How to get to Indonesia this year (2020).

Maybe the temporary stay permit option, but i havent looked into it, seems possible looking at website, but..no idea?

https://www.kbri-canberra.go.id/en/menu-visa-service/limited-stay-visa

Here is details

Got a m8 in Bali.He was captain on a successful boat up in the ment's.
I asked him the other day whats going on?He replied,'No visa's on arrival,you need a kitas/business visa.Everyone's wearing face mask but not social distancing.Beach open one day then closed the next.The Banjar is out in force.Still heaps of wealthy x-pats up there.Bankrupt and going back to Hawaii!'

Most of Indo is now back open for surfing, Mentawais is back open i think tomorrow but a few areas still closed. (but only of any good to those there)

Even domestic flights are not easy though hoops to jump.

For those there it would be the best year since 80s or 90s crowd wise in most areas.

I was suppose to go this week for six weeks but unfortunately ive now got work commitments and wife due in November, but she will have maternity leave next year so might get over early season even if things are like now will try the temporary visa route, but not sure how easy or if possible (wife and daughter have Indo passports)

Might go twice or for a few months next year, but expect once things open back up it will be very crowded (unless need to quarantine on re entry)

BTW. Talk early this week in Indo media was of a proposed travel bubble for 4 countries 3 asian plus Australia, but lot of good thats going to do unless we are allowed to depart and return.

If anyone has a way, best keep it to yourself ay
Crowds are back to normal in Bali, many local shredders and too many ex-pat kooks.

Personally i think if people are willing to jump the hoops and try to get a visa they deserve to get to Indo, the amount of people that are going to do it and be able to tick the boxes (have an Indo sponsor) etc would be pretty small and Indonesia is not going to give them out willy nilly to anyone.

As good as the waves and variety is in Bali, its crazy that people get stuck there especially at a time like now, right now there is literally thousands of perfect waves going unridden through Indo

Places like Mentawais' are going to be empty or close to until things open up, because even if resorts or charters can operate its not viable until they get a certain number of punters to run, and that whole demographic of guys with only two weeks holiday aren't going to be able to jump the hoops, its going to be those guys that have a month or more time and get over there and do it on a budget.

Imagine a travel bubble with just Australia, Japan , China .....no euros , Russians , septics or brazzos etc

Aussies either back at work or arguing with Scomo for an extension of MortgageKeeper payments.

A mate has just gone back. Him and other "ex-pat kooks" (with Indonesian families) will have a certain wave all to themselves.

Speaking of travel bubbles, imagine Australian States involved, but only the ones that have got their shit together. Imagine Indo with no Queenslanders and Cockroaches (oh, and chuck in the poor old Victorians).

Utopia! A real 'Indo Dreaming'!

Well that’s just disgusting Blumpkin.
Discriminating against a group of people based on where they are from. And calling them cockroaches!
So offensive. I can’t believe people still think like you in 2020.

To be fair when it comes to surf etiquette i think you can generalise a little, but i personally find Aussies from certain areas to be as bad as any, especially guys from more crowded areas like Gold coast or Sydney, i guess because if you are too lad back in these places you dont get waves.

I also find a big difference in how people behave in the water in Indo depending on if they are alone or with a friend or if in a bigger group, for instance when traveling solo or just with a partner or mate most people are super cool even brazilians (even made friendships) but when in groups they be it Brazilian or Aussies or Americans etc are generally shocking especially mate type groups that are on a boat trip or even resort, they are just get into this frothing mob mentality where they think it's just them and their mates out and no one else exist.

I havent really experienced the Russian, Japanese thing yet, seems they generally stick to Bali area.

"I also find a big difference in how people behave in the water in Indo depending on if they are alone or with a friend or if in a bigger group, for instance when traveling solo or just with a partner or mate most people are super cool even brazilians (even made friendships) but when in groups they be it Brazilian or Aussies or Americans etc are generally shocking especially mate type groups that are on a boat trip or even resort, they are just get into this frothing mob mentality where they think it's just them and their mates out and no one else exist."

yeh, not pretty, and quite often by some of the bossiest enforcers no less

but I kinda prefer aussie hard rules to euro beach party

anyone know if dps is open to international flights?

seems they were open but now closed and only doing domestic

I was being sarcastic of course. Having a lil’ dig at the PC police.

@bigredcouch

I was just having a bit more of a read on them from a few places online. (I've had a Kitas/kitaps before for a year when lived/worked in Indo in 2008, but i just had a visa agent sort it all out) plus they change all this kind of stuff all the time.

But looking into it further, i don't even think its possible to get one unless you have a really good reason, going to Indo as a tourist or go surfing wouldn't cut it, you would need to combine it with some other more official reason.

"Limited Stay Visas are given for the purpose of: Foreign Investment, Employment in a Government/Private sector, Education, Training or Research, Religious duties, Joining Husband and or a Parent who is a foreign national in possession of a Limited Stay Permit or who is an Indonesian citizen, for the wife and / or single, legitimate child(ren) who is/are under 18 years of age."

https://kemlu.go.id/sydney/en/pages/limited_stay_visa/438/about-service

And another source:

'Limited Stay Visa allows you to stay in Indonesia for a period of time:

to work or conduct paid activities
as an expert or technical advisor
to conduct foreign investment
to perform commercial art, cultural, and musical performances
to participate in a professional sport competition
for production or quality control
to inspect or audit a branch office in Indonesia
to install or repair machinery
to do after-sale services
to conduct religious work
for commercial film making (with permission from relevant authorities)
for medical treatment
scientific research and training
education
family reunion/reunification
repatriation
retirement"

https://www.kbri-canberra.go.id/en/menu-visa-service/limited-stay-visa

In regard to a sponsor that you need for various types of visas even social visa, it's basically an Indonesian person that vouchers for you.

They provide their details and proof of being Indonesian, and basically say they would like to sponsor you for the visa, basically taking some responsibility in a sense for you and the reason you are in Indo.

They basically just write a simple one page letter saying, id like to sponsor Bigredcouch for (insert visa) for (insert reason) i am an Indonesian citizen etc and they would need to attach a certified copy of their proof of being Indonesian, passport or indenty card.

My wife has done it for me before and you can find examples of letter's online, i think if you ever wanted to get a social visa and dont know an Indonesian, an actually Indonesian Visa agent can also provide sponsorship.

But obviously currently social visas just like tourist visas aren't going to cut it to get into Indo.

You’ve gotta factor getting out of Australia first. International travel is currently banned & you have to apply to leave. That might not change this year

If this article is any indication, I suspect it will be quite a while before Australia properly opens travel to and from Indonesia.

"While the world's attention is focused on the United States, India, Russia and Brazil, which are recording daily infection rates in the tens of thousands, Indonesia is currently flying under the radar.

Indonesia is languishing in 163rd spot, conducting just 2123 tests per one million people.

On Thursday, it recorded 1331 new infections from just 10,381 people tested — that's an infection rate of nearly 13 per cent."

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/the-world-s-next-coronavirus-hotspot-i...

Baliwaves tweet from yesterday - Kuta reef 3-5ft crowd of 30 plus... learners on longboards and grown men being pushed into waves...

Sounds fun!

Yeah if you look at Indo infection graph its still going on a steady increase, (no dip )

The infection rate and deaths per one million are still super low though due to huge population, for example
Indo= 9 deaths per one million,
USA = 369 per one million.

But yeah obviously testing rates are real low, and even deaths but i wouldn't be trusting any figures too much.

Reports from on the street is that a lot of people aren't taking things seriously even heard(or maybe it was read a while back) a story of someone that tested positive but still refused to isolate and then basically physically forced by community to isolate.

I wouldn't be surprised if even with a vaccine it will still be an issue for Indo in at least 2021 who knows could go on for years? for them, i guess no one really knows, but id expect they will be one of the last countries to get numbers to double digits.

So i expect even when we can go, they are going to super strict on returning as even with a test its not going to show up if you are infected in the last few days, so expect you will have to self quarantine for at least a week when retuning and then have a second test, or something along those lines.

Which will at least mean a lot of guys wont be able to go, if they have two weeks holiday but then need a week quarantine on returning.

IMHO and selfishly i hope this kind of thing happens as it will mean the time poor cashed up surfer numbers are cut down, but the more budget time rich not so cashed up numbers will still be able to jump the hoops, this will mean local budget places get guest, but the high end foreign owned places are going to hurt especially charter boats that need a decent number of guest to make a trip viable.

Hopefully this will mean a rebalance and reduction in charter boats and a few resorts go belly up, which sure isn't going to hurt crowd wise.

IMHO If Indonesia were smart they would basically turn Bali into a bubble like country within Indonesia and try to get numbers really low to nothing and cereal strict on domestic coming and goings, that would at least mean Bali could start getting the tourist industry re going.

Making matters worse , dengue fever on the rise in Indo and Bali, as heath workers usually monitoring this deal with covid crisis.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Indonesia-deals-with-dueli...

What could be frustrating for Oz surfers is if Australia either eradicates, or, keeps very low numbers of COVID 19 and maintains a long term ban on all overseas travel.
In the meantime Indonesia throws its hands up on trying to control the virus and allows international travel from rest of the world....

And a likely scenario really.
Oh well, Fiji and EnZed are looking nice, and how bout those secret spots in the Greek islands haha.
Who else will join our future bubble? Pacific islands I guess

Indo D excuse possibly a stupid question: are all deaths in Bali recorded and analyzed? what happens in the remote villages?.

@amb

I honestly don't know you would expect they are suppose to be, but it's Indonesia things often don't get done by the book even when they are suppose to be, so id be totally skeptical that all are getting reported or all dead bodies are getting tested and maybe some general assumptions of death, for instance someone might be old and not of very good health and get infected by Covid-19 and it's the last straw that knocks them over, but they might not test the body just thinking okay they were old and not of good health, so thats why they died.

In regard to deaths i think even in remote areas of Indonesia they would/should be reported, villages generally have a village head (kepala desa) and id expect if someone dies it would be their job to report the death, but that's just an assumption, it could work differently.

Qantas CEO today saying they possibly won't have international flights until July 2021

Shit that's not a good sign, assume also means Jetstar, and then Virgin most likely not running for a while, so expect even if can get into Indo with a visa of some kind, flights (other airlines) are going to be super restricted if any?

(video should start at about 9:55 where he says it)

There will be flights ready to go the moment they’re allowed...

I had a nurse with 30 years experience tell me this morning that she believes the virus has been handled the wrong way.
She thinks immune compromised and elderly should have isolated while the world get on with it. She also says there’s no chance for a distributed vaccine inside 2 years.

Let’s be honest, unless the world backflips and decides to learn to live with the collateral damage it brings, you won’t be going to Indo next season either, and no WSL for another year etc etc

It’s only the beginning, and I’ve already gone and lost my mind....
(Shoredump - March)

I feel like breaking window panes all up and down my street.

I keep booking and cancelling with Qantas. We've re-booked (again) for January. Peak northerlies- Yew!

We're quite a few $k in credit with them. Be nice to actually get home.

Any day now....

Well, wishful thinking. Got a Jetstar credit...

Scotty von Marketer told us today that normal international air travel out of the question until late 2021 at the very earliest.

yeah gotta ask yourself the real question and that is if things were going to return to some normality soon why would you put off 6000 staff?...pilots engineers etc dont grow on trees.....i think they are starting to realise that things may never return to the way it was......and the news today concerning quantas is real scary,the nations national carrier sliding down the greasy pole.Whats next?

Have a look at flightradar24

couple of days ago at Pandang

simba commentedTHURSDAY, 25 JUN 2020 at 8:44PM
yeah gotta ask yourself the real question and that is if things were going to return to some normality soon why would you put off 6000 staff?.

Joyce addressed that at the q&a saying that staff really wanted some sort of assurance or action/decision taken now, not in the near future when job keeper or border opening was going back under review, so they bit the bullet and just did it

Actually there is a 2ft+ wind swell running across the Cyclades right now and for the next few days.
Might get bigger too hopefully.

the cyclades? as tempting as it sounds, it's too dangerous...you've got Calypso, Cyclops, Circe, the Sirens, The Lotus Eaters, Scylla and that giant whirlpool.
And then there's trouble at home when you get back from a surf...

Ahh but the Venus de Milo.....
Pity the frogs grabbed her.

Still 1000 cases a day in indo, will be a loooong time before anyone will be going there.

https://www.baliwaves.com/2020/06/bali-surf-weather-report-archived-phot...

Yep 1,385 new cases yesterday (27th June)

And no signs of going down, check out the graph

ABC TV tonight 4 Corners = 2023 for international flights at the earliest if you can afford the tickets, if you can get insurance, if there is a vaccine ~ all airlines 25% smaller by then

Hard to predict what the aviation industry is gonna look like in a few years, but a few comments towards the end of 4 Corners took a stab at it. Feels like the days of cheap air travel are over, if not for good then for a very long time.

If that comes true that’s a damn shame

The end of cheap airfares will be the best thing to happen in years.

You must be rich

I’d rather pay $5K to go surf in uncrowded mentawais than $1.5K to surf it packed.

International boat travel will make a come back.....not for the time poor mortgage slaves out there though .

If it blocks the road at G'Land, if it 'stops the boats', if it creates amnesia about certain spots, then I'm all for a time out.

Good incentive to do some Australian travel

Australia will be done. It’ll be booked out at every consistent B+ wave around the country.

Even if we go into full depression -especially if we go into full depression- there’ll be crew camped out everywhere.

Yep seeing what was happening last weekend, it's already at capacity :/