Indonesia’s New Visa Allows Tourists With $130,000 to Live in BALI for 10 Years
Indonesia has introduced a new visa aimed at attracting wealthy foreigners and boosting the country’s economy.
According to a statement from the country’s immigration office, with the new visa, Indonesia is putting its focus on its capital, Bali, in an attempt to lure visitors for longer stays in the country.
The new “second home” visa is available for a period of five or ten years to those who hold at least 2 billion rupiahs or $130,000 in their bank accounts.
The decision is set to enter into force on December 25 of this year.
“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,” Acting Director General of Immigration Widodo Ekatjahjana pointed out in this regard.
Commenting on the new visa, the Minister of Finance Regulation, Sri Mulyani, emphasized that this immigration policy has as its main goal luring foreigners to stay and contribute positively to the Indonesian economy amid increasingly global economic conditions and more dynamic.
Indonesia, along with countries like Costa Rica and Mexico, offers long-term stays in a bid to attract professionals, retirees, and other wealthy people.
In 2021, the country also released plans for a digital nomad visa to attract visitors to Bali.
Post-pandemic, Bali gradually began to reopen for international tourists on October 14 of the previous year, 2021. At the same time, the Indonesian government has sought to further revive the local economy by removing restrictions and adding more benefits to travel.
New Zealand and Portugal have also recently introduced “digital nomad visas” to capitalize on remote workers who want to work overseas after the pandemic upended traditional work structures.
In addition, dozens of other countries have also launched similar programs to attract young workers eager to work and travel at the same time.
According to a report last year by MBO Partners, approximately 15.5 million American workers were identified as digital nomads, representing a 42% increase from 2020, and 112% from 2019.
Such data reveals that the number of digital nomads that have traditional jobs increased by 42% in 2021, increasing from 6.3 million in 2020 to 10.2 million in 2021.
Moreover, this means that the figures mentioned above of digital nomads with traditional jobs almost doubled during 2020 compared to 2019. In 2021, the number of self-employed digital nomads also increased by a relatively modest 15%.
