Living in Indonesia long-term
Bali spent a decade as the world's most famous place to live illegally. That changed: the E33G remote worker KITAS is a genuine one-year residence permit for remote employees of foreign companies. The catch is that the bar is high enough to exclude most of the people who made Bali famous, and the tax story attached to it in almost every guide is a scheme written for somebody else entirely.
There is now a real route: the E33G remote worker KITAS, a one-year renewable residence permit for remote employees of foreign companies. The bar is high enough to exclude most freelancers, and the tax treatment attached to it in most guides was written for someone else. The record holds what it asks for, sourced and dated.
Which Indonesia visa can you get? →Where to base yourself in Indonesia
These are not interchangeable. Costs are a monthly total for one person living normally, not a survival floor.
Bali
More remote workers than anywhere else in Southeast Asia.
Jakarta
Come for a job. Nobody comes for the life.
Yogyakarta
Half the cost of Bali, and a fraction of the foreigners.
Side by side, on the things that actually differ:
| Axis | Bali | Jakarta | Yogyakarta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost, relative | High, and no longer cheap | Highest of the three | Lowest by a wide margin |
| Air | Clean away from the south | Worst, year-round | Good |
| Getting around | Scooter mandatory | MRT on one line, else traffic | Scooter. Compact centre. |
| Who is there | Remote workers, in volume | Corporate expats, diplomats | Students and artists. Few foreigners. |
| The catch | It stopped being cheap and the south has developed traffic to rival a capital city. The Bali people describe to you is roughly a decade out of date. | The air is not a season here, it is the condition, and the commute will quietly take two hours of every working day. | Little English outside the university and tourist streets, and a remote-work scene thin enough that you will be building your own. |
Cost is relative on purpose. Sourced monthly figures live on each city page, dated and attributed — and left blank where we have not sourced one rather than estimated.
How Indonesia compares in Asia
Ranked against every country in the region we hold a record for. Countries that publish no figure are excluded from the count rather than treated as zero.
- Income required
- $5000 a month — 5th lowest of the 7 Asian countries that publish an income figure.
- Length of stay
- 12 months — 2nd shortest of the 7 Asian routes that publish a length.
Bali got a real visa, and almost nobody qualifies
The E33G asks for an employment contract with a company outside Indonesia and an annual income of at least $60,000 paid into a personal account. That is a serious salary anywhere and it is roughly triple what the island's long-stay population actually earns.
It is also written around employees. If you are a freelancer with several clients rather than one foreign employer with a contract, the document set the visa asks for is one you may simply not have — and the restriction is absolute in the other direction too: no Indonesian employer, no Indonesian clients, no selling goods or services inside the country. Not one local customer.
For everyone below the bar the answer is unchanged from five years ago: the C1 tourist e-visa, 60 days and extendable toward 180, or an agent-arranged social-cultural route. Both work. Neither is residence, and both mean paying to renew your right to stay on a schedule for as long as you live here.
The 183-day rule may not protect you here
Nearly everyone plans their year around a day count, because that is how most of the region works. Indonesia has a day count — more than 183 days in any twelve-month period — but it is not the only trigger.
You are also an Indonesian tax resident if you are present in Indonesia during a fiscal year and intend to reside in Indonesia. A KITAS is a residence permit; applying for one and living on it is the kind of thing that evidences intent. That means the practical question is not whether you crossed day 184 — it is whether the permit you hold has already answered the question for you.
We are stating the trigger, not predicting your outcome. How intent is assessed in an individual case, and how a double-tax treaty with your home country interacts with it, is exactly the ground where general guidance stops being worth anything.
The "four years tax-free" everyone quotes was written for someone else
Search Indonesian tax as a remote worker and you will be told that new foreign residents pay Indonesian tax on Indonesian income only for their first four years. That regime is real. It is also conditional in ways the summaries drop.
It applies to foreign nationals with certain expertise — the criteria run to expertise in science, technology or mathematics, evidenced by a certificate from an authorised institution or five years' experience in the field, a role on the Ministry of Manpower's list of eligible positions, and an obligation to transfer knowledge to an Indonesian citizen. It also has to be applied for; it is not a status you drift into.
Read those conditions against the E33G and the tension is obvious: the visa forbids you from working for anyone in Indonesia, and the relief is built around foreign workers employed here with an Indonesian counterparty to transfer knowledge to. Indonesia has not published a determination on whether an E33G holder can qualify. That is the honest state of it — get a determination before you plan around the relief, rather than after.
Before you go
The E33G does not just test what you earn, it tests how you are paid: $60,000 a year into a personal account, evidenced by statements. People routed through payment platforms or a company account often cannot produce the document the visa asks for.
How to get paid into an account that qualifiesCommon questions
What income do I need for Indonesia's remote worker visa?
At least $60,000 a year, paid into a personal account, evidenced by bank statements or pay stubs — consulates ask for somewhere between three and twelve months of them. You also need an employment contract with a company located outside Indonesia, which makes the E33G considerably harder for freelancers with several clients than for salaried remote employees.
What can I use if I don't qualify for the E33G?
Most people use the C1 tourist e-visa, which runs 60 days and is extendable toward 180, or a social-cultural route arranged through an agent — a common and well-worn path in Bali. Both are legal and both are temporary stay, not residence: no status accrues, no path to permanence opens, and you pay to renew indefinitely.
Can I work for Indonesian clients on the E33G?
No, and the restriction is stricter than most nomad visas. The E33G covers work for foreign employers and foreign clients only. You cannot take a job with an Indonesian company, receive payment from an Indonesian entity, or sell goods or services inside Indonesia — not for a single local client. Doing that needs a work permit under a different category.
Do I pay Indonesian tax on my foreign income?
It depends on residency, and the day count is not the whole test. You are tax resident if present more than 183 days in any twelve-month period, or if you are present during a fiscal year and intend to reside in Indonesia — and holding a residence permit speaks to intent. Residents are taxed on worldwide income. There is a four-year territorial regime for foreigners with certain expertise, but it carries conditions including a knowledge-transfer obligation and must be applied for, and Indonesia has published nothing on whether E33G holders can use it. Get a determination rather than assuming.
The regional comparison on this page is read from our verified dataset, whose records carry the date each was last checked against its government source. How we check them: our method.