The residence routes to Indonesia: KITAS, Second Home and the clocks

Whoever googles "a visa for Bali" finds a forest of codes and agents. The structure underneath is simpler than it looks — if you keep three concepts apart and know the clocks. This article does both.

Visa, ITAS, SKTT: three things, one chain

The eVisa you apply for online (via the official portal, in practice through your agent) and must be used within ninety days of issue. On arrival it's converted into the ITAS — the actual residence permit. And then follows the link almost every site skips: within fourteen days you report to Dukcapil, the civil registry, for the SKTT — the proof of residence. Immigration now demands that proof at every extension: no SKTT, no extension.

The routes in a row

Retirement KITAS (E33F) — for the over-55s: US$ 3,000 per month in demonstrable pension income, a bank balance of US$ 2,000 over three months, health insurance and a home address. Extendable annually, and in practice everything runs through a licensed agent as sponsor — count on € 700 to € 1,000 per year including fees, as a structural item. Mind the passport rule: at the extension your passport must still be valid for eighteen months.

Second Home (E33) — five years' residence against a deposit of US$ 130,000 in your own name at a state bank (or demonstrable property worth a million), deposited within ninety days of arrival. The money has to stay put: withdrawing it is grounds for revocation. The Silver Hair (E33E) is the over-60 variant with US$ 50,000 plus the pension income, and without an agent as sponsor.

Remote worker (E33G) — one year of working remotely for an employer established outside Indonesia, with at least US$ 60,000 gross per year. The catches: not extendable in-country (after the year you leave and apply again), and Indonesian income is prohibited.

The spouse route (E31A) — for whoever is married to an Indonesian, with the spouse as sponsor and after two years of marriage the road to the permanent KITAP, which also opens up for the other routes after a series of consecutive years.

The rules every route shares

Working on the retirement and deposit routes is prohibited — in employment and for Indonesian clients alike — and the law puts up to five years in prison on it. The Bali task force deported 165 foreigners in four months, almost all for precisely this. Overstay costs a million rupiah per day from day one, with detention and deportation after sixty days. And the extension you submit within the last month before expiry, physically present in Indonesia — plan your visits to the Netherlands around it.

The clocks in a row

Ninety days to use the eVisa. Ninety days to place the deposit. Fourteen days for the SKTT. One month before expiry the extension, with a passport of eighteen months. Whoever knows these four and keeps track of them has got through the heavy part of the Indonesian paperwork — the rest is sunshine.