Retirement Residency Permit

**pak jim** · 11-01-2003 06:12 AM

Selamat Pagi to all you Bali expats... I am considering "retiring" to Bali soon. I am 55 yo and have extended family in Bali, my son-in-law is Balinese and now living here in Australia. Does anyone there have any detailed information on how I can obtain such a "permit"/visa, or a web site where I could find out.

I would appreciate any help you can provide.
Cheers
Pak Jim

**Bert Vierstra** · 11-01-2003 07:39 AM

Welcome Pak Jim !!

try this: http://www.expat.or.id/info/retirement.html

The site has a loads of other info, and a forum for expats, ( not specially the Bali ones )

**pak jim** · 11-01-2003 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by Bert

Welcome Pak Jim !!

try this: http://www.expat.or.id/info/retirement.html

The site has a loads of other info, and a forum for expats, ( not specially the Bali ones )

Thanks a lot Bert, I'll check it out.

**Bert Vierstra** · 11-01-2003 08:01 AM

I've glanced it and it all sounds horrible expensive, though. There must be other ways....

**juskiff** · 12-01-2003 12:25 AM

A dutch friend of mine applied and got this so called retirement Kitas Visa and was not very happy with it. It cost too much, and created more of a hassle than anyone would like to deal with, especially when you supposedly enjoy your retirement age.

You must be 55 years of age or more, must own a property in Bali, must employ a number of locals on your payroll, must have a certain amount of income (funny since you suppedly retire, how can you have income??)... aside for being over 55 years old, I know my Dutch friend does not meet the other requirements... but again he said all can be arranged... wink, wink. The process is very lengty and tiresome... finger prints, print of the palm of you hands, tooth count, etc etc... I'm not trying to be funny here :-)... My friend said, when he wanted to clean his hand from the ink during finger printing, they gave him a wet towellete... and they charged him for it.... :-).

You will be required to pay monthly taxes which will have to be paid up front... and (this is the problem) when ever you leave Indonesia, you must pay Rp1000.000 tax which they call "Fiscal". And each time you want to leave Indonesia you must report to the immigation first.

My friend said that when his Retirement Kitas expires this year, he will not renew it and change it to a different visa.

Please know that this is what my friend told me, so I have no way of confirming any of the above. There are other and less expensive, less hassle way of getting visas. I'm sure other expat who read this can give you other options.

Good luck
Augie

**Jonfrodo** · 23-02-2010 10:54 AM

What a hassel, I am looking at either Thailand or Bali, so far Thailand looks like the better option.

**homer** · 23-02-2010 01:16 PM

I am not at the retirement age yet

but I believe the process of getting a retirement visa is a little easier than when the program was first introduced. Most people also use an agent which makes it fairly easy.

The Philippines, Malaysia and of course Thailand have retirement visa programs. When it comes down to deciding which country you want to retire in though, I think you would choose the country that suits you the most, rather than the cost of the visa.

**borborigmus** · 24-02-2010 06:19 PM

It's much easier now, particularly through an agent.

There are a number of documents you still have to provide, plus proof of life insurance, a Public Liability policy (about $50 USD through an agent), a statement that you have at least $1,500 USD equivalent in savings for each month you intend to stay (i.e. 18,000 USD for 12 months, and a Sponsor. Luckily, it is legal for your agent's company to sponsor you for a Retirement KITAS. Make sure you apply fro a 'Multiple Entry/Exit' permit, otherwise your hard-earned KITAS will expire if you leave the country for any reason - even after a month. Do all the bureaucratic rubbish a month or so before coming here, wait for approval from Jakarta, then take the approval letter to the closest Indonesian Consulate in your own country. Make sure you bring your travel itinerary. Pay the fee - about $150. Check Consulate application times - in Melbourne, Australia, you can only submit applications in the mornings and then collect the visa a week or so later in the afternoons.

What you end up with in your passport is a VITAS, not a KITAS. After arriving here, take your passport, go to Immigration within 7 days (I think), and they will interview you, fingerprint you (electronically - no ink) and start the process of converting your VITAS to a KITAS. This takes about 2-3 weeks. Then you go back and pick up your passport with your brand-new KITAS.

PROTIP: Make sure you don't need your passport during the few weeks between going to Immigration and getting your passport back. e.g. you will need your passport to pick up any unaccompanied baggage, so if it is still at Immigration, you may have hassles. Always have at least 5 photocopies of your passport (front page AND latest visa stamp page) for those inevitable times when officials demand your passport.

In the meantime, your agent will arrange for your police report - a formality, but an essential one.

Then there is FISKAL - a 2.5 million rupiah tax on departure for those who do not have an NPWP (tax file) card. This is separate from the airport departure tax of 150,000 which everybody pays - KITAS or not. No NPWP card means you pay FISKAL. Simple - get registered for tax, but get your agent to state on the application that because it is illegal for you to work, you are seeking an exemption from filing monthly tax returns because you have no income. Each year, submit a "Nil' tax return (your agent will do this for you) and you're set. No tax to pay, and no FISKAL to pay.

Typical cost of all this through an agent? About 5-7 million. For me, worth every cent for the freedom from hassles and the inevitable 'administration' fees you would otherwise pay as a foreigner trying to navigate the system by yourself.

A cheaper alternative is the Multiple Entry Business Visa. This is much easier to get now than it used to be. The disadvantage is that you will need to do a visa run (eg to Singapore) every 2 months for the 12 months your Business Visa is valid. Given that airfares are so cheap now, it's quite doable.

Best of luck with your expat plans!

**JohnnyCool** · 24-02-2010 08:01 PM

There are a number of documents you still have to provide, plus proof of life insurance, a Public Liability policy (about $50 USD through an agent), a statement that you have at least $1,500 USD equivalent in savings for each month you intend to stay (i.e. !8,000 USD for 12 months, and a Sponsor.

I really don't know where people get this information from.

I have been living in Bali on my retirement KITAS since December 2005. I haven't had to provide any of the documents listed above. (The fact that my wife is Indonesian might be relevant.) I get my KITAS from the Immigration Office in Denpasar. My "sponsor" is an accredited travel agent by the name of PT Mandiri Anugrah Sejatii, (somewhere in Kuta/Kerobokan - not sure since I've never been there).

I understand that my Indonesian wife could be my sponsor, but I haven't bothered with that, yet. Much cheaper, I think. (I pay Rp 6 million/year.) I'm just too lazy and too hot these days.

I haven't opted for multiple re-entries, so in my case, when I want to leave the country, I have to get an exit permit. I did that a couple of years ago to go to Australia and it was all OK. I had no problems whatsoever when I returned to Bali.

I went to renew my Indonesian driver's license yesterday in Kerobokan. My "favourite" cop offered me a license for five years, if I was interested. I stuck with the one year version and paid Rp 200,000. I know that's too much, but I didn't have to do any running up and downstairs for hours. Mind you, I did have to photocopy a few things and the photocopiers broke down. Thirty minutes later, there was a lot of pushing/shoving and queue jumping going on.

The rest was more or less plain sailing apart from the fact that they got my address wrong again! That doesn't seem to worry anybody much. Even the address on my KITAS has me living one street away from where I am!

Amazing!

**ronb** · 24-02-2010 08:50 PM

There is a lot of misinformation in this person's account. I point out some.