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Exa: denpasar.kompas.com
**The Bali Immigration Office (Kantor Imigrasi) has officially suspended the granting of Izin Tinggal Keadaan Terpaksa — a discretionary emergency stay **
The Bali Immigration Office (Kantor Imigrasi) has officially suspended the granting of Izin Tinggal Keadaan Terpaksa — a discretionary emergency stay permit historically issued to foreign nationals who found themselves unable to depart Indonesia due to circumstances beyond their control, such as medical emergencies, natural disasters, flight cancellations, or other force majeure events.
The emergency stay permit has long functioned as an administrative release valve within Indonesia's immigration system. Under the framework of Law No. 6 of 2011 on Immigration and its implementing regulations, immigration officials retained discretionary authority to issue temporary stay extensions in genuine emergency cases, preventing immediate enforcement action against foreigners whose overstay could be attributed to demonstrably involuntary circumstances.
The suspension in Bali represents a notable policy tightening. While the legal authority for such permits has not been formally abolished at the national level, the Bali regional immigration office has ceased exercising that discretionary power. This effectively means that the outcome for any foreigner in an irregular immigration status in Bali is now binary: voluntarily depart Indonesia, or face deportation through formal proceedings — with associated banning periods under Indonesian immigration law.
The timing of this move coincides with a broader intensification of immigration enforcement activity across Bali, as authorities have in recent months conducted a series of coordinated sweeps targeting foreigners working illegally, overstaying, or violating the terms of their stay permits. The provincial government and the Directorate General of Immigration have publicly committed to stricter enforcement as Bali's foreign resident and digital nomad population has grown sharply in the post-pandemic period.
Officials have not publicly indicated whether the suspension is temporary — pending new procedural guidelines — or constitutes a permanent shift in enforcement posture. No replacement mechanism for genuine force majeure cases has been announced as of the time of reporting. Legal observers and immigration practitioners in Bali are monitoring whether the Directorate General of Immigration in Jakarta will issue clarifying guidance or whether the Bali office is operating within its regional discretion.
This is a significant shift in the practical risk landscape for foreign nationals in Bali, and it should not be underestimated. The emergency stay permit was never meant to be a routine tool — but it
served as a critical backstop for genuinely sympathetic cases: the tourist hospitalised with dengue, the expat whose passport was stolen days before a KITAS renewal appointment, the retiree whose flig
ht home was cancelled. Removing that backstop without a stated replacement mechanism is operationally harsh.
For our clients, the message is unambiguous: document hygiene is no longer a bureaucratic courtesy — it is a legal imperative. A single lapsed permit now carries real deportation risk with no administrative cushion available at the Bali level. If your KITAS, ITAS, or visa is approaching expiry, the window to act is now, not in the final week.
We also note that this policy change places additional pressure on Immigration Service Offices (Kanim) to handle renewals and extensions without delay. Clients should anticipate longer queues and plan accordingly, building in at least a 30-day buffer before document expiry.
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