Asean visitors retain visa-free travel to Indonesia suspended for 159 other countries - Mothership.sg

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Indonesia has suspended its visa-free policy for 159 countries, exempting only the other 10 Asean member states.

Visa free suspension

In a decree from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights dated June 7, visa-free entry was suspended for 159 countries.

Asean member states, including Timor-Leste, were the only countries to retain 30-day visa-free travel, as long as travellers have a valid passport and a confirmed departure ticket, Kompas reported.

Travellers to Indonesia do not necessarily need to apply for a visa prior to travel, however, with travellers from 92 countries allowed under the Visa on Arrival scheme.

These countries include the United States, China, Australia, and India.

Singapore is also listed as eligible for Visa on Arrival, which can be extended for a further 30 days. Visa-free entry can't be extended.

Visa on Arrival applications cost Rp500,000 (S$44.69) each.

Pandemic changes

Indonesia's director general of immigration Silmy Karim explained the changes in remarks quoted by Kompas.

While Indonesia had previously designated 169 countries as visa-free, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic had made the previous visa-free provisions invalid.

Instead, new regulations introduced in 2021 meant that travellers to Indonesia must enter using the visa on arrival facility during the pandemic.

The recent ministerial decree simply codified a shift from old rules to new rules, regarding the type of visas to be issued.

Visa-free travel might be reinstated at a later time, but Indonesia will make reciprocity with other countries a consideration when deciding on reinstating visa-free travel.

Silmy said despite the lack of the visa-free policy, international arrivals at Jakarta's airports were still increasing.

This view was echoed by the Head of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights for Bali, Anggiat Napitupulu, who told Merdeka that the visa-free policy had effectively not existed since March 2020 as travel was suspended.

But afterwards, when the pandemic subsided and international travel was slowly reopened, countries were granted visa on arrival facilities.

The June 7 decree was simply a recognition that visa-free travel for the 159 countries no longer existed.

End in sight

According to Tempo, Indonesia intended to formally declare the end of the Covid-19 pandemic by the end of June 2023.

Indonesia's president Joko Widodo confirmed it in a speech on June 14, saying that the the infection trend was decreasing, and that more than 452 million Covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered.