What you need to know about the new entry requirements for Bali

2 weeks ago 3

September 3, 2025 — 10:12am

In terms of proximity, Bali has to be one of the easiest destinations for Aussies to travel to, perhaps beaten only by Fiji and New Zealand. But the growing list of digital paperwork involved to obtain entry over the last few years has made it seem like a mission to North Korea rather than our most popular tourist destination.

As a former resident and frequent visitor to Bali, I’ve become an expert on how to streamline my entry into the country, and regularly pass on my advice (read: archive of digital forms) to family and friends to make their visit seamless, too.

New entry requirements now apply to visitors arriving at Bali’s main airport.

As of September 1, that arduous task has been consolidated, with the Indonesian government announcing the All Indonesia online declaration card, a one-stop-shop-style digital system that replaces each individual form and must be filled out 72 hours before your arrival. For now, it only applies for travellers entering via Bali’s main airport Ngurah Rai International, along with Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International and Surabaya’s Juanda International. But from October 1 it will apply to all international entry points, including airports and ferry terminals.

Before my last visit, the process involved four separate steps: apply for an e-visa (this allows you to use the e-gates and jump the often lengthy immigration queue); fill out both the online customs declaration form and the online SATUSEHAT Health Pass introduced since the monkeypox outbreak in 2024; and pay the Bali tourism tax.

One of the common missteps I often see on arrival in Bali is travellers who are simply unaware that you need to fill out the customs declaration form online and obtain a QR code before you arrive. This created a bottleneck of passengers around the exit who were madly trying to connect to the unreliable airport Wi-Fi to fill out the form on their phones. That will no longer be an issue.

Australians have made more than 800,000 trips to Bali so far this year.

So will this new system make it easier for Aussies travelling to Bali? Essentially, yes. The problem hasn’t been the forms so much as the lack of consistent and accessible information around entry requirements. It will particularly make it easier and less time-consuming for families. And most noticeably, it will allow for a swifter exit on arrival, eliminating any chance of not having completed one of the steps.

You must still apply for a visa and can buy a visa on arrival (VOA), but my advice is to apply for the e-visa before you travel so that you can enter via the e-gates (kids over the age of six can use them). On my last visit, I was at the baggage claim in just 15 minutes, with the e-gates cutting out a significant amount of time at immigration.

Despite the recent controversy and demolishment of decades-long-established local warungs and businesses in the surf havens of Bingin and Balangan, Aussies are still flocking to Bali in record numbers. According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 832,000 Australian residents travelled to Indonesia in the first six months of this year, up 8 per cent on the same period last year. The unpopular decision to decimate the cliffside beach shacks in Bingin, which the Balinese government says have been built there illegally, is part of a wider crackdown on perceived environmental and cultural infringements across the island.

It follows a series of steps the government has taken to manage over-tourism, clean-up badly behaved tourists and push forward a glossy new image of Bali as a sustainable, high-quality destination. The island released an official list of dos and don’ts in 2023. It came after a string of incidents in which tourists were filmed or witnessed disrespecting sacred sites and generally behaving badly. Despite a heightened intolerance for unruly tourist behaviour, it still seems to be an issue, with some of the island’s biggest Instagram accounts, including @canggu.info detailing near daily occurrences.

With the recent crackdown on local warungs at Bali’s most iconic surf spots and earlier raids at accommodations on the island, including the shutdown of a Russia-owned luxury villa complex in Ubud in January, it looks like Balinese officials are taking the image shake-up seriously.

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Jenny Hewett is a Sydney-based freelance travel writer who has lived in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and loves nothing more than being among nature and wildlife.