sign so that your signatures overlap.
The second time I did this, they asked me to bring my return ticket, presumably to prove that I was leaving the country.
A small but important detail: make sure to fill in the forms in black ink and in capital letters, otherwise they could be rejected. In fact! Oh, and it’s a good idea to dress reasonably well when you go to the immigration office, so vests, shorts, and flip-flops are out, as are miniskirts and skimpy tops. You don’t need to wear a suit and tie, but at least long pants/skirt (jeans are fine) and a shirt or t-shirt.
You must also provide photocopies of your passport (showing your identity details and current visa), your sponsor’s identity card (KTP), and your marriage certificate (if your spouse is sponsoring you).
5 days after I dropped off the forms, I went back to the immigration office and paid Rs 250,000 (equivalent to US$25).
3 days after that, I went back to pick up my visa. Oh, and I had to pay Rp1,000 to have my passport photocopied with the new visa stamp.
I was initially concerned that since the whole process would take a week I would end up overstaying my original visa (which ran out 2 days into the process) but this was not a problem as I dropped off the forms before my visa expired. . Ideally you should enter a week before your visa expires but although I didn’t, the date of the new visa started from the day the original one ran out. Nice!
Aside from the reduced hassle of doing this (compared to leaving the country on a visa), there is another advantage: the visa stamp they use only takes up half a page in your passport compared to a full page for the standard VOA stamp.
I hope this helps clarify the process for you.
One final piece of advice: don’t listen to anything they tell you at Denpasar airport about this, as they have been giving inaccurate information there. For example, they may tell you that there is an immigration office at the airport, which is not true. There is one nearby, but not at the airport itself. They have also been known to tell people that they can extend their VOA while they wait, which is simply not true. I suggest you save energy and avoid asking about this at the airport.
Good luck and happy traveling!
