Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

Hey everyone,

I got a social budaya visa about two months ago. Recently I needed to start to think about getting an extension. But it seems I am getting really contradictory information from different sources/ authorities.

My sponsor is originally from Sulawesi but has been living in Bali for several years. However, her ID is still from Sulawesi. When I got my visa in Malaysia the consulate said it would be no problem to extend the visa in Bali even though her address is listed on my visa as being in Sulawesi.

Also, I recently asked Bali Mode whether I can extend my visa anywhere in Indonesia, and they said yes, as long as I have a letter from my sponsor requesting it.

I know it may seem crazy, but I wanted to save a little money by trying to get the extension at immigration rather than at an agency to save money (500K+ for one month is a little pricey in my opinion). But when I went to immigration today to get the form,the guy there said I could not extend it if my sponsor does not have an ID from Bali. He also said my sponsor has to come with me, which seems to contradict what Bali Mode said- that I can extend my visa anywhere in Indonesia.

Any advice on this or what the real regulation is? I have seen many people say that the Indonesian authorities are really inconsistent about visa regulations. Would it be good to try the immigration office in Denpasar rather than the airport in case they are more reasonable?

Also, I have only until next Thursday (when my original 60 days expires). Maybe I should just go through an agency? I dont know why the Indonesian authorities make it so difficult that everyone just goes through an agency...

I recently learned that the normal 2 month tourist visa is also extendable up until 6 months. I now wish I had gotten that visa as it seems to be a lot more flexible than this social budaya visa which has so many caveats related to the sponsor!

Anyway, if anyone can help me before Monday with some advice that would be great!

colorful wrote:I recently learned that the normal 2 month tourist visa is also extendable up until 6 months. I now wish I had gotten that visa as it seems to be a lot more flexible than this social budaya visa which has so many caveats related to the sponsor!

Anyway, if anyone can help me before Monday with some advice that would be great!

This is a wrong statement. The "normal 2 months tourist visa" is not extendable. In fact it now bears the same index than a sosbud, but it does not have the name of the sponsor on it rendering it theorically non-extendable.

From all I am reading lately the 60 day visa is now extendable, infact we have just had guests who were in Lombok & Bali the best part of 3 months having extended their 60 day tourist visa for a further 30 days.

My sponsor is originally from Sulawesi but has been living in Bali for several years.

And,

the guy there said I could not extend it if my sponsor does not have an ID from Bali.

Indonesians are free to move about Indonesia pretty much as they want...BUT, they are required to get a new KTP (identity card) from the new provincial government to which they move to.

Since the first Bali bombing, this is VERY much enforced, especially here in Bali, and non compliance can mean fines, and even some jail time.

The immigration officer was totally correct. Your sponsor should have a new KTP issued to her by the Balinese provincial government. She is NOT, as things stand, a viable sponsor for you.

Right now I would go to Bali IDE and ask them to renew it for you until you can get things sorted out. It seems unfair to me that you were issued with a sosbud visa and now you cannot extend it. No matter what the rights and wrongs of the situation you are not at fault.

Get the extention first to give you some time to sort out the future. Good luck.

Jimbo wrote:Right now I would go to Bali IDE and ask them to renew it for you until you can get things sorted out. It seems unfair to me that you were issued with a sosbud visa and now you cannot extend it. No matter what the rights and wrongs of the situation you are not at fault.

Get the extention first to give you some time to sort out the future. Good luck.

He is not at fault... but his sponsor is at fault. Bear in mind that under indonesian law, a Sosbud extension is a deal in between a sponsor (who is "jaminan" for the foregner) and the immigration office. This indonesian sponsor, is at fault because he/she should have declared his/her new residency to the Catatan Sipil. This is specified clearly in the law 23 year 2006 about Administration Population. The fact that he/she didn't do it void her right to sponsorship and entitle the immigration to refuse to receive his demand. However I agree with your statement: any "agent" would overcome this issue... since it is all about money.
My advice to anyone who intend to deal with SosBud, and who does not want to go through an agent, is to make sure that the sponsor has a valid KTP issued in the wilayah where you plan to extend your sosbud, to start the procedure 7 days before the termination of your sosbud/extension, to keep handy 2 or 3 sets of your documents, to furnish a copy of your return/onward ticket and to eventually keep ready a bank statement proving that you or your sponsor have enough funds to live until the end of the requested extension.
Keeping all of this handy will make very difficult for any pegawai to refuse any extension.
In case of a refusal, your sponsor should demand a "surat keterangan penolakan" signed by the pejabat in charge. This request can't be refused. It has to state precisely the reason why a refusal has been given. With this letter, your sponsor have definitively the right to contest to the Kantor Wilayah the decision of the Pejabat.
The above is valid only if you respect the conditions stated above and if you respect the conditions of attribution of a SosBud (no illegal working, not being blacklisted...etc)

Jimbo wrote:Right now I would go to Bali IDE and ask them to renew it for you until you can get things sorted out. It seems unfair to me that you were issued with a sosbud visa and now you cannot extend it. No matter what the rights and wrongs of the situation you are not at fault.

Get the extention first to give you some time to sort out the future. Good luck.

BTW... Nice to see your face on a pic Jimbo. I did not realise at first that you were the same Jimbo of another forum I post in

Funny Jimbo, isn’t it...how what goes around, comes around!

Funny Jimbo, isn’t it...how what goes around, comes around!

Not quite the forum you are thinking of Roy. Nothing is what it appears to be. Remember this is cyber space and not real.

BTW... Nice to see your face on a pic Jimbo. I did not realise at first that you were the same Jimbo of another forum I post in

Nice to see you have come on to land If your contributions here are like those there you will be a very welcome addition. Your knowledge of all things visa will be more than helpeful. Once again welcome.

Is that a forum I am missing or is it one we are both on Jimbo ?

I was trying to figure out who KaBim might be

Jimbo wrote:

BTW... Nice to see your face on a pic Jimbo. I did not realise at first that you were the same Jimbo of another forum I post in

Nice to see you have come on to land If your contributions here are like those there you will be a very welcome addition. Your knowledge of all things visa will be more than helpeful. Once again welcome.

Thanks for your welcoming message. I appreciate it. I hope I will be able to drop from time to time on this forum and try to give some positive inputs. However, my posting production on the "other forum" already eat a bit too much of my time.

mimpimanis wrote:Is that a forum I am missing or is it one we are both on Jimbo ?

I was trying to figure out who KaBim might be

If you head to the right forum, it won't take long to find out who I am.

mimpimanis wrote:From all I am reading lately the 60 day visa is now extendable, infact we have just had guests who were in Lombok & Bali the best part of 3 months having extended their 60 day tourist visa for a further 30 days.

This is a misconception. Izin Kunjungan Pariwisata is non extendable. It is clearly stated in the article 35 ayat 3 of the praturan pemerintah nomor 32 tahun 1994 (Dalam hal Izin Kunjungan untuk keperluan wisata, jangka waktu 60 (enam puluh) hari tidak dapat diperpanjang). This law has been amended two times in 2005, and never before, but it has concerned only the paragraphs of the law dealing with Izin Tinggal Terbatas (KITAS).
What has changed is that now the Izin Kunjungan bears the same indew (211) for the 4 reasons it can be given:
1. Tugas pemerintahan
2. Pariwisata
3. Kegiatan Sosial Budaya
4. Usaha
The fact that the visa bear the same index, allows an unscrupulous pegawai to close the eyes and to extend it with the right amount of money, making it an illegal sosbud.
To be able to be extended the Izin Kunjungan requires to have a sponsor whose details have been given to the KBRI abroad while applying for the visa. The illegal extension of Izin Kunjungan Pariwisata may work well in the area of Bali, but I would not take the risk to say to a would be visitor "Come with a 60 days tourist visa and you'll be staying for 6 months". Outside of Bali, I am afraid that the guy would suffer bitter disppointment.

This is for all these reasons that I said in my previous post that the visa is theorically non extendable... Merely a question of money.

Is that a forum I am missing or is it one we are both on Jimbo ?

No its it's not

As I said this is cyberspace and nothing is what it seems. Maybe both of us are the same person......and maybe not

http://www.nomad4ever.com/2006/12/15/vi ... es-it-work has a huge amount of information in regards to Visas. The guy that blogs on this site has a good forum which explains the ins and out of the sos bud, doing visa extensions yourself or with an agent. The forum also explains travelling within Indo on the sos bud visa- to do this you will need a visa agent to do the extensions for you whilst you are on another island (if i recall what i read you need to be in Bali for the 2nd extension for finger printing etc otherwise you can travel through Indo all you like). The ins and outs are explained very clearly