Autogates at Bali and Jakarta Airports: 2026 Guide and Common Mistakes
An autogate is an electronic gate at passport control: you place your passport on the scanner, look into the camera, and 15 to 25 seconds later you are in the country, with no queue for an officer and no stamp in your passport. Bali (Ngurah Rai Airport) and Jakarta (Soekarno-Hatta) already have dozens of them, and in high season that saves an hour to an hour and a half.
There is a flip side to the speed. An autogate does not forgive carelessness: go through it incorrectly and, formally, you will have entered the country bypassing immigration. Below we cover how to do it right, what has changed for children, and two cases from our practice that are better not repeated.
Who Can Use an Autogate
For the gates to open, a foreign national must meet two conditions:
A biometric passport with an electronic chip. An autogate cannot read a passport without a chip; with one of those you go to an officer.
An entry document issued electronically and in advance. This means an e-VOA (a visa on arrival arranged online before departure), electronic visas in the C and D series issued through the official portal evisa.imigrasi.go.id, and also a KITAS or KITAP. With a KITAS or KITAP, the autogate works only after you have completed biometric registration.
A visa bought on paper at the counter on arrival will not open an autogate. With that one, you go to an officer.
There is also a step that is mandatory for everyone arriving: the All Indonesia card. Let us cover that next.
The All Indonesia Card: Without It, the Gates Will Not Open
As of recently, everyone arriving in Indonesia is required to fill in the single electronic arrival card, All Indonesia, in advance. It combines the data for immigration, customs, and health control in one form.
What to know:
it is filled in free of charge on the official portal allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id or in the All Indonesia app;
you can complete it in advance, up to 72 hours (3 days) before arrival, or on arrival itself. Doing it at home is less stressful;
after submission, a QR code arrives by email, and you present it on request upon arrival;
the card is checked at passport control, so it is better to complete it before departure and avoid losing time in the queue.
The All Indonesia card is not a visa: it does not replace an e-VOA or any other entry permit, it accompanies one. The form is available in Russian; you simply select the language on the site and fill in the fields. If you would rather not work through it yourself, we help clients complete the card.
Children and Autogates: Now from Age 6
This is the main thing that is out of date in most older guides. Autogates used to be available only to passengers aged 14 and over. On 26 August 2024, the threshold was lowered: children aged 6 and over may now use autogates, since facial recognition technology has become capable of working with children as well. The Directorate General of Immigration (Ditjen Imigrasi) announced this officially.
What this means in practice:
A child aged 6 or older may use an autogate. They must have their own biometric passport and their own visa or permit, and their passport goes on the scanner in the same way.
A child under 6 must go through an officer's counter, together with a parent.
Two Cases from Our Practice
A child carried through in someone's arms
The parents go through the autogate themselves, and a child under 6 is simply carried through: the passport is not scanned, and no officer is approached. Formally, the child has entered the country without being registered, and there is no record of their lawful entry in the system. We have seen several cases like this.
The problem surfaces later, on departure or when extending a visa, when immigration cannot find any record that the child entered at all. It is resolved by a visit to the immigration office and by proving lawful arrival: tickets, boarding passes, passports, and whatever else the officer asks for.
Walking past control altogether
Sometimes a person goes through passport control on the principle of "no one stopped me, so I walked through," bypassing both the officer and the autogate. This should not be done. The result is the same: there is no record of your entry in the system, and you will then have to prove to immigration that you broke nothing and simply made a mistake.
The takeaway is simple: an autogate is convenient, but your entry has to be recorded for every person, children included. No entry record means questions on departure.
How to Use an Autogate: Step by Step
Fill in the All Indonesia card in advance and make sure your visa is electronic and your passport is biometric.
Stand behind the yellow line in front of the gates, remove your passport cover, and take off your mask, hat, and glasses.
Wait for the green arrow and step onto the mark on the floor, keeping your hand luggage behind you.
Place the photo page of your passport on the scanner, firmly and flat, without bending it.
Look into the camera: the system matches your face against the passport and the visa, which is where those 15 to 25 seconds go.
The gates open. No physical stamp is placed in your passport; passage through the autogate is recorded electronically.
After that comes the customs QR code (the green channel) and the exit.
Travelers report that if the first gate does not work, a second autogate nearby often helps, as does pressing the passport more firmly and holding it a little longer. Fingerprints are usually not taken at an autogate.
What to Do If Your Entry Was Not Recorded
If you realize you went through incorrectly, for example carried a child through or slipped past control, do not put it off. The sooner you go to the immigration office and explain the mistake, the more easily it is resolved. Bring your passports, visas, tickets, and boarding passes with you: they confirm that you arrived lawfully.
Get in Touch with Legal Indonesia
We help with situations like these: we prepare the documents for approaching the immigration office and explain how the matter looks from the service's side, so the conversation stays on substance. We also arrange e-VOA and other electronic visas in advance, the ones an autogate opens for without surprises, along with the All Indonesia card.
Flying with children, or unsure whether your passport and visa work with an autogate? Write to us before you fly: sorting it out in advance is easier and cheaper than resolving it on the spot.
Head of the Visa Department Legal Indonesia
Alvia Nur Aliyah
Sources
Directorate General of Immigration (Ditjen Imigrasi), press release of 31 August 2024 on autogate access for children aged 6 and over
Directorate General of Immigration (Ditjen Imigrasi), statement on autogates at Soekarno-Hatta and Ngurah Rai airports and their availability to foreign nationals
ANTARA and Detik: conditions for foreign nationals and processing time at autogates
Ngurah Rai Airport Immigration Office, autogate section
All Indonesia, the official electronic arrival card portal
