Even the most experienced expats sometimes decide to 'save money' and extend their visas without professional help. Below is the story of one of our regular clients who once tried to go 'solo', quickly hit bureaucratic snags, and ultimately came back to us. Of course, we helped him resolve all the issues.
I want to share a story about how an attempt to save on renewing the family KITAS nearly ended in deportation.
When Everything Seems Simple
We've been living in Bali for a while and decided to do everything ourselves, without an agency's help. What could possibly go wrong? The company is fine: a functioning business, an Indonesian employee; the immigration website is quite intuitive — upload the documents and get the results without overpaying.
My wife logged into the immigration portal from her personal account as an investor and company head, and irreversibly linked my family KITAS to herself, instead of using the corporate profile. After this, the system blocked any actions on my KITAS, and we went to the immigration office.
They shrugged: 'We’ll send a request to Jakarta, the timeline is unknown. Come with your Indonesian employee, on whose behalf you're applying for the extension.' The employee came to the immigration office, but the officer still couldn't unlock my account.
Five Visits, Stress, and Blocks
We ended up contacting the agency that helped us establish the company. They solved the problem within a day and free of charge — we were excited: my account was unlocked and we could submit documents for the extension.
With guidance from the agency, we gathered the application, a guarantee letter, and company details, uploaded the documents, and waited.
For biometric data, they reluctantly accepted us: the officer wanted to personally interview our Indonesian employee. We all got photographed and promised to bring the employee. On our next visit to the immigration office, the employee completed the interview. It seemed our case was successfully resolved.
But the next day, the officer summoned us for another interview — this time with my wife, the company director. We arrived at the appointed time and spent the entire day under 'please wait'. In the end, no one attended to us. This was the last day of our KITAS validity.
Interestingly, my document was renewed, but the children's KITAS were stuck — officer's approval was required. The whole delegation returned to immigration the next day. This was our fifth visit there. After a long wait and a short conversation, we were told: 'You're late, leave the country and apply for new KITAS, these are invalid'. Frankly, even if we had submitted everything perfectly and ahead of time initially, there would have been another reason to object — there was no doubt about this anymore.
We again sought help from the agency. They resolved the issue, but this time on a paid basis. Savings didn’t work out, it took a toll on our nerves, and a lot of time was wasted, but at least we avoided deportation.
The conclusion: it's better not to experiment with Indonesian bureaucracy. A professional agent is worth the money — they save what's most important — nerves and time.
Conclusion: No Place for Experiments in Visa Matters
A professional agent saves not only money, but most importantly — your time, nerves, and legal status.
Write to us — we will advise on how to avoid mistakes and safely extend your KITAS.
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