Hello everyone!

[Aurora]

Hi all. I have been reading this forum on and off for the three years I have been coming to Bali. Lots of helpful hints and tips that I have already seen found very useful. After 7 visits of mostly 1 month (4 in the last year) I am starting to feel like I live here. Or. at least, I have a second home. I spend my time time mostly in and around Ubud, love the music and cultural scene. I do quite like Sanur too for different reasons. I hang around the open mic scene and play music with locals a lot. Am ready for a longer stay and looking at a Sosial Budaya Sept/Dec 2019. My other home is in the Sunshine Coast hinterland of Australia. I am 9 months into a serious attempt to learn Bahasa Indonesia, with classes in Aus, some private tuition in Bali, a good book and three internet resources, I love the response from Indonesians when you have even a fingernail grasp on their language. So am researching a small non-fancy home I can rent as a more permanent cheaper-then-tourist price option. I am aware that doing this on site yourself in Bali is a good way to do this and have looked a fair bit in June/July. Being retired in theory I qualify for a retirement KITAS but not sure that's the best solution for me as I still like having a base in the Sunshine Coast for some of the year, and the transition from spending up to 6 months a year overseas to full time has many complex and expensive ramifications!
I will be scouring the forums for more nuggets of Bali wisdom and thank everyone involved for this resource, (DJ) Aurora.

 

[Markit]

Just because you have a retirement visa doesn't mean you have to stay here a year - I believe a minimum of 6 months a year would do - can be spread out too. Not like the Social Bud. - with that if you leave it dies.

 

[JohnnyCool]

Hi all. I have been reading this forum on and off for the three years I have been coming to Bali. Lots of helpful hints and tips that I have already seen found very useful. After 7 visits of mostly 1 month (4 in the last year) I am starting to feel like I live here. Or. at least, I have a second home. I spend my time time mostly in and around Ubud, love the music and cultural scene. I do quite like Sanur too for different reasons. I hang around the open mic scene and play music with locals a lot. Am ready for a longer stay and looking at a Sosial Budaya Sept/Dec 2019. My other home is in the Sunshine Coast hinterland of Australia. I am 9 months into a serious attempt to learn Bahasa Indonesia, with classes in Aus, some private tuition in Bali, a good book and three internet resources, I love the response from Indonesians when you have even a fingernail grasp on their language. So am researching a small non-fancy home I can rent as a more permanent cheaper-then-tourist price option. I am aware that doing this on site yourself in Bali is a good way to do this and have looked a fair bit in June/July. Being retired in theory I qualify for a retirement KITAS but not sure that's the best solution for me as I still like having a base in the Sunshine Coast for some of the year, and the transition from spending up to 6 months a year overseas to full time has many complex and expensive ramifications!
I will be scouring the forums for more nuggets of Bali wisdom and thank everyone involved for this resource, (DJ) Aurora.

Hi DJ Aurora
You don’t seem to be asking any specific questions, more like weighing up your options for what you’d like to do.
As in:

1 Stay 4-6 months/year or 1+ years at a time (with a retirement KITAS)?
If you have a retirement KITAS you don’t have to stay here “full time”. A MERP (Multiple Entry Re-entry Permit) takes care of that.
Having said that, the KITAS might appear to be more costly initially (Rp 7-10 million), and needs to be extended annually (ie, visit Indonesian Immigration office). A sosbud gives you 60 days initially and then you (or your “agent”) needs to extend it every month for the remaining four. There is no MERP I know of for a sosbud. If you leave, it’s cancelled and if you want to come back, you have to start the whole process all over again.

2 Renting a small non-fancy home? Good luck with finding one. How you pay for it depends on the owner. Most houses are usually rented by the year (you pay the full rental in advance, but this might be negotiable). You also need to pay close attention to its location. Is it near a mosque; are there local “cafes” (discos, karaoke bars, etc) nearby; how “secure” does it seem to be; what’s the traffic situation like; is it prone to flooding when it rains, etc.? If you move into a dud you’re unlikely to get a refund on your rental.

Getting around Sanur these days is still (so far), much easier than Ubud. Of course, I am biased (but lived up that way for many years). I dread going to Ubud now but sill do, occasionally.
What instruments do you play? I mean are you actually a musician, “DJ” or both?

Happy hunting and open micing.

 

[Aurora]

Hi JohnnyCool, yes that's correct. I am in a process of considering options, feeling my forward towards what seems good and will work well for me personally.

For any long stay visa for Indonesia it seems you need life insurance and health insurance policies in Indonesia as well.As I am over 65 virtually no Australian insurer will write a new life insurance policy - there are only two companies that will do so if you are over 65 on applying for a new policy.
So a specific question I have right now is, for those on a retirement KITAS how do you solve the health and life insurance issues and what sort of costs are involved? ( I don't hold any life insurance right now).

For the retirement KITAS yes am technically eligible - well I will be if I buy life insurance. I would also need to rent or lease a property for a year and employ someone local as pembantu for the same period though, so I presume the solution there is to find someone to sub-let to when I am not there if I choose a 50/50 lifestyle, 6 months Aus per annum and 6 months Indonesia or elsewhere.

From my research so far as soon as you spend more then 6 months per calendar year outside Aus things get more problematic. For instance my Aus private health cover I can be out of the country for 6 mth a year max and it will but put "on hold" without premiums paid or cover, and resume on my return at the same premium and cover. But if I exceed the 6 mth limit the policy is shut down totally. To restart it I would have to have a new policy and the premium would be vastly increased (it is currently about A$2700 a year), And once you get to a certain age you will be denied entry to a new policy. There are also complications if an overseas country is "deemed" to be your main residence for Australian pension and taxation purposes by the Australian authorities.

Am thinking at the moment of a 3 month stay from late Sept on a Sosial Budaya, with travel insurance (which I get free with Aus Commonwealth Bank credit card). I will only have one set of renewal fees which am told will be around 1,350,000 IDR if I use a different agent from the first one. After this time I hope to have more of a feel for life in Bali and where the personal balance that suits me best is!

Re your questions about music, yes am an instrumental player as well as a DJ and electronic music producer. I play mandolin, bouzouki, n'goni, tenor banjo mostly. I have already discovered that if you apply for a KITAS as a working musician, you have to choose between being a DJ and a "musician proper". The KITAS would only cover you to work as one OR the other not both. This kind of KITAS is really expensive (USD $2100 plus agents fees) for 6 months and can't be renewed, and given the low wages offered to performers in Bali (and Australia too!) it would be hard to earn enough to justify a performer KITAS. My primary purpose is to play and enjoy not to earn.

Am often to be found at the Wicked Parrot in Sanur when they have an Irish night for some tunes and Guinness.

 

[JohnnyCool]

Hi again Aurora
I'm not going to elaborate on my personal circumstances regarding KITAS etc on a public web forum.
I'll just say that there are many versions of "the truth" in practice. Trying to determine the "real" one is both an "art" and maybe a "science" (sort of).

Are you IN Bali now?
I know the Wicked Parrot very well but don't go there much. (I know Mark and Phil Wilson personally.)
Not sure what night the "Irish group" plays there lately.
So if you're here now, (or when you are), send me a PM on what night you'll be there and I'll drop in.
Can have a confidential chin wag then, blab about the quality of the Guiness on-tap and I'll have an Irish coffee (or two).

And maybe bring your mandolin. Not sure how a bazouki or banjo would sound like doing Whisky in the Jar, All Around My Hat, etc.
Might sound "brilliant", but it'd certainly be different.

 

[harryopal]

Good afternoon Aurora,

"....There are also complications if an overseas country is "deemed" to be your main residence for Australian pension and taxation purposes by the Australian authorities. ..."

If you have a pension entitlement and are to be away from Australia for more than six weeks you must notify Centrelink otherwise your pension will be stopped. Once notification is given it just gets continued to be paid into your bank account. (I keep a Westpac account for this purpose. ) In Australiia the pension is supplemented with a rental subsidy and some other small benefit which will be stopped when you are living overseas. Going backwards and forwards may be a little more complicated.

You can use this link for more information. https://www.humanservices.gov.au/in...-your-payment/if-you-travel-outside-australia

 

[Markit]

Many of the issues that seem insurmountable to living in Indonesia tend to disappear magically with the application of a little "leverage" (money/influence/ask-nicely/cheating). You need to approach problems here constructively and not as if they were final or even real. Bureaucracy is a little understood fact of Indonesian life left over from the Dutch that also didn't have much of a handle on it. With coordinating you Oz life with here handle the same way - all BS and your fellow Ozzies have solved the problems already.

 

[SamD]

And maybe bring your mandolin. Not sure how a bazouki or banjo would sound like doing Whisky in the Jar, All Around My Hat, etc.
Might sound "brilliant", but it'd certainly be different.

Tenor banjo is brilliant in Whisky in the Jar.

The late, great Barney McKenna.

 

[Aurora]

Are you IN Bali now?

I am in Aus now until late Sept, when I travel over to Bali. I would love to meet up for a chat at the Parrot and to do quality control assessments of the WP's Guinness , and I always travel with the mandolin. I do get to sit in with the house band sometimes for 2-3 tunes. The Irish session at the Wicked Parrot is now Thursdays from 4.30 pm or so for 2 hrs approx, the house band (Paddy Fields Band ) play from about 7 pm each night. See you in a couple of months I hope.

 

[Aurora]

Many of the issues that seem insurmountable to living in Indonesia tend to disappear magically with the application of a little "leverage" (money/influence/ask-nicely/cheating). You need to approach problems here constructively

Thanks for underlining that, and I am doing my best to find the solutions. It's the detail of those I am keen to talk about person to person with more long term residents, I understand why it's best to do that in Bali talking to people. I already talked to some last time I was over, and take every opportunity to do so. and indeed have met some Bali residents in my home town here in Aus who are running businesses over there over several years. It's easy to get confused/fazed by the wall of bureaucracy though. One reason of several I am pursuing learning Bahasa Indonesia is that I think it can help in many ways if you can speak and understand the local lingua franca- not least in terms of people's attitudes to you.

 

[Aurora]

You can use this link for more information. https://www.humanservices.gov.au/in...-your-payment/if-you-travel-outside-australia

Thanks for that

 

[Markit]

One reason of several I am pursuing learning Bahasa Indonesia is that I think it can help in many ways if you can speak and understand the local lingua franca- not least in terms of people's attitudes to you.

This may seem counter-intuitive and it is, but last time I went to renew my retirement visa my agent advised me on no account to talk indonesian with the agent! When asked why he diplomatically suggested that those fluent candidates were being grilled about what they do here and all manor of questions about life in general with the hope of them divulging some dangerous facts that could generate problems/cash flow. Those that only spoke English were left in peace due to failing language abilities of the officials. Hmmmm ? It's never boring ...

 

[Aurora]

This may seem counter-intuitive and it is, but last time I went to renew my retirement visa my agent advised me on no account to talk indonesian with the agent! When asked why he diplomatically suggested that those fluent candidates were being grilled about what they do here and all manor of questions about life in general with the hope of them divulging some dangerous facts that could generate problems/cash flow. Those that only spoke English were left in peace due to failing language abilities of the officials. Hmmmm ? It's never boring ...

Noted! Thanks

 

[tintin]

This may seem counter-intuitive and it is, but last time I went to renew my retirement visa my agent advised me on no account to talk indonesian with the agent! When asked why he diplomatically suggested that those fluent candidates were being grilled about what they do here and all manor of questions about life in general with the hope of them divulging some dangerous facts that could generate problems/cash flow. Those that only spoke English were left in peace due to failing language abilities of the officials. Hmmmm ? It's never boring ...

Markit speaking Indonesian? I'd like to see, or rather hear that

 

[Markit]

Markit speaking Indonesian? I'd like to see, or rather hear that

I'm sure you know Tintin that a little knowledge can get you into a lot of trouble ?!

 

[SquarePeg]

Hi JohnnyCool, yes that's correct. I am in a process of considering options, feeling my forward towards what seems good and will work well for me personally.

For any long stay visa for Indonesia it seems you need life insurance and health insurance policies in Indonesia as well.As I am over 65 virtually no Australian insurer will write a new life insurance policy - there are only two companies that will do so if you are over 65 on applying for a new policy.
So a specific question I have right now is, for those on a retirement KITAS how do you solve the health and life insurance issues and what sort of costs are involved? ( I don't hold any life insurance right now).

For the retirement KITAS yes am technically eligible - well I will be if I buy life insurance. I would also need to rent or lease a property for a year and employ someone local as pembantu for the same period though, so I presume the solution there is to find someone to sub-let to when I am not there if I choose a 50/50 lifestyle, 6 months Aus per annum and 6 months Indonesia or elsewhere.

From my research so far as soon as you spend more then 6 months per calendar year outside Aus things get more problematic. For instance my Aus private health cover I can be out of the country for 6 mth a year max and it will but put "on hold" without premiums paid or cover, and resume on my return at the same premium and cover. But if I exceed the 6 mth limit the policy is shut down totally. To restart it I would have to have a new policy and the premium would be vastly increased (it is currently about A$2700 a year), And once you get to a certain age you will be denied entry to a new policy. There are also complications if an overseas country is "deemed" to be your main residence for Australian pension and taxation purposes by the Australian authorities.

Am thinking at the moment of a 3 month stay from late Sept on a Sosial Budaya, with travel insurance (which I get free with Aus Commonwealth Bank credit card). I will only have one set of renewal fees which am told will be around 1,350,000 IDR if I use a different agent from the first one. After this time I hope to have more of a feel for life in Bali and where the personal balance that suits me best is!

Re your questions about music, yes am an instrumental player as well as a DJ and electronic music producer. I play mandolin, bouzouki, n'goni, tenor banjo mostly. I have already discovered that if you apply for a KITAS as a working musician, you have to choose between being a DJ and a "musician proper". The KITAS would only cover you to work as one OR the other not both. This kind of KITAS is really expensive (USD $2100 plus agents fees) for 6 months and can't be renewed, and given the low wages offered to performers in Bali (and Australia too!) it would be hard to earn enough to justify a performer KITAS. My primary purpose is to play and enjoy not to earn.

Am often to be found at the Wicked Parrot in Sanur when they have an Irish night for some tunes and Guinness.

Life Insurance is NOT a requirement for Retirement Kitas.
Annual Travel Insurance is acceptable as Health cover.