Indonesia · visa route
Emigrating to Indonesia
Bali is the most popular dream destination in the Netherlands, and the rules are real: a visa isn't a residence permit and a permit isn't yet a completed file — the chain runs to the duty to report at the civil registry. The treaty lets the Netherlands keep taxing, as a foreigner you can never own land, and Bali deports hundreds of people a year who thought the rules were for others. Whoever follows them lives there beautifully. This page shows how it really works.
€ 399 one-off · 34 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Visa — annual or on deposit
- The chain
- eVisa → ITAS → SKTT at Dukcapil (14 days)
- Note
- No land ownership — and the nominee route is void
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from the route choice to the two bans
A route of clocks and of two bans. The eVisa with its ninety days, the deposit with its ninety days, the duty to report with its fourteen, the extension with its month and the passport with its eighteen. The treaty that lets the Netherlands keep taxing — article 19, not 18. And the two rules that make the news on Bali: don't work on a route that forbids it, and never buy land via a nominee.
- 1
Orientation
Visa, ITAS, duty to report — and enforcement that's real
The Indonesian chain has three links newcomers mix up: the eVisa (valid ninety days), the ITAS it becomes on arrival, and the SKTT duty to report at the civil registry within fourteen days — without that proof Immigration now refuses your extension. Bali enforces visibly: hundreds of deportations a year, and overstay costs a million rupiah a day. In this phase you also choose your route and have the two conversations that can be dealbreakers: healthcare in old age, and the pet.
- 2
Your visa
US$ 3,000 a month, or a deposit — and the agent as a system
The retirement route asks US$ 3,000 a month in demonstrable income, a bank balance, insurance and a recognised agent as sponsor — count those agent costs as an annual item, because that's how the system works here. The Second Home route locks US$ 130,000 at a state bank, within ninety days of arrival and not to be touched. The remote route asks US$ 60,000 a year and doesn't extend in the country. And on every extension the passport rule of eighteen months applies — renew it before departure if it expires within two years.
- 3
Closing the Netherlands
No S1, and article 19: the Netherlands simply keeps taxing
The familiar list with two hard lessons. There's no healthcare treaty: you arrange your international policy with evacuation cover before departure, with an eye on insurers' age limits — the silent dealbreaker of this destination. And the treaty works like South Africa's: article 19 lets the Netherlands keep taxing AOW, pension and annuity, without threshold. The AOW does come along at the full hundred percent, and the protective assessment asks for security outside the EU.
- 4
The move
Suitcases before containers — and the Bali detour for the pet
The most honest moving rule on the site: take suitcases, not a container. The exemption for removal goods asks for an issued KITAS and a window of ninety days, Bali rents furnished, and the car is excluded from every scheme — so sell in the Netherlands. The pet can only go via the Jakarta detour: permit in advance, titre test, one to two weeks' quarantine and thousands of euros — or the honest decision to give the animal a familiar home in the Netherlands.
- 5
Arrival in Indonesia
The SKTT, the year's rent up front and the two bans
Within fourteen days the SKTT at Dukcapil — the step that carries your extension. The bank with your KITAS, the NPWP as soon as the 183 days come into view, the Indonesian driving licence before the scooter. The home you rent a year in advance, and whoever wants to invest does it legally: leasehold or a right of use in your own name, never via a nominee — the court has declared those constructions void and the deposit was gone. And the work ban on the retirement and deposit routes isn't a paper rule: the task force deports hundreds a year for it.
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.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 10.800 – € 26.300
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden (met de jaarhuur vooruit)€ 9.000 – € 22.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 1.200 – € 2.900
- De verhuizing
- € 600 – € 1.400
- De eerste maanden
- € 9.000 – € 22.000
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- Visum, agent en papieren(estimate)€ 800 – € 1.400
- De private zorgverzekering (met evacuatiedekking)(estimate)€ 400 – € 1.500
Indonesië is geen verdragsland: geen S1 en geen CAK, en de visumroutes vragen een verzekering. Een internationale polis met evacuatiedekking naar Singapore kost US$ 2.000 tot 5.000 per persoon per jaar, sterk leeftijdsafhankelijk en met instapgrenzen rond de vijfenzeventig. De post hieronder dekt de eerste maanden premie rond de aanvraag.
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 600 – € 1.400
Zestien tot achttien uur vliegen met één overstap via Singapore, Doha of Dubai; er is geen directe verbinding. Reken op de tickets plus ruime overbagage, want de strategie is hier koffers vóór containers.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden (met de jaarhuur vooruit)(estimate)€ 9.000 – € 22.000
De post die deze bestemming anders maakt: op Bali betaal je een jaarcontract vooruit, ineens, plus borg. Een woning of villa kost afhankelijk van de plek US$ 800 tot ruim US$ 2.000 per maand — maal twaalf bij het tekenen. Tel de eerste maanden dagelijks leven, het vervoer en de aansluitingen erbij. Wie maandelijks wil betalen, betaalt daarvoor een forse opslag of vindt simpelweg minder aanbod.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 5 to 11% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 12.500 to € 27.500.
Kopen betekent hier iets anders dan thuis: grondbezit (hak milik) is voor buitenlanders wettelijk onmogelijk en de nominee-constructie via een Indonesische stroman is nietig — de rechter heeft buitenlanders daar herhaaldelijk hun volledige inleg op zien verliezen. Wat wél kan: leasehold van 25-30 jaar of een gebruiksrecht (hak pakai) op eigen naam voor vergunninghouders, notarieel vastgelegd. De percentages hierboven dekken de overdrachtsbelasting (BPHTB, 5%), notaris en advies bij zo'n legale structuur — het echte risico zit niet in de tarieven maar in de constructie.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
The rates in this calculation haven't been checked against the official sources yet.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Indonesia, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe 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 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.
Read on
The knowledge base on Indonesia
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Closing the Netherlands
- 3 min
AOW, pension and tax in Indonesia: article 19 is the lesson
The pension article sits at number 19 in this treaty, and it works the other way round from southern Europe: the Netherlands keeps taxing AOW, pension and annuity, without a threshold. The four-year expat scheme doesn't apply to retirees, the AOW does travel with you at 100%, and the protective assessment demands security outside the EU.
Updated 29 August 2026
- 2 min
Healthcare in Indonesia: the insurance, the hospitals and Singapore
No treaty, no S1, and the state system is practically closed to retirees: your healthcare is an international private policy with evacuation cover. The silent dealbreaker is called age — insurers apply entry limits and premiums rise steeply. And the plan B for complex care is called Jakarta or Singapore.
Updated 29 August 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.