Trudy
Looking to spend up to 6 months a year in Bali , need to gather info regarding ,visa needed , living costs , long rental and all kind of things I have not even considered yet , any helpful hints or tips will be gratefully received.:)
PERtoDPS
You need an agent it sounds like. I'm not opening shilling any but if you PM me happy to give you some details of good agents.Living costs it totally depends area, lifestyle etc or do you want someone on the internet to tell you where in Bali you should live? Opinions and locations greatly vary around here.Long rental is possible but again, without knowing what area can't really provide any further info.If you want some guidance on whatsapp or telegram let me I can spare you 10 mins I guess...
gtrken
Looking to spend up to 6 months a year in Bali , need to gather info regarding ,visa needed , living costs , long rental and all kind of things I have not even considered yet , any helpful hints or tips will be gratefully received.:)[/QUOTE]The search button and spending time looking through old posts will help you a lot.Have you been to Bali before?If not then maybe you need to go there first and get a feel for the areas/places.CheersKen
britoo
Trudy, welcome to the forum and best wishes with your plan to get to Bali and spend some time here each year. It's a great plan.As others have said its hard to give you concrete info in part because things are in such flux and likely to change and in part because so much depends on your circumstances and expectations.Here's an attempt however at some reference info and guidancePRE BALI* if you have any desire to drive a bike or car legally in Bali ensure you get your International Driving Permit (IDP) in your home country before you depart.* Indo now expects you to import your mobile phone if you are staying more than a few months. If you dont pay import tax on arrival (you have to know this, they wont tell you) your phone will stop wotking after a month or so. Its being blocked based on its IMEI, not SIM. If you have a flagship phone it might make more sense to buy a cheap phone locally rather than pay import duties.VISA SITUATIONThe visa situation is compicated with the issuance of all tourist visas on hold since April-ish 2020.If you simply must arrive now then the only real means is via an agent sponsored B211-B (business stream) visa that is really intended for those coming into indonesia for the purposes of in-house training, conferences, audits etc. The agent will typically want 5/6 mil IDR + 1mil IDR fees to arrange this for you, making him/her your business sponsor and they'll want a further ~1mil per extension for the 4 extensions required during the 6 months. Further, at this time youll need to transit via Jakarta and quarantine in-hotel prior to arriving in Bali at a further cost of circa 8 mil IDR.This is a very good resource covering what's going on visa-wise[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.balihotelsassociation.com/important-updates/thesituation/[/URL]Jokowi was in (Ubud) town not too long ago promoting vaccination and a return of tourism to Bali which I think is currently scheduled for July time (dont hold your breath! though). This is significant as they'll need to establish normal tourist visas again before this can happen and there's some talk of them re-vamping the system - ([URL]https://news.bali-villa-arrangements.com/bali-news/new-upcoming-visa-regulations-2021/[/URL])Pre-covid you would have most likely used one of the three following options to spend 6 months a year in Bali:1 - Simply show up and enter on an extendable Visa on Arrival (VOA) - depending on your nationality - for 30 days + 30 day extension, take a side weekend trip at 2 and 4 months and return home after 6.2 - Get a B211-A (Social stream) visa in advance of arriving probably using an agent unless you have a trusted local friend and remain in Indonesia for 6 x 30 days which is your 6 months. Note you cannot leave Indonesia and return on the same visa as its a single shot visa3 - Apply for a 60 day stay visa in your home country which is identical to a B211-A and once you are in Indonesia attach a sponsor to it within the first 2 months allowing it to be extended to the full 180 days.As per above link - things may evolve post July - also given your plans the 5 year second home visa thats being proposed might just be the ticket.COSTSCost is really down to your lifestyle choices and we are talking orders of magnitude between living like a local and like a baller. A couple of reference points though+ Local minimum wage is ~3 million IDR per month and locals do live on this kind of money. This will be a frugal lifestyle and way below the expectation for visa applicants making you rather undesirable as a guest.+ A very respectible local salary might be between 7 - 16 mil IDR per month and you can live very well on this "locally" in a non beach side town-house, shopping at local markets and eating-out mainly warung food with occasional high end dining and entertainment too. Fancy Sunday brunches, bottles of wine, beach clubs and too many tourist resto meals will blow the budget though+ About 20 mil IDR (1500 USD) seems to be the expected iminimum income required of foreigners for longer visa stay purposes. Seems to have been set at this level for years if not decade(s) though so inflation has chipped away at it relentlesly. You wont be rich but you can enjoy a pretty good standard of living compared to the average earner living in the "west"+ at 35 mil IDR or about 2.5kUSD pcm you should be living very well staying in a "good/desireable" area, in a mid-end villa with pool, with staff and living very comfortably indeed with plenty of pocket money.+ Beyond this its about lifestyle choices; closer to the beach, bigger place, bigger pool, more staff, bigger bike, car, bigger car, prestiege import car, club memberships, beach clubs ...... and the sky is the limit.RENTALThis is based on yearly numbers so may have to factor in the 6 month stay which may make it harder to find a great deal. I would describe the Bali property market as being bipolar. Look on the fancy websites aimed at foreigners fresh off the boat and youll see some truly eye watering prices. Fine when its a genuine premium property in a premium location but often its not.Once you have boots on the ground you can probably find perfectly decent mid-end property for perhaps half the price you see from overseas but youll have to work at it. Nb its a haggle culture and asking prices can easily be double the final price in certain cases.Check out olx.co.id, rumah123.com, facebook marketplace Denpasar and the community housing facebook page for you areas of interest ubud, sanur, canggu etc. for some ideas.So I'd say+ A high quality guest house, close to a reasonable area possibly with a pool might set you back 3 - 5 mil IDR per month+ A local style house without pool 15 - 20 minutes away from the action from about 5 -10 mil IDR per month+ Hard bargaining direct with ower can probably still get you a mid end pool villa for about 8 - 12 mil IDR pcm around 15 - 20 mins from the action.+ 15 - Infinty can get you something really nice in a "good" by which I mean desireable area.I think thats itCheers
ronb
A very impressive response. I hope Trudy appreciates it.
gtrken
Britoo I agree with RonB in the quality and thought put into the response.Alas it appears that Trudy has come on once to ask the question, never to be seen again...CheersKen
