Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

hi
i am fantasizing about bringing my 3 kids over next year for 3 months.. Want to live in ubud. I have been in touch with bumi sehat (birthing clinic), and i want to volunteer for a while, hang around birthing. Anyway i have heard that you need a kitas to do volunteer work... ?? How do people get around this if they want to do some humanitariun work? Also I have been in touch with Pelangi Steiner school just out of ubud.. My 8 yr old homeschooled kid is keen to attend for a while.. Has anyone had any thing to do with the school. or could coment on it??? they seem pretty good on the net... and by email thanks in anticipation Redgirl

Hi Redgirl and welcome

From what I have read on here is that you cannot get around visa requirements at all in Bali/Indonesia. I have been told they also check up on people with social visa and retirement visas to make sure they are not working.

Maybe someone else has some other information on this. Sorry can't help with the school

Tina

welcome redgirl Tina is right you can not work or do any volunteer work while you are in Bali if you are on social/retirement visa. if your found to be doing so your visa will be cancelled and you go home.. ........Steff

Hi everyone,

so if it's not possible do volunteer work on a social and/or retirement visa, which visa does one need to do volunteer work? I was considering it myself, and intend to go on a business visa, would/should that be ok? cheers, Sybille

you probably would need to talk to the organisation for whom you are volunteering to work out visa arrangements. If they have had overseas volunteers in the past they should know which class of visa, and the type of sponorship letter and other formalities needed.
You might find you still need a working visa - which is quite expensive (around USD1200 + about that much again to set it up). They spring for the visa, and you donate your time for free.

I think you will need to be sponsored.
It will probably also depend on what qualifications you have e.g environmental expertise, teaching.

From my understanding, it's like this:

If you want to 'work' here, paid or unpaid, you have to have a 'work' visa, which usually means a KITAS.
To get a KITAS entails finding somebody with a registered business or some organisation that is prepared to take you on.
If someone is going to be here for only three months, I doubt that it's possible.

So-called 'business visas' do not allow a person to work here. It's a popular misconception.

I occasionally get paranoid when I play with Indonesian bands - Am I 'working' when I do that? Probably.

The 'reasoning' behind all of this is that even if foreigners are prepared to 'work' for free, they might be taking away some non-existent job from an Indonesian.

I haven't met many Indonesians in the last 34 years who are prepared to work for nothing. Has any body?

Sanurian wrote:
I haven't met many Indonesians in the last 34 years who are prepared to work for nothing. Has any body?

I have. There are a quite a few involved in non-profit no-pay organizations. A few friends of Dewi are involved in Aids foundation(s) here in the North.

I didn't say there weren't any...just not many.

The more the better and all power to Dewi.

Can I play guitar with Lolot (for free), and not risk getting arrested?
Sing-ken-ken.

Sanurian wrote:
Can I play guitar with Lolot (for free), and not risk getting arrested?
Sing-ken-ken.

By security guards ?

All, in all due respect can I ask why nobody is stating the obvious, which s simply, you can do whatever u want with or without a kitas visa.. If u get caught and don't want to be sent home you'll need to make a 'charitable donation' to an appropriate official.. Close family friends just needed to buy back their indo daughters passport, which had been taken by immigration when she entered coz they found an aussie passport in her luggage.. Dual citizen is strictly not allowed in indo and she was told she'd lost her indo citizenship.. The daughter made the mistake of not paying on the spot, which she coulda easily done, but the only implication was the father had to pay more.. $120 US to get it back and get the registry cleared.. Other friends just bought an indo birth certificate and passport for their son who was born to a non indo father outside of indo which means he aint indonesian, cost in total less that $200.. So I find it hard to believe that u couldn't just buy ur way out of a work visa issue..

Ct

Ah Indonesia, the country of limitless possibilities, as long as you have money...

Well, it doesn't always work like that.

People have been deported, people have been denied entry, etc.

With all due respect, why take the risk?

And, would you feel good, looking over your shoulder a lot?

You're right bert, I agree that it's better to do things the right way.. It's just nice to know that if that's too hard, u can always say "to hell with it, I'll just do what I want and pay em off if I get called on it"..

Ct

In my experience it's best to do things by the book, and since I intend to stay in Bali for a long, long time, that's how I'll do it. As there are quite a few NGOs active in Bali, I am in contact with a couple of them, I hope some one is going to be able/and willing to utilise my skills. I've still got 7 months before I am intending to leave Australia, so there is plenty of time to sort things out.

"By the book" in indo surely involves paying off someone somwhere along the line

Ct

Not always and frankly it is a bit of an insult to presume you have to pay for everything. There are many hardworking and honest people here who try to help Indonesia at a cost to themselves. Whilst I agree that thre is corruption not all are corrupt.

Back on topic the SB visa I believe allows for students, anthropologists and the like to "work" but NGO's will know best.