Look inside
The plan for Indonesia, from the inside
These are all 34 steps of the Indonesia journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
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Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 34
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 39
- Only for your situation
- 6
Phase 1
5 steps
Orientation
A visa here is not a residence permit, and a residence permit is not yet a completed file: the chain runs from eVisa via ITAS to the registration duty at the civil registry. Bali has enforced visibly since 2026 — hundreds of deportations a year — and the two quiet dealbreakers are called healthcare in old age and the pet.
- 1.1
Understand the system: visa, ITAS, registration duty — and real enforcement
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.2
Explore the routes: retirement, deposit, remote or partner
- Lead time
- an evening of reading, and the conversation about it
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 1.3
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.4
Take the decision together
- Lead time
- no fixed one; take your time
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- five minutes, below
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
6 steps
Your visa
The application runs online, but the practice runs through an agent — on the retirement route that's not a choice but the system. The clocks stack up: the eVisa ninety days, the deposit ninety days after arrival, the renewal a month before expiry with physical presence, and a passport that must still be valid for eighteen months at renewal.
- 2.1
Make the route choice final
- Lead time
- a week of calculating and comparing
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 2.2
Choose your agent: here he is the system
- Lead time
- comparing quotes 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- count on € 700-1,000 a year, fees included
1 official source
- 2.3
Gather the evidence: income, balance, insurance — and your passport
- Lead time
- 2-4 weeks
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 2.4
File through the eVisa portal
- Lead time
- 7-14 working days' processing time
- Costs
- fees per route; see the cost indication
1 official source
- 2.5
The deposit routes: pay in within ninety days, and don't touch it
- Lead time
- the deposit itself is a bank appointment; the clock is ninety days
- Costs
- the deposit itself is fixed, no costs
1 official source
- 2.6
After issue: the ITAS and the series of clocks
- Lead time
- an hour of reading that saves months later
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Phase 3
11 steps
Closing the Netherlands
The familiar list, with two hard lessons. There's no healthcare treaty — you insure privately, with evacuation cover and with an eye on the age limits. And the tax treaty works like South Africa's: the Netherlands keeps taxing pension, annuity and AOW — the southern European exemption logic doesn't apply here.
- 3.1
Arrange your healthcare: private, with evacuation cover
- Lead time
- comparing and taking out 2-4 weeks
- Costs
- count on US$ 2,000-5,000 per person per year, depending on age
1 official source
- 3.2
AOW and pension: the Netherlands keeps taxing
- Lead time
- the notification is an afternoon; the sum is an evening
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 3.3
The tax wrap-up: the M form and the protective assessment
- Lead time
- the M form follows in the year after departure
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 3.4
Stop the benefits, and inform the SVB
- Lead time
- an hour
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.5
Deregister at the municipality
- Lead time
- five working days before departure, not earlier
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 3.6
DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlands
- Lead time
- an afternoon
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.7
Documents: apostilles and the passport rhythm
- Lead time
- 2-3 weeks
- Costs
- certificates and apostilles ± € 30-60 per document
1 official source
- 3.8
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few admin actions
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.9
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.10
The house in the Netherlands: sell, let or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advice hours; when letting, possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.11
Children who stay in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and then one notification a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 4
4 steps
The move
The most honest moving rule on this site: take suitcases, not a container. The household-goods exemption exists, but requires an issued KITAS and a window of ninety days — and renting furnished usually makes it unnecessary. The car is excluded from every scheme, and the pet can only come via the Jakarta detour.
- 4.1
Suitcases before containers: the luggage strategy
- Lead time
- deciding 1-2 weeks; a possible shipment 6-10 weeks
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 4.2
The car: sell it, because taking it doesn't exist
- Lead time
- sale 2-4 weeks before departure
- Costs
- the sale actually brings money in
1 official source
- 4.3
The pet: the detour via Jakarta, or the honest decision
- Lead time
- count on 2-3 months' preparation
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 4.4
The flight and the arrival planning
- Lead time
- book as soon as the visa is there
- Costs
- see the cost indication
Phase 5
8 steps
Arrival in Indonesia
The permit is in; now discipline counts. The SKTT within fourteen days, the bank and the tax number, the year's rent you pay in advance — and the two rules that prevent deportations and dramas: don't work on a residence route that forbids it, and never buy land through a nominee.
- 5.1
The SKTT: to Dukcapil within fourteen days
- Lead time
- the registration itself is a day; the clock is fourteen days
- Costs
- small fees; often included in the agent's rate
1 official source
- 5.2
The bank and the bridge: rupiah locally, euros at home
- Lead time
- account within a week with KITAS
- Costs
- small monthly costs
1 official source
- 5.3
Housing: a year's rent in advance, and never through a nominee
- Lead time
- searching 2-6 weeks; the rent you pay per year
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 5.4
The tax office: the NPWP and the 183 days
- Lead time
- registration as soon as the threshold is in sight
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 5.5
Transport: the SIM, the scooter and the honest figures
- Lead time
- the driving licence in the first months
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 5.6
Family: the international school, with the price tag
- Lead time
- enrol six months ahead
- Costs
- international on Bali ± € 19,000-38,000 per child per year
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 5.7
Health in practice: dengue, the clinic and the plan B
- Lead time
- arrange it in your first month
- Costs
- premium and excess; see the cost indication
1 official source
- 5.8
The two prohibitions, and the clocks in the diary
- Lead time
- half an hour, and then never forget again
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
6 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Indonesia journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 5.3 of your plan
Housing: a year's rent in advance, and never through a nominee
- Lead time
- searching 2-6 weeks; the rent you pay per year
- Costs
- see the cost indication
Two rules carry this chapter. The first is practical: on Bali a year's rent in advance is the norm — a villa or house you rent per year, paid in one go, plus deposit. Count that into your first-year budget and negotiate on the contract (what's included, who maintains the pool, what happens on sale).
The second is legal and absolute: foreigners cannot own land in Indonesia, and the well-known detour — land in the name of an Indonesian friend or partner, the "nominee" — is void and perilous: the highest court has repeatedly annulled those constructions, with the foreigner losing their stake. What does work: leasehold of 25 to 30 years with renewal options, recorded by a notary, or a right of use (hak pakai) in your own name for permit holders. Rent for a year first; whoever then wants to invest does it with their own notary and within the law.
What this step rests on
This is step 5.3 of 34. The other 33 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Indonesia?
All 34 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 399 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Indonesia: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Indonesia really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
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