General information about Indonesian Visa

A. Definition

“… Visa adalah keterangan tertulis yang diberikan oleh pejabat yang berwenang di Perwakilan Republik Indonesia atau di tempat lain yang ditetapkan oleh Pemerintah Republik Indonesia yang memuat persetujuan bagi Orang Asing untuk melakukan perjalanan ke Wilayah Indonesia dan menjadi dasar untuk pemberian Izin Tinggal.”

Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 6 Tahun 2011 Tentang Keimigrasian/Indonesian Law on Immigration (Law No. 6/2011)

A visa is an official document that allows the bearer to legally enter a foreign country. The visa is usually stamped or glued into the bearer’s passport. There are several different types of visas, each of which affords different rights in the host country. (Source: Passport Index)

B. Visa

There are also different types of Indonesian visas available, however, international students at BINUS UNIVERSITY must use a proper study visa: Limited Stay Permit for Study Purpose (index code: C 316) to support their stay permit during the study period.

There are also some different conditions of visa applicants from countries deemed vulnerable by the Indonesian government, such as applicants from Afghanistan, Guinea, Israel, South Korea, Cameroon, Liberia, Nigeria, and Somalia. The applicants from said countries must undergo a calling visa procedure upon entering Indonesia.

The procedure for calling visa is the same as the normal visa application procedure, except there will be an additional clearing process, where applicants will be evaluated by the authorities.

C. Visa Procedure

Step 1. Submit the documents for your Study Permit.

If you are a new student at BINUS UNIVERSITY, you can start processing your Study Permit 3 months prior to your university orientation day. Students will receive their Study Permit from BINUS UNIVERSITY. Students need to submit all required documents to BINUS International Office (IO). The process takes around 1–2 weeks. Students will receive the Study Permit in the form of a softcopy document.

Required Documents for Study Permit:

• Color copies of your passport ID page,
• Academic Transcript,
• Financial statement*,
• Non-political & non-working statement*,
• Color photograph*,
• Health statement*,
• Visa Option agreement,
• Statement of Domicile (Indonesian address) *

*Detailed Information form. Download the document templates here.

Step 2. Receive your Study Permit and Telex Visa

Telex Visa will be processed online by BINUS International Office (IO), which takes around 2-3 weeks. Telex Visa will be sent, in a package with the Study Permit and Letter of Acceptance, to the students’ email.

Required Documents for Telex Visa

• Scanned copy of your passport cover
• During the pandemic (until further notice), there are additional documents that must be provided for Telex Visa Processing. The documents are as follows:
  1. PCR Test with a negative result
  2. COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate
  3. Statement letter consenting to:
     • Do a COVID-19 quarantine, either mandatory or voluntary, with regards to health test results upon arrival in Indonesia,
     • be monitored by the relevant authorities in Indonesia during quarantine
     • valid health insurance, or a statement letter stating consenting to cover COVID-19 quarantine and treatment costs in Indonesia. Download the statement letter template here.

Step 3. Visit an Indonesian Embassy/Consulate to get your VITAS (Study Visa index 316)

Students must visit the Indonesian Embassy or Consulate to submit all the necessary documents including their passport. Students will also be required to have their photographs and fingerprints taken during the process. This takes around 2 weeks. The VITAS sticker will be attached to their passport.

Required Documents for VITAS (Limited Stay Visa)

• Telex Visa*
• Study Permit*
• Letter of Acceptance*
• Copy of your passport – ID pages
• Passport
  *Document will be provided by BINUS UNIVERSITY.

Step 4. Depart to Indonesia

Step 5. Upon arrival, report to BINUS IO to start processing your ITAS (Temporary Stay Permit)

After arriving in Indonesia, students must contact BINUS IO to request the sponsor letter and other supporting documents. Students must also present a negative PCR test prior to arrival to Indonesia. Please also see the section below on COVID-19 Updates.

Required Documents for ITAS (Temporary Stay Permit)

• Arrival stamp
• VITAS sticker
• Telex Visa
• Sponsor and guarantee letter from BINUS UNIVERSITY
• copies of your passport ID page
• Study Permit
• Passport

Click here to view sample documents of Study Permit, Telex Visa, VITAS, and ITAS.

Step 6. Visit your local authority to get Domicile Statement

Before visiting the immigration office, students must have a Surat Keterangan Domisili (Domicile Statement), either from Kantor Kelurahan (District Office) or from the operational building management, if they are staying in an apartment.

Step 7. Visit the Immigration office for ITAS processing

In every stage of the document process, students will get the supporting documents from BINUS IO and need to submit them to the Immigration office for ITAS procedure and follow all the necessary procedures. The ITAS process will take around 1-2 weeks.

Additional Info

• Those who are holding ITAS/ITAP/Diplomate Visa under different sponsors will only need to process the Study Permit.

D. Visa Extension

a. Who needs to extend the Visa?

• Those whose initial Temporary Stay Permit (ITAS) nearing expiry are under BINUS UNIVERSITY’s sponsorship.
• Active BINUS UNIVERSITY students, proven by a statement letter from Student Service Center (SSC).
• BINUS UNIVERSITY students who are currently taking leave of absence and will continue their study after the leave.

b. Visa Extension Flow

Visa was given to foreigners for a limited period. Thus, the Visa will need to be extended through a process that the students might have done earlier. The stage of obtaining an extended Visa will be as follow:

c. Required Documents

1. Temporary Residential Card or Domicile Statement
2. Police Registration Letter
3. Study Permit

In order to renew your study permit, please find below the list of required documents, below:

• Active Student Statement from BINUS Student Service Center
• A copy of the latest transcript or academic result
• A recent photograph in color
• Financial statement
• Non-political and non-working statement
• Copy of passport (if you have had passport be renewed)
  Download the document templates here or view the sample documents here.

d. Additional Info

• Please make sure to check your passport expiration date as the passport validity date must be 6 months beyond the requested ITAS.
• Contact BINUS IO 2 months before ITAS’ expiry.
• Request for the supporting documents for SKTT and STM process.
• If ITAS is not extended on time, you will be charged an overstay fine, which will cost you 1 million Rupiahs (65 USD) per day.

E. Exit Permit (EPO/ERP)

a. What is an Exit Permit?

There are two kinds of Exit Permits: Exit Permit Only (EPO) and Exit Re-entry Permit (ERP).

• EPO is the permission to leave Indonesia without an immediate plan to return. The primary purpose of EPO is to ensure that all immigration documents are returned to the immigration office and that you are correctly removed from the records.
• If you have left Indonesia without submitting documents for an EPO stamp, you will have to apply for an Exit Re-entry Permit (ERP).
• EPO stamp will be processed before departing from Indonesia and the result is a stamp in your passport. Should you come back to Indonesia, you would need to show the stamp to the immigration officials at the airport in Indonesia.
• EPO stamp is valid within 7 days; thus, it is very crucial to choose the day to start doing the procedures, otherwise, you will be fined for overstay. This can cause you to get fined 1 million Rupiahs (USD 65)/day.
• Not doing the Exit Permit process can lead to complications such as refusal to allow you to return to Indonesia.

Download the sample documents here.

b. Exit Permit Procedures

1. EPO procedures

a. Consult with BINUS IO about the departure schedule and arrange the date for EPO processing.
b. Pick up the sponsor and guarantee letter from BINUS IO at BINUS UNIVERSITY Anggrek Campus.
c. Visit the immigration office to submit the documents and passport. The EPO process takes around 2-3 days of working days.
d. On the second visit pick up the passport at the immigration office.

2. Exit Permit Only (EPO), required documents:

a. Original and copy passport
b. Sponsor and Guarantee Letter from BINUS UNIVERSITY
c. Copy of flight ticket booking
d. Copy of e-KITAS
e. Copy of Study Permit

3. ERP Procedures

a. Please report to BINUS IO your departure schedule (confirmed flight schedule). Send an email either to BINUS IO or to your appointed visa agent (if you have one).
b. Send the photos of all boarding pass and boarding stamp either to the BINUS IO representative, meriyah@binus.edu, or to your visa agent.
c. Once the ERP is issued, you will receive the ERP letter from BINUS IO or Visa agent. Whenever you come back to Indonesia you must bring the hard copy of the ERP letter with you.

4. Exit Re-entry Permit (ERP), required documents:

a. Photo or scanned documents of boarding pass/ ticket and boarding stamp
b. Sponsor and Guarantee Letter from BINUS UNIVERSITY
c. Copy of passport
d. Copy of e-KITAS
e. Copy of Study Permit

F. Visa Fees

Source: Government Regulation No. 28 Year 2019 about Types and Tariff of PNBP (Non-Tax State Revenue) per 2019, and still be valid until 2021. The tariff might be changed without further notice.

Covid-19 Updates

Please find the official announcements regarding Covid-19 situation updates from COVID-19 Response Acceleration Task Force as well as Kemenlu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Republic of Indonesia) here. Also, you can visit Kemenlu’s webpage for further information on policy updates during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Summary:

1. Currently, there is no new issuance of VISA Applications for Study Purposes
2. Foreigners need to have a Vaccination Certificate prior to entering Indonesia when the borders are opened
3. The required quarantine is 14 days, applicants need to cover the quarantine fees on their own.

Should you need information about what to do prior to your departure, please see the Pre-Departure Information.

Visa Timeline

*longer process for calling visa and delicate countries
**after arrival

The whole visa process can take up to 1-3 months in total, if students have submitted the complete documents.

Visa Application To-Do List

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)  

1. Is it possible to change a different type of Visa to a Study Visa once I have arrived in Indonesia, for instance, I entered Indonesia with Visa on Arrival (VOA) and want to convert into Study Visa?

To have ITAS for study purposes, there is a series of documents that need to be obtained prior to the process, such as a study permit and a Telex Visa with index 316. Therefore, you can’t convert into ITAS.

2. What if I already have ITAS from another sponsor (parents, company, family, else), should I change it to BINUS sponsor?

If you prefer to have ITAS from the previous sponsor, this is fine. However, you still need to process the Study Permit document. You need to submit the necessary application documents to BINUS IO.

3. If I have registered in BINUS Online Learning (BOL), do I still need to have ITAS, since I am staying in my country?

You don’t need to process your ITAS if you think that you will be staying in your home country. However, if you’d like to have ITAS under BINUS UNIVERSITY, we will help to provide the sponsor letters.

The study permit still needs to be processed although the students don’t have the ITAS under BINUS sponsor.

4. How long is the minimum period of passport validity to apply for ITAS?

It depends on how long ITAS duration you would like to propose.  

• ITAS 6 months – minimum passport validity for 12 months  
• ITAS 12 months – minimum passport validity for 18 months  
• ITAS for 24 months – minimum passport validity is for 30 months  

5. If I already have Diplomatic ITAS/ Investor ITAS, is it a must to change it into ITAS for study purposes?  

Diplomatic and Investor Visa has a “higher” status in terms of its function. For Investor Visa, you can have it for both studying and working at the same time. If you are holding ITAS for study purposes, you are prohibited to work during the period of your study.

6. How and where to apply for a police report or Surat Tanda Melapor (STM)?  

You can process the STM letter at a police station, based on your domicile. If you are living in South Jakarta means you need to visit the Police office in South Jakarta for the STM letter. Before applying for the letter, you need to get a sponsor and guarantee letter from BINUS IO. The process will take around 1-2 days. 

STM is a report document for every foreigner staying in Indonesia for some time. The STM is also necessary for applying for the ITAS extension.

6. How and where to apply for Surat Keterangan Tempat Tinggal (SKTT) letter?  

You can apply for SKTT letter at the Civil Registry Office (Dinas Kependudukan dan Catatan Sipil/Disdukcapil) based on where you are staying. You can obtain the sponsor letter and other supporting documents from BINUS IO before requesting the letter. The process takes around 1-2 weeks.  

SKTT is a document for foreigners allowing the issuance of a local ID number (Nomor Induk Kependudukan/NIK). The ID number can be used to process administrative matters in Indonesia. SKTT is also necessary for applying for an ITAS extension

8. What are the differences between Exit Permit EPO and ERP?  

EPO is being processed before you depart from Indonesia, and you will need to do it on your own. The output result is a stamp on your passport page.

ERP is being processed after you have departed from Indonesia. Your Visa agent or BINUS will help with the process. The output result is an ERP letter. 

Both are equally valid, and the differences are only at the time of the process and the output of the result. 

9. If I want to process ITAS under the BINUS sponsor, when is the proper time to do it?  

If you are a new student at BINUS, the Visa process will start 3 months before your orientation schedule. If you are in the middle of your study, you can do the process as you wish.  Ideally, start the ITAS process two months before ITAS expiry at the latest. 

10. When is the ideal time for me to do ITAS Extension?   

6-8 weeks before its expiry. Contact BINUS IO for more detailed information.

11. What should I do if I decide to move so that my address changes?  

You must report to immigration and submit the required documents. You can also reach BINUS IO to guide you through the process. The documents will be provided by BINUS IO. The process takes around 2-3 working days. 

12. Can I change the ITAS sponsor from BINUS to others before graduating from BINUS?  

Yes, you can. Please contact BINUS IO to get more information about the process and the required documents.  

Photo: bastamanography/Flickr

If you require any further information about visa, please contact:
International Office – BINUS UNIVERSITY
Anggrek Campus, Room 331 (3rd floor)
Jl. Kebon Jeruk Raya No. 27, Jakarta Barat, 11530
T. +62 21 534-5830 ext. 1327
E. io@binus.edu