Travel to Indonesia

What is a Sticker Visa, and why is it now mandatory for Indonesia?

Indone­sia has cur­rent­ly closed the Visa on Arrival (VOA) facil­i­ty for Bangladeshi cit­i­zens. That is, the ear­li­er on-arrival visa that could be obtained at the air­port is no longer avail­able. There­fore, if you want to trav­el to Indone­sia from Bangladesh, you must col­lect your visa in advance. This visa is not avail­able online or at the air­port it is a com­plete­ly stick­er visa, which is issued by the Indone­sian Embassy in Dha­ka. Once the visa is approved, the embassy affix­es a stick­er visa in your pass­port, which clear­ly states your name, pass­port num­ber, visa type and valid­i­ty. There­fore, for those plan­ning to trav­el to Indone­sia in the future, it is very impor­tant to apply for a visa in advance and allow enough time for pro­cess­ing.

Why should you process your visa yourself?

There are cur­rent­ly many agen­cies that process your visa. How­ev­er, the prob­lem is that they often do not sub­mit your visa appli­ca­tion files to the embassy prop­er­ly. Many agen­cies waste time due to pro­cess­ing thou­sands of files at the back­end at the same time and due to this, your visa pro­cess­ing time can be delayed a lot. Also, some agen­cies will com­fort you or assure you by say­ing var­i­ous things, but in real­i­ty this is not an advan­tage.

On the oth­er hand, if you process the visa your­self, then you are in con­trol of the entire process. You can sub­mit your pass­port and nec­es­sary doc­u­ments direct­ly to the embassy. The biggest advan­tage is that you do not have to wait in a line to sub­mit the files and do not have to stand in a line to col­lect the pass­port. The embassy itself works accord­ing to a spe­cif­ic time and spe­cif­ic times­lots are set for each appli­cant. Dur­ing this time, you can sub­mit your files and col­lect your pass­port with­in the spec­i­fied time.

More­over, if you process the visa your­self, you do not have to spend any extra mon­ey; You only have to pay the visa pro­cess­ing fee. This not only saves mon­ey, but also saves time, reduces has­sle and gives you com­plete con­trol over the entire process. Hav­ing every­thing in your hands means you can be sure that all the doc­u­ments are in order, sub­mit­ted on time and there will be no delays or incon­ve­niences.

How do you process your visa yourself?

To apply for an Indone­sian visa, you will first need to send an email direct­ly to the Indone­sian Embassy. In that email, you will pro­vide details of your trav­el itin­er­ary, such as when you want to go, where you will stay, and oth­er nec­es­sary infor­ma­tion. You will also need to men­tion your pass­port details and attach a scanned copy of your pass­port. After send­ing this email, the embassy will send you an email in reply, where they will men­tion a spe­cif­ic appoint­ment date for you. You must apply for your visa by this date; usu­al­ly the appoint­ment date is with­in a month of apply­ing.

Then, you will need to appear at the Indone­sian Embassy on the sched­uled date with all the required doc­u­ments. There, they will ver­i­fy your doc­u­ments and if there are any prob­lems with the doc­u­ments, they will inform you direct­ly. You will then need to resolve the prob­lems and resub­mit them. Once the doc­u­ments are accept­ed, the embassy will issue you a pay­ment receipt. You will need to deposit the pay­ment at Bank of Cey­lon, Dha­ka Gul­shan 2. After com­plet­ing the pay­ment, they will give you a deliv­ery receipt. Through this process, your chances of get­ting a visa are much high­er, as the embassy only accepts files that are cor­rect and sub­mit­ted with­out any prob­lems.

So, the entire visa process is easy and has­sle-free if you pre­pare all the doc­u­ments prop­er­ly, keep the embassy appoint­ment, and com­plete the pay­ment process cor­rect­ly.

Email Format

Date: [DD Month YYYY]

To,
The Visa Officer,
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia,
Baridhara Diplomatic Zone, Dhaka.

Subject: Application for [Tourist/Business] Visa to Indonesia

Dear Sir/Madam,

I, [FULL NAME], holder of passport no. [XXXXXXXX], hereby apply for a [Tourist/Business] visa to visit Indonesia from [entry date] to [exit date]. Purpose of visit: [brief purpose — e.g., tourism / business meeting at (company name) / family visit].

I will be staying at [Hotel name & address] and my return flight is on [date] (ticket attached). My financial means for this trip will be covered by [self / employer / sponsor — name]. I have attached the required documents: passport copy, photos, bank statements, flight ticket, hotel booking and employment/business proof.

I kindly request you to consider my application and grant the visa.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
[Full name]
[Contact no.]
[Email address]

What documents are required for a visa application?

When apply­ing for an Indone­sia visa, you need to have some impor­tant doc­u­ments ready. First, you need a pass­port, which must be valid for at least 6 months, and a col­or copy of the pass­port bio page. Then you need pass­port size pho­tos, usu­al­ly 2 copies, with a white back­ground. In addi­tion, you need to fill out the visa appli­ca­tion form and attach a cov­er let­ter as need­ed, which clear­ly states the pur­pose and dura­tion of your trip.

You will also need a copy of your flight tick­et and hotel book­ing con­fir­ma­tion, which shows where you will be stay­ing and when you will enter and exit Indone­sia. You will also need a bank state­ment or finan­cial proof, which shows that you have suf­fi­cient funds. If you are an employ­ee, you need to attach an NOC or employ­ment cer­tifi­cate, and if you are a busi­ness­man, you need to attach a trade license and TIN cer­tifi­cate. If it is a fam­i­ly appli­ca­tion, you need to take a copy of the pass­port of all fam­i­ly mem­bers, along with birth/marriage cer­tifi­cates.

Final­ly, although trav­el insur­ance is manda­to­ry for each mem­ber. You should send these doc­u­ments with­in 1–2 work­ing days of appli­ca­tion or they will deliv­er a soft copy and a hard copy to your address through over the phone. You will sub­mit 2 copies togeth­er to the embassy. They will give you the orig­i­nal copy and they will keep the dupli­cate copy. This ensures your secu­ri­ty and shows your appli­ca­tion as stronger evi­dence to the visa offi­cer. If all these doc­u­ments are pre­pared cor­rect­ly, the visa appli­ca­tion process is much eas­i­er and has­sle-free.

One thing to remem­ber is that if you want to take 2, 3 or 4 fam­i­ly mem­bers with you, then you must sub­mit 2 copies of the same doc­u­ment, oth­er­wise they will send you back to bring the copies. So you should keep 2, 3 copies of each doc­u­ment with you in advance.

How much does it cost to apply for a visa at the Indonesian Embassy?

A fixed pro­cess­ing fee is usu­al­ly required for an Indone­sian visa appli­ca­tion. This fee may vary slight­ly depend­ing on the type of visa, its dura­tion, and your appoint­ment time. For exam­ple, I paid 8,000 taka for a tourist visa to Indone­sia from Bangladesh. How­ev­er, the visa fee may some­times be slight­ly more or less, as it varies accord­ing to the embassy’s rules and tim­ings.

While sub­mit­ting the fee, it should be remem­bered that the visa fee is only a process fee no ser­vice charges or agent charges are includ­ed here. That is, if you apply your­self, you only have to pay the visa fee. Once you sub­mit the fee, the embassy will pro­vide you with a pay­ment receipt, which is required when col­lect­ing your pass­port or visa. If the fee is sub­mit­ted cor­rect­ly and oth­er doc­u­ments are in order, the visa process is has­sle-free and com­plet­ed with­in the stip­u­lat­ed time.

How to collect your Indonesia visa?

After the Indone­sian embassy ver­i­fies and approves all your doc­u­ments, it sends you a deliv­ery clip or appoint­ment date. You have to appear at the embassy on this sched­uled date to col­lect your visa or pass­port. There are cer­tain rules and reg­u­la­tions that must be fol­lowed at the embassy while col­lect­ing the visa.

First­ly, you have to appear at the sched­uled time. If you do not appear on time, your appoint­ment or ser­i­al may be can­celled and you will have to resched­ule. Sec­ond­ly, it is essen­tial to fol­low the dress code. Gen­er­al­ly, the embassy empha­sizes for­mal attire and shoes; there­fore, wear­ing for­mal dress, shirt-pants and shoes is very impor­tant.

Fol­low­ing these rules makes the visa col­lec­tion process straight­for­ward, easy and has­sle-free. If your doc­u­ments are in order, the visa or pass­port can be obtained quick­ly as soon as you appear at the sched­uled time. This results in no delay or com­pli­ca­tion in the process, and the entire expe­ri­ence remains order­ly and safe.

How to book cheap tickets?

If you want to trav­el to Indone­sia, you must have a flight tick­et. Since there are no direct flights from Bangladesh to Indone­sia, you will have to take a tran­sit flight usu­al­ly via Malaysia, Sin­ga­pore, or Thai­land. It is good to keep some impor­tant things in mind when find­ing tick­ets for this tran­sit.

First, research well on dif­fer­ent air­lines and book­ing plat­forms and see which air­lines are offer­ing cheap flights with tran­sit visas. In addi­tion, if you book your tick­ets a month before your trip, the prices are usu­al­ly much low­er. At the same time, you can also arrange your trip plan prop­er­ly.

One of the advan­tages of book­ing tick­ets is that you can start your jour­ney with one pas­sage and return with anoth­er. There is no prob­lem with this, and there is no obsta­cle to trav­el­ing even if the PNR num­ber is not the same. By research­ing prop­er­ly and book­ing your tick­ets in advance, you can ensure a safe and easy trip at a low cost.

Customs/Immigration and Warnings in Indonesia

There is an impor­tant point to note about the immi­gra­tion process in Indone­sia. Cur­rent­ly, only Bangladeshi cit­i­zens are enter­ing using a stick­er visa, while most tourists from oth­er coun­tries usu­al­ly use an on-arrival visa or e‑visa. As a result, there is a vari­ety of trav­el­ers in the immi­gra­tion line.

The immi­gra­tion line can be a bit long, but this is not a prob­lem. With enough time, you can eas­i­ly fill out all the infor­ma­tion and doc­u­ment forms prop­er­ly. You have to wait patient­ly in the line, there is no rush. Each doc­u­ment will be ver­i­fied and you will be giv­en prop­er instruc­tions, so it is best to have all the doc­u­ments ready in advance.

Trav­el­ing with this warn­ing in mind will ensure that your immi­gra­tion process is order­ly, has­sle-free and com­plet­ed on time. Also, hav­ing all the doc­u­ments prop­er­ly arranged and present on time means that you can eas­i­ly secure your visa and entry.

Important Tips for Traveling to Indonesia

Choose the Right Visa
Choose the right visa accord­ing to your trav­el pur­pose. Tourism, busi­ness or edu­ca­tion­al work—having the wrong visa can lead to entry prob­lems.

Always have your doc­u­ments ready
Keep your pass­port, visa print­out, flight tick­et, hotel book­ing and bank state­ment with you at all times. Immi­gra­tion offi­cers can check.

Do not car­ry ille­gal items
Car­ry­ing drugs, unli­censed med­i­cines or excess cash can lead to entry prob­lems.

Car­ry the nec­es­sary mon­ey
Car­ry enough cash and bank cards for the trip. Immi­gra­tion may ask for proof that you have enough mon­ey to cov­er your trav­el expens­es.

Apply­ing online is con­ve­nient
Apply­ing through the e‑visa por­tal saves time and reduces has­sle.

Phys­i­cal and health-relat­ed prepa­ra­tions
Car­ry the nec­es­sary med­i­cines. In case of long trips, it is ben­e­fi­cial to car­ry pro­tec­tion and a light first aid kit.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and nav­i­ga­tion facil­i­ties
Inter­net is eas­i­ly avail­able if you take a local SIM card. You can use GPS or nav­i­ga­tion apps.

Spe­cial advice from Fly Mah­fuz:

Our web­site Fly Mah­fuz pro­vides visa pro­ce­dures, trav­el guides and impor­tant tips for Bangladeshi tourists, includ­ing Indone­sia. If you want, you can start your trip by plan­ning prop­er­ly accord­ing to our advice.