Bali Isn’t Playing: Tourists Deported For Minor Mistakes

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The headlines in 2023 were capitalized by the bad bules of Bali; the unruly foreigners who were found to be breaking the rules of their visa, breaking Indonesian law, and disrespecting local culture.

This led to a sharp spike in deportations.

Yet, at the beginning of 2024, things on the deportation front felt markedly quieter.

Bali Immigration has kicked out a number of international citizens who have either overstayed or committed serious crimes, but no more than average.

In the last few weeks, more foreigners have been expelled from the island, and it is clear that immigration is really focused on tourist visa violations.

Two foreigners have been deported from Bali in the last two weeks. One is for a small overstay, coupled with bad behavior, and another is for promoting business activities while on a tourist visa. 

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Everyone in Bali on a tourist visa is reminded that they should only carry out tourism-related activities, such as social visits. Very limited business activities, like attending meetings, are permitted, too.

However, activities like helping out at a friend’s business, promoting the business of partners, family, or friends, and running events or workshops (whether income-generating or by donation) all break the conditions of a tourist visa. 

There are thousands of foreigners in Bali ‘living’ on the island on back-to-back tourist visas or longer-stay socio-cultural visas.

While it may not feel like the tourist experience anymore, this is not what immigration officials see. If you’re on a tourist visa, you should be conducing only tourist activities; period. 

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On Tuesday 26th March an Australian man was deported from Bali after he was found to be carrying on promotional activities on behalf of his Indonesian girlfriend’s spa business.

The 31-year-old man was found to be promoting his partner’s spa in the Sanur resort area. 

The Head of TPI Singaraja Class II Immigration Office, Hendra Setiwan, told reporters, “The foreign national was deported because he was proven to have carried out activities that were not in accordance with his resident permit. Namely, the spa promotion has been going on since the beginning of last February.”

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He explained, “The foreigner has been to Bali several times because he has a girlfriend in the Sanur area, Denpasar, who happens to be from Amed in Karangasem.”

Setiwan continued, “We don’t want the presence of foreign nationals, which should be beneficial, to create unrest or be detrimental to the local economy.”

In 2023, a Tourism Task Force was established to crack down on foreigners who broke the conditions of their visas.

While immigration officials often wanted to crack down on foreigners disrespecting local culture, the real issue was the increasing number of foreigners running or attempting to run businesses in Bali on tourist visas.

Many felt they were taking advantage of the grey areas created by the digital nomad lifestyle, but more options are now available for digital nomads and business investors in terms of visas, meaning that grey areas are no longer considered a fair excuse. 

On 13th March 2024, a French national was deported after overstaying his visa for 4 days; he was subsequently blacklisted from Indonesia after becoming aggressive and unwilling to pay the standard IDR 1,000,000 overstay fine.

He claimed that he was on a multiple-entry KITAS when, in fact, the stamp in his passport was a simple 30-day eVoA that had been extended for an additional 30 days. 

An official from Bali Aiport told reporters, “During the examination, the person concerned admitted that he did not know that he had overstayed because, according to information from the travel agency that helped with processing his residence permit, he could still stay in Indonesia for a maximum of 60 days after his Vitas was issued. 

He added, “Apart from that, the person concerned admitted that his behavior at that time was emotional and that the night before, he had drunk beer and wine, so he became a little drunk.”