Since April 2026 a hundred-officer immigration patrol has been working Canggu, Ubud, Seminyak, Kerobokan and Uluwatu with one question for the foreigners it stops: what are you doing here, and on which visa. Between 12 January and 12 April, 165 people were deported from Bali and 62 held for processing. The second sweep, from 15 July to 16 August, took in 66 people from 27 countries, and misuse of a stay permit was the second most common finding after overstaying. Most of the coverage has been about influencers, and most of it has been vague about where the line actually sits. It is not vague. It has been stated by the Directorate General of Immigration in plain words, and it turns on one thing.
What happened
The Dharma Dewata patrol was formed on 15 April 2026 as a permanent unit for Bali. In the weeks that followed, immigration’s own channels and then a formal statement in July set out what the patrol treats as work on a visit visa. The sentence that matters, translated: an activity that produces an economic benefit or advantage, even without a money transaction, can be categorised as a form of work. Immigration said it looks at three things: the stated purpose of the stay, the type of activity, and whether there is economic value behind it. A free villa night, a comped dinner, a boat trip or a spa session given in exchange for a post is economic value. The absence of a bank transfer changes nothing.
The legal basis is not new. Article 122 of the Immigration Law, Law 6 of 2011, covers a foreigner who deliberately does something inconsistent with the purpose of the stay permit they hold. A visit visa is for visiting. What changed in 2026 is enforcement and the published reading of “work”, which now includes unpaid promotion. The Bali governor’s circular of March 2025 on conduct for foreign visitors says the same thing from the provincial side: no working or doing business without the proper permit.
Where the line sits
The question to ask about any post is whether anyone in Indonesia is giving you something because you will publish it. If the answer is yes, it is work. If you paid like every other guest and posted because you felt like it, it is a holiday. Everything below follows from that.
| On a tourist visa, this is fine | On a tourist visa, this is work |
|---|---|
| Posting your holiday to your own audience, however large that audience is | Posting about a hotel, restaurant, villa, tour or product in return for a free or discounted stay, meal, service or item |
| Leaving an honest review of a place you paid for, on Google, Tripadvisor or your own feed, and tagging the business | Accepting a “collaboration” offer from a business, in cash, in kind or in exposure |
| Recommending a warung, a surf school or a driver because you liked them, and sending friends there | Producing photos or video to a brief from an Indonesian business, whether or not you are paid for the shoot |
| Buying from local businesses and saying so | Offering photography, videography, make-up, styling or content services to anyone in Indonesia, paid or as a favour that builds a client list |
| Being paid by a client or employer outside Indonesia for work that has nothing to do with Indonesia, on the visa that allows it, which is not the tourist visa | Running paid workshops, retreats, classes or events, in person or online, for people in Indonesia |
Two things in that table surprise people. The first is that gifting counts. A business that sends you a product or hosts you “no strings attached” and then reposts your content has an arrangement with economic value on both sides, and immigration reads it that way. The second is that the right-hand column does not depend on follower count or on whether you call yourself an influencer. A traveller with 400 followers who accepts a free night for a story is on the same side of the line as a creator with a million.
What the business side needs to know
The same article of the law reaches the person who orders or enables the activity. A villa, a restaurant or an agency in Bali that offers a stay in exchange for coverage from someone on a visit visa is the other party to the arrangement, and immigration examines sponsors as well as visitors. For a foreign-owned company in hospitality, that means the marketing budget cannot be spent on barter deals with tourist-visa creators. It can be spent on creators who hold a visa that allows the work, and when the content creator visa described below starts being issued, the company will be the sponsor that makes it possible.
The visa that fits
Indonesia created a visit visa for exactly this work in June 2025, index C5A, the content creator visit visa. On paper it is sponsored by the Indonesian brand, agency or client, covers sponsored posts, brand partnerships and commercial shoots named in the application, allows payment or in-kind consideration for that work, and runs for sixty days, single entry, with a fresh visa for the next engagement. In practice it is not yet being issued. The category is in the immigration catalogue and the application route is not open, so as of this writing no one holds one. That leaves an honest gap: an engagement sponsored by an Indonesian business has no visit-visa route today, and the answer is case by case. We track the opening of this visa and will tell you the day it can be applied for.
For a creator whose income is entirely from clients outside Indonesia, with no Indonesian sponsor and no Indonesian deals, the remote worker permit is available now, for a year at a time.
| Visa | Who it is for | Indonesian sponsor or client | Stay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tourist visit visa or visa on arrival | Visiting. Posting your trip is fine, being given anything for it is not | None allowed | 30 days, one extension |
| Content creator visit visa, C5A | Sponsored content, brand partnerships, commercial shoots for an Indonesian sponsor. In the catalogue since June 2025, not yet being issued | Required. The sponsor signs the content agreement | 60 days, single entry, a new visa for the next engagement, once it opens |
| Remote worker permit, E33G | Creators and freelancers paid only by clients outside Indonesia | Not allowed | One year |
Questions we are being asked
I have 50,000 followers. Can I post about my Bali trip on a tourist visa?
Yes. Your audience size is not the test. Whether an Indonesian business gave you anything for the post is.
A villa offered me two free nights for a reel. I am on a visa on arrival. Can I take it?
Not on that visa. Two nights in exchange for a reel is economic value, and immigration has said so in terms. The visa built for this arrangement is not yet being issued, so for now the answer is to decline, and to ask us when it opens.
I paid full price and the restaurant reposted my story. Is that a problem?
No. You bought a meal and said what you thought. A repost by the business does not turn a paid meal into an arrangement.
I earn from YouTube ads and foreign brands and I want to film in Bali for three months. Which visa?
If no Indonesian business is paying or hosting you, the remote worker permit, which is available now. If an Indonesian brand is in the picture, the content creator visa is the one designed for it, and it is not yet being issued. Ask us before you commit to the brand.
What actually happens if someone is found doing this on a tourist visa?
The stay permit is cancelled and the person is deported, with an entry ban that under the 2024 amendment to the Immigration Law can run to ten years. Article 122 also carries criminal penalties, which in practice are reserved for organised cases.
If you are a creator, or you host them
If you have an engagement in Indonesia in view, send us the three facts the visa turns on: who the Indonesian counterparty is, what you will produce, and the dates. We will tell you whether it falls under the remote worker permit, which is available today, or under the content creator visa, which we will apply for on the day it opens, and what the sponsor will have to sign. If you run a hospitality business in Bali and want to work with creators, ask us before offering a stay for a post, and we will tell you where things stand.
Correct at the date of publication. Immigration’s reading of “work” on a visit visa is the one published by the Directorate General of Immigration in 2026 and applied by the Bali patrol; the underlying law is Article 122 of Law 6 of 2011. Ask us about your case, or know more about visas and immigration.