So what is this Police Certificate anyways?

In Indonesia, it is called Surat Tanda Melapor, better known as a Certificate of Police Registration which concerns any foreigner (tourist, visitor, resident, guest of resident, etc), though the foreigner himself is not forced to apply in person. This is a report to the police that states where a foreigner is living and for how long.

The regulation Chapter 10, Peraturan Pemerintah nomor 31 tahun 1994 says,

Setiap orang yang memberikan kesempatan orang asing menginap di tempat kediamannya wajib melaporkan kepada Kantor Kepolisian Republik Indonesia atau Pejabat Pemerintah Daerah setempat dalam jangka waktu 24 (dua puluh empat jam) sejak tanggal kedatangan orang asing tersebut.

Anyone who accommodates a foreigner is obligated to report to the local police office within 24 hours of the guest’s arrival.

This means that the person who gives the foreigner/s shelter (hotel, wife, friend, etc) has to report your residence within 24 hours after your arrival. Here there is no notion of type or duration of stay. The person who provides you accommodation reports to the police. This is a report about one person, giving shelter to a foreigner, to the police. This is not in any way an authorization asking to shelter someone to a particular date. This just means that you don’t have to be reported again as long as you don’t change your address. However, if one forgets to report your residence after 24 hours after your arrival, that person will receive the penalties listed in the Capter 60, undang undang nomor 9 tahun 1992:

Setiap orang yang memberi kesempatan menginap kepada orang asing dan tidak melaporkan kepada Pejabat Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia atau Pejabat Pemerintah Daerah setempat yang berwenang dalam 24 (dua puluh empat) jam sejak kedatangan orang asing tersebut, dipidana dengan pidana kurungan paling lama 1 (satu) tahun atau denda paling banyak Rp 5.000.000,- (lima juta rupiah).

Penalty is 1 year imprisonment or penalty fee of Rp.5,000,000.

None of the two laws quoted tie the length of the STM to the length of an Ijin Tinggal or Ijin Kunjungan. It is submitted to the length of stay reported. What some crooked police officials may try is to make you believe that the article 61 UU 9/1992 concerns STM and that you have to report every 30 days. This is totally not true. Article 61 concerns people with an Ijin Tinggal (residence visa), not those on a visit visa (Ijin Kunjungan).

To summarize:

- If you are a KITAS/KITAP holder (resident visa), report to the police for SKLD (30 days maximum after the issuance of your Ijin Tinggal) and report any change in your residency within 7 days of its occurrence. Make sure that the person who provides you accommodation (even if it your wife/son or whoever in the family) reports you within the 24 hours and has an STM remitted. You need to do it again only if you change to a new accommodation.

- If you are holder of an Ijin Kunjungan or VoA (visit visa), you are only concerned by the STM in the conditions defined above.

If you are looking to stay longer than just a few weeks holiday, in order to find business opportunities, exporting opportunities, language studies and cultural exchanges and so on, you could apply for a social cultural visa from your home country. The visa is known as “Visa Sosial Budaya” and you will have to give yourself at least 3 working days before your visa can be approved. If approved, you will receive a visa for 60 days that can be extended every month up to 6 months.

Find the consulate or embassy of Indonesia in your own home country and see if they can issue a social cultural visa. People usually have a hard time finding one through the internet because they would type the wrong keyword into the search engine. You would naturally type “Indonesian embassy in (your city)” but the correct keyword would be “KBRI in (your city). KBRI stands for Kedutaan Besar Republik Indonesia which is the Indonesian term for Indonesian embassy.

The application fee would be $45 and it will take about 3 working days to get approval. However, if you are in a hurry or your budget is tight, you can easily just fly to Singapore and apply there. With the help of Mr. Gan in Singapore (+6596158622) you will be able to get your visa in 1 day. You will need to have a sponsor (who can be a friend or a family or a company) and your sponsor will have to write a sponsorship letter that states you have been invited by them, and your stay and expenses will be their responsibilities. Ask your sponsor to give you a copy of their National ID card (KTP) or their passport.

1. Aljazair,
2. Argentina,
3. Australia,
4. Austria,
5. Bahrain,
6. Belgium,
7. Brazil,
8. Bulgaria,
9. Cambodia
10. Canada
11. Cheko,
12. China,
13. Cyprus,
14. Denmark,
15. Egypt,
16. Estonia,
17. Fiji,
18. Finland,
19. France,
20. Germany,
21. Greece
22. Hungary,
23. India,
24. Iran,
25. Ireland,
26. Iceland,
27. Italy,
28. Japan,
29. Kuwait,
30. Laos,
31. Latvia,
32. Libya,
33. Liechtenstein,
34. Lithuania,
35. Luxembourg,
36. Maldives,
37. Malta,
38. Mexiko,
39. Monaco,
40. the Netherlands,
41. New Zealand,
42. Norway,
43. Oman,
44. Panama,
45. Poland,
46. Portugal,
47. Qatar,
48. Romania,
49. Russia,
50. Saudi Arabia,
51. South Africa,
52. South Korea,
53. Slovakia,
54. Slovenia,
55. Spain,
56. Suriname,
57. Sweden,
58. Switzerland,
59. Taiwan Territory,
60. Timor Leste (added 12 Jan 2010)
61. Tunisia,
62. United Arab Emirates,
63. United Kingdom
64. United States of America,

This kind of Visa is only intended for tourists who are visiting Indonesia, and NOT for expatriates intending to work and live for an extended period of time. These visas will be needed by friends or family coming to visit you during your stay in Indonesia.

You can obtain a 7-day Visa on arrival or a 30-day. For both of them, the requirements are the same:

• Payment to purchase the Visa on Arrival which is US$25 for the 30-day visa and US$10 for the 7-day visa, must be in cash (no credit card)
• Onward ticket or return ticket must be shown on arrival
• Passport that is valid for at least 6 months from the date of entry

Tourists that are entering Indonesia with a visa-on-arrival facility must go to a special counter to have their passport stamped with an on-arrival visa before going to the immigration desk. The visa application will take 15-30 minutes depending on how many people are applying. Payment counters, a bank counter, and a money changer have been set up to process payments.

Please note that visa on arrival is not extendable. If you would like to stay longer than 30 days in Indonesia, you will have to exit and reenter the country using a new visa (either tourist, Sosial Budaya or business or others).

There are only 11 countries that do not have to get a visa on arrival when they enter Indonesia. These countries can simply walk through the immigration without charge. The nationalities of the below countries are visa free and are allowed to stay in Indonesia for a maximum of 30 days fully visa-free. However, this kind of visa is not extendable. The countries are:

Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Philippines, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Chile, Morocco, Peru and Vietnam.

Visa on Arrival

Update:

As per 26 Jan 2010, foreign tourists visiting Indonesia can now extend their visas-on-arrival for another 30 days, as of 26 January 2010, the Indonesian immigration office announced Monday. Prior to this, foreign tourists were not allowed to extend their visas-on-arrival. They had to leave the country to get a new visa.

In the new ruling, the immigration office has decided to scrap the seven-day visa-on-arrival. The office will now only issue visas for a 30-day stay at the rate of US$25,  extendable for another 30 days.