Indonesia targets tourists by offering 10-year residency visa

By Moustafa Daly

Indonesia, the world’s fourth most-populated country and biggest archipelagic state, is gearing up to launch its residency-by-investment program, coined the ‘second home visa’ program, giving non-Indonesians an option of getting 10-year residencies in the country in exchange for an investment into its economy. Indonesia has the world’s 17^th largest economy – joining its South-East Asia neighbors of Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, among other regional economies racing to launch their own residency-by-investment programs.

The news was announced in a recent press release by Indonesia’s Directorate General of Immigration (DGI) and Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

“Towards the implementation of the G20 Summit, today we officially launched the second-home visa. The goal is to attract foreign tourists to come to Bali and diverse other destinations,” said Acting Director General of Immigration Widodo Ekatjahjana at the Second Home Visa’s launch ceremony, which took place on the eve of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia’s most known tourist resort, which the government is relying on to as the key destination to attract real-estate investors.

“This is a non-fiscal incentive for certain foreigners to make a positive contribution to the Indonesian economy,” added Ekatjahjana. “This special visa will be given to (rupiahs) billionaires, the world’s wealthiest people, and investors to encourage the growth of investment in Indonesia, those who intend to stay longer in Indonesia.”

Criteria of Indonesia’s new visa program

The residency-by-investment visa is, however, not a permanent one. Rather, it’s a temporary visa that expires within 10 years at maximum.

To be eligible, applicants must have proof of funds of at least two billion Indonesian rupiahs ($127,177) that they’re willing to invest in a real-estate property in Indonesia. Other requirements include having a passport that is valid for at least three years, recent photographs and an updated resume.

The entire application process can be done online, and will be available for investors starting on December 25, 2022.

Visa solution for Bali’s digital nomad population? 

The residency-by-investment program could be an attractive option to digital nomads based out of Bali. As of now, remote workers can’t legally move to Bali, a popular digital nomad destination, and mostly enter Bali on a 30-day tourist visa before leaving Indonesian territories and coming back shortly after for another 30 days.

As per government estimates, there are currently 3,000 remote workers in Bali who entered the island on a tourist visa, mostly hailing from the UK, Germany and Russia.

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