Indonesia

Indonesia has one visa built for remote work, and it isn't a Bali visa. The Indonesia Digital Nomad Visa (E33G Remote Worker KITAS) is a national limited stay permit, so holders can live anywhere in the country.

Four other routes cover trial stays, retirement, savings and investment. The table above compares their headline requirements.

Short visits and trial stays

Visa-free entry (index A1) applies only to citizens of countries on the immigration service's visa-free list. It gives 30 days that can't be extended or switched to another permit.

Nationals of countries on the visa-on-arrival list can buy a B1 visa on arrival for IDR 500,000, online as an e-VoA or at the airport. It gives 30 days, extendable once to 60 days in total; e-VoA holders extend online, while holders of the sticker visa issued at the airport counter extend at an immigration office.

For a longer test run, the C1 tourist visa replaced the old B211A, which no longer exists. It's a single-entry visit visa for tourism and family visits, extendable online up to 180 days in total. Both the B1 and the C1 can be switched to a longer stay permit from inside Indonesia once the holder qualifies for one.

None of these visit visas lets holders sell goods or services or take pay from anyone in Indonesia. The E33G is the only route whose stated purpose is work for a company abroad.

Remote workers

The E33G fits people employed by a company established outside Indonesia who can prove the income in the table with bank records. The application asks for an employment contract with that foreign company, so freelancers without one may not qualify. Holders may not work for Indonesian employers or take pay from Indonesian clients.

Extensions are filed online, each no longer than the first grant, up to 6 years in total. The E33G doesn't lead directly to permanent residence, though holders can switch to another stay permit whose requirements they meet. A spouse and children can join the holder.

Savings, retirement and investment

The second home visa (E33) suits nomads with capital but no foreign employer. Its guarantee is either the deposit in a state-owned Indonesian bank shown in the table or an apartment bought for at least $1,000,000. Holders can work after reporting the activity to the immigration office, stay up to 10 years in total and apply for a permanent stay permit (ITAP).

Applicants aged 55 or older can take the retirement KITAS, whose E33F version needs a sponsor. The E33E version needs none but asks for a deposit in a state-owned bank and grants a first permit of up to five years. Holders in this elderly category can apply for permanent residence.

The Golden Visa is for investors, who can found an Indonesian company (E28B) or buy Indonesian government bonds, listed shares or mutual funds (E28C). A stay of 10 years through the second route starts at $700,000, and holders can bring family and later convert to permanent residence.

The official visa list also tags the second home visa and the five-year retirement variant as Golden Visas.

How to choose

• Testing the country: a visa on arrival or the C1, then a switch from inside Indonesia if the fit is right.
• Salaried remote workers: the E33G, if the employer is abroad and income clears the bar.
• Self-funded long stays: the second home visa.
• Retirees: the retirement KITAS, from age 55.
• Investors: the Golden Visa.

Applications for the longer permits go through the official portal, evisa.imigrasi.go.id. Each linked visa page lists that program's documents and conditions.

Rent drives most of the difference between Indonesia's nomad bases, and Bali costs far more than Jakarta or Yogyakarta. The figures below are Numbeo's crowd-sourced averages, checked Sept. 23, 2026; they reflect user submissions, not official statistics.

Bali

Numbeo put a single person's monthly costs in Bali at about IDR 10.4 million ($586) before rent in September 2026, based on 331 entries from 38 contributors over the previous year. One-bedroom apartments averaged about $980 a month in central areas and $595 farther out. Together that suggests roughly $1,180 to $1,570 a month for one person living alone.

Jakarta

Jakarta came in lower, at about IDR 8.8 million ($494) a month before rent, from a larger sample of 1,080 entries by 172 contributors. One-bedroom apartments averaged about $367 in the center and $198 outside it, which puts a solo budget at roughly $690 to $860 a month.

Yogyakarta

Numbeo had no single-person estimate for Yogyakarta, but its rent data point lower again: about $215 for a central one-bedroom and $159 outside the center, from 187 entries by 20 contributors. A meal at an inexpensive restaurant averaged about $1.12.

What moves a budget

• Rent: Bali's central one-bedroom average was more than four times Yogyakarta's.
• Eating out: an inexpensive restaurant meal averaged about $2.81 in Bali and $2.53 in Jakarta, and a three-course meal for two at a mid-range restaurant, without drinks, about $30 and $17.
• Coffee: a cappuccino averaged about $2.25 in Bali, $2.03 in Jakarta and $1.26 in Yogyakarta.
• Utilities: electricity, cooling, water and garbage for an 85-square-meter apartment averaged about $82 a month in Bali and $107 in Jakarta.
• Gym: a monthly fitness club membership averaged about $46 in Bali and $26 in Jakarta.

These five bases cover the main choices for a first long stay: two Bali towns, two cities on Java and a surf town on Lombok. The Java cities cost far less than Bali in Numbeo's September 2026 data.

Canggu, Bali

Canggu, on Bali's southwest coast, packs cafes, coworking spaces and surf beaches into a small area, which makes meeting other remote workers easy. The trade-offs are traffic and price: Bali had the highest rents of the places in this guide in Numbeo's data. It suits first-timers and surfers.

Ubud, Bali

Ubud sits inland in Bali's hills among rice fields, with yoga studios, galleries and a slower pace than the coast. There's no beach. It suits nomads who want quiet and focus more than nightlife.

Jakarta

Jakarta is Indonesia's largest city and its business center, and it suits nomads who want business contacts or big-city life. Central one-bedroom rents in Numbeo's data were well under half of Bali's.

The downsides are heavy traffic and, per Ookla, the slowest median fixed broadband of the 13 regional nomad hubs it studied, so a mobile data backup matters here.

Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta, on Java, had the lowest rents of the bases here that Numbeo tracks, with central one-bedroom rents under a quarter of Bali's. The Prambanan temple compounds sit on the province's border with Central Java, and Borobudur lies in southern Central Java; both are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

It suits budget-minded nomads and slow travelers. Coworking choices are thinner than in Bali, and the Merapi volcano on the province's border with Central Java is worth tracking.

Kuta, Lombok

Kuta on Lombok, not to be confused with Kuta on Bali, is a surf town on Lombok's south coast, the next island east of Bali. It suits nomads who want beaches without Bali's crowds and can live with fewer coworking spaces and services.

Internet speeds

Indonesia's median fixed broadband download speed was 51.40 Mbps in August 2026, 113th in Ookla's Speedtest Global Index. Mobile was faster at 66.34 Mbps, ranked 70th.

Bali and Jakarta do only a little better on fixed lines. Of the 13 Southeast Asian nomad hubs in an Ookla study, they were the two slowest, with a median fixed download in the second quarter of 2026 of 67.04 Mbps in Bali and 60.33 Mbps in Jakarta. For anyone signing a lease, reliability matters more than the median: 22.1% of Bali's fixed-line tests and 26.9% of Jakarta's fell short of 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up.

Mobile data is the natural backup, and it's improving fast. Bali's median mobile download rose 62.4% and Jakarta's 52.4% between the second quarters of 2025 and 2026. Over the same year, 5G availability (the share of time 5G phones actually spend on 5G) rose 25 percentage points in Bali and 39.4 in Jakarta.

Venue Wi-Fi is the weak link. Older Wi-Fi 4 routers still carried 41.9% of Wi-Fi connections in Bali and 42.7% in Jakarta, and they cap what a new laptop can get from a cafe line. Home broadband is cheap: Numbeo's September 2026 data put a plan of 60 Mbps or more at about $19 a month in Bali and Jakarta and $21 in Yogyakarta.

Coworking

Bali's coworking spaces are concentrated in Canggu and Seminyak on the southwest coast and in Ubud inland. Biliq, for one, runs spaces in Seminyak and on Sunset Road and sells flexible desk time by the minute.

Jakarta's options lean toward office-style spaces in the business districts. WeWork listed three Jakarta buildings in September 2026 (Revenue Tower, Noble House and Sinarmas Land Plaza Sudirman), with coworking memberships from about IDR 3.7 million a month at list price.

Outside Bali and Jakarta, dedicated coworking tends to be thinner and cafes carry more of the load. Given Ookla's reliability figures, nomads signing a lease anywhere in Indonesia can ask for a recent speed test and keep a mobile data plan as backup.

Indonesia's tax office restated its residency tests in regulation PER-23/PJ/2025, issued Dec. 9, 2025. Meeting any one of three makes a person a resident taxpayer: living in Indonesia, being present for more than 183 days within any 12-month period or being present during a tax year with the intent to reside. Days needn't be consecutive, and part days count as full days.

Why long-stay permits matter

The intent test is the one that catches permit holders. A foreigner present in Indonesia in a tax year with intent to reside is a tax resident; intent can be shown by a KITAP, a VITAS or ITAS valid more than 183 days, a work or business contract over 183 days, or a lease over 183 days.

An E33G permit is issued for 1 year, longer than 183 days from the start. A holder who spends time in Indonesia during a tax year can therefore be treated as resident for that year, whatever the day count. The same applies to the other long-stay permits in this guide.

What residency means

Residents are taxed on worldwide income, not only on income earned in Indonesia. No official source exempts E33G holders' foreign income, so the remote worker visa shouldn't be read as a tax-free arrangement.

The one official carve-out is narrow. Foreigners with specific expertise, meaning foreign workers in designated positions or foreign researchers, can apply to the tax office to be taxed only on Indonesian income for their first 4 years as residents, counted in tax years. It isn't an E33G benefit, and it's unavailable to anyone who uses a tax treaty.

What to check

• Day counts: keep entry and exit records, since the presence test runs on any 12-month window rather than the calendar year.
• Treaties: when Indonesia and another country both treat someone as resident, the tax office's rules defer to the tax treaty between them, where one exists.
• Home-country rules: becoming resident in Indonesia doesn't by itself end tax obligations elsewhere.
• Professional advice: official guidance is general, so an adviser who knows both countries' rules can apply it to a specific case.

Arrival

• Arrival card: the All Indonesia arrival card is required for every incoming passenger and is completed online before travel. It bundles the customs, health and quarantine declarations but doesn't replace a visa; travelers eligible for a visa on arrival are prompted to apply for one after submitting it.
• Health declaration: the card's health section asks about symptoms, recent contacts and recent travel; it doesn't ask for COVID-19 vaccination or test results.
• Passport and ticket: the visa-free, visa-on-arrival and E33G rules all call for a passport valid at least six months, and visa-free and visa-on-arrival travelers must also show a return or onward ticket.
• Bali levy: Bali charges international tourists a levy of IDR 150,000, payable online through the provincial Love Bali site, which also takes exemption requests.
• Phones: the arrival card asks about phones and tablets bought abroad for use on Indonesian networks, for IMEI registration. It notes that foreign visitors staying under 90 days don't need to register, so long-stay nomads planning to use a local SIM should expect to.

Overstays

Overstays of up to 60 days cost IDR 1 million a day, and longer ones mean detention, deportation and a possible ban on returning, according to UK government guidance published Jan. 2, 2025. E-VoA extensions and E33G renewals are both filed online.

Money and mobile

• QR payments: QRIS, Bank Indonesia's national QR code standard, is linked with partner countries' payment apps, so visitors from those countries can pay QRIS merchants with a participating app from home.
• Bank accounts: Bank Central Asia, for one, asks foreigners living in Indonesia for a passport plus a KITAS or KITAP, while foreigners not domiciled there face extra document checks under anti-money-laundering rules. For most nomads a local account comes after the stay permit, not before.
• Mobile plans: Numbeo's September 2026 data put a monthly plan with calls and at least 10GB of data at about $6 in Jakarta.

Health insurance

The E33G's official document list doesn't include health insurance, so cover is a personal choice rather than a visa condition. For time on smaller or remote islands, a policy that includes medical evacuation is the one to look for.

Safety

MAGMA Indonesia, the energy ministry's volcano monitoring service, posts each volcano's alert level from I to IV. On Sept. 23, 2026, it listed three volcanoes at Level III, including Merapi on the border of Yogyakarta and Central Java. BMKG, Indonesia's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, runs InaTEWS, which publishes earthquake and tsunami information.

The UK government's travel advice describes an armed separatist conflict in the Papua region and calls the security situation in Highland Papua and Central Papua unpredictable.