Do I need to be concerned?

Metter

I have been living most of the last 14 months in Bali. The first 6 on a social visa then a tourist ( paid) visa which I extended and then since then on the visa free entry. I have left to either go on a weeks holiday abroad or back to Australia to work for a month. I am finding I am getting questioned every-time at immigration ( why you come so often, do you work in Bali, when will you be coming again etc). I seem to have been flagged because my wife is not asked the same questions. will it become a problem or can I somehow satisfy them the I not illegally working and have enough funds to be self reliant? any advice would be welcomed.

spicyayam

I don't think you should be concerned if you are working in Australia. They just want to make sure you aren't working in Bali, or operating a business illegally. If you can show some proof of your job in Australia, business card or something and explain that you just like holidaying in Bali, then I doubt they would refuse you entry.

Nydave

I'm not sure how it works,I come to Surabaya on a social each year usually for 5 months,last year when at immigration for my first extension they took me and my wife in for an interview,silly type of questions like where I live which is already on the paperwork,what I do for a living back in the states ,again on the paper work,and if I had any pics of the type of work I do back home,and why I want to extend,this year went for my first extension two weeks ago and absolutely no questions no interview nothing,so trying to figure out how they operate is anyones guess,i would be inclined to think that because of the lack of tourism because of the virus that they would be happy to see people coming here,,,

Mark

Nydave wrote I'm not sure how it works,I come to Surabaya on a social each year usually for 5 months,last year when at immigration for my first extension they took me and my wife in for an interview,silly type of questions like where I live which is already on the paperwork,what I do for a living back in the states ,again on the paper work,and if I had any pics of the type of work I do back home,and why I want to extend,this year went for my first extension two weeks ago and absolutely no questions no interview nothing,so trying to figure out how they operate is anyones guess,i would be inclined to think that because of the lack of tourism because of the virus that they would be happy to see people coming here,,,

Perhaps their minds were on other things. At this point, Indonesia does not want any people to come here, potentially get ill and require a valuable hospital bed or worse, a ventilator, of which there are far too few. VOA's have been cancelled for a month starting on 20 March and sosud, business visas etc will only be issued if you can prove your travel to Indonesia is 'essential', which I imagine will be a pretty high bar.

spicyayam

Mark wrote Perhaps their minds were on other things. At this point, Indonesia does not want any people to come here, potentially get ill and require a valuable hospital bed or worse, a ventilator, of which there are far too few. VOA's have been cancelled for a month starting on 20 March and sosud, business visas etc will only be issued if you can prove your travel to Indonesia is 'essential', which I imagine will be a pretty high bar.

Judging by all of the people posting on fb worried about their social visas there are lot of people that will/should have to go back "home". I guess there are some legitimate reasons people need to be here on a social visa, but I think it does show if you want to live here on a permanent or semi-permanent basis, you need to have a KITAS.

JohnnyCool

[B][I]...Judging by all of the people posting on fb worried about their social visas there are lot of people that will/should have to go back "home". [/I] If[/B] people get here in the first place, they might not be [B][I]able[/I][/B] to go back home. Airline flight cancellations for one. What then? The way this virus is unfolding world wide is dire enough. Whole countries locking down their borders. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that the whole of Indonesia (including Bali), might too. Imagine that. My loved one is concerned. I've considered if/when we [I]think[/I] of going somewhere else, where would that be and how would we get there? Europe's out, also Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, even Australia, etc. So where's left? [B]If[/B] we could actually get there? My personal feeling is that we're all basically 'trapped' here, for better or worse. :(