The Story of Why Extending KITAS is Not a Place for Savings
Sometimes even the most experienced expats decide to 'save money' and extend their visa without the help of specialists. Below is the story of our regular client, who once went 'on a free sail,' quickly encountered bureaucratic reefs, and eventually returned to us. Naturally, we helped him resolve all issues.
I want to share a story about how trying to save on extending family KITAS almost resulted in deportation.
When it Seems That Everything is Simple
We have been living in Bali for a long time and decided to do everything ourselves, without the help of an agency. It seemed, what could go wrong? The company is fine: a functioning business, an Indonesian employee; and the immigration site is quite intuitive - we’ll upload the documents and get the result 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 a corporate profile. After that, the system blocked any actions with 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, from whose name you are applying for an extension.'
The employee came to the immigration office, but the officer still couldn’t unblock my account.
Five Visits, Nerves, and Blocks
We had to turn to the agency, with whom we opened the company. They solved the problem in a day and for free — we were inspired: my account was unblocked, and we were able to submit documents for the extension.
With the agency's hints, we compiled the application, a guarantee letter, and company information, uploaded the documents, and started waiting.
At the biometrics appointment, they were reluctant to accept us: the officer wanted to personally interview our Indonesian employee. Everyone was photographed, and we promised to bring the employee. On our next visit to the immigration office, the employee went through the interview. And it seemed that our case was successfully resolved.
But the next day the officer called us for another interview — now with the company director - my wife. We came at the appointed time and sat the whole day under 'please wait'. Eventually, no one saw us. That was the last day of our KITAS validity.
Interestingly, my document was extended in time, but the children's KITAS pending the officer's approval. The next day the entire delegation went back to immigration. It 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 no longer valid'. Honestly, even if we initially submitted everything perfectly and ahead of time, another reason would be found to nitpick — there was no doubt about that anymore.
We sought help from the agency again. The agent resolved the issue, but this time on a paid basis. There were no savings, our nerves were wrecked, a lot of time was wasted, but at least we avoided deportation.
Conclusion: in Indonesian bureaucracy it’s better not to experiment. A professional agent is worth the money — he saves the main thing — nerves and time.
Conclusion: In Visa Matters, There is No Place for Experiments
A professional agent saves not only money but more importantly — your time, nerves, and legal status.
Write to us — we'll help you avoid mistakes and safely extend KITAS.
