Indonesia Arrival Card Transit Rules: Do You Need One? (2026)

The short answer for transit passengers

If you are only transiting, staying airside in the international transit area without clearing immigration, you generally do not need an Indonesia arrival card. That has been the working rule since the All Indonesia Arrival Card became mandatory nationwide on 1 October 2025, and it matches how the requirement is written: the card is for passengers entering Indonesia. A transit passenger who never passes immigration is not entering.

We say generally, and we mean it carefully: Indonesia has not published a detailed transit carve-out page, and the practical test is always whether you clear immigration. The moment you do, for a hotel night, a city tour, or a bag re-check, you are entering, and the card requirement applies to you. The card is free at allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id; travelers who want it handled for them use our $15 filing service.

What counts as staying airside

The exemption rests on three conditions, and all three must hold. Immigration publishes the card requirement for people entering; each condition is a way of not entering.

You stay airside when all of these are true

• You remain in the international transit area between flights, behind security, in the departures hall reserved for transferring passengers.
• You do not pass an immigration counter or get an entry stamp.
• You do not collect checked bags; your luggage is checked through to your final destination on the same ticket.

Transit at Jakarta (CGK)

Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport is where most transit questions arise, because international flights use different terminals and not every connection stays behind security. On a single through-ticket international-to-international connection, you normally stay airside: you follow the transfer signs, maybe ride the inter-terminal shuttle inside security, and board your onward flight. No card, no visa.

The picture changes for three common cases. A self-transfer, two separate tickets with a connection in Jakarta, usually means collecting your bags at arrivals, which means immigration, which means a card plus, for most non-ASEAN nationalities, a Visa on Arrival. An international-to-domestic connection always means immigration, because Indonesia clears every domestic-bound transfer through the border. And a connection between terminals that are not linked airside can force you landside. Ask your airline whether your specific connection stays airside; that answer, not the length of your layover, decides whether you file a card. For entry walkthroughs, see our CGK arrival card guide.

Transit at Bali (DPS)

Denpasar's Ngurah Rai airport is a single-terminal layout that separates departing domestic and international passengers, but the transit logic is identical. International-to-international on one ticket, no immigration, no bags collected: no arrival card needed. The moment your journey continues on a domestic flight, for example onward to Lombok or Jakarta on a local ticket, you clear immigration in Bali, and you need a card.

Two Bali specifics to plan for. First, if you leave the airport during the layover, even for a beach five minutes away, you have entered Indonesia: card required, plus the Rp 500,000 Visa on Arrival for nationalities without visa-free access, and Bali may ask you to settle its separate Rp 150,000 tourist levy. Second, overnight layovers tempt travelers to book a hotel; that means immigration and the full entry stack. The full airport walkthrough is in our DPS arrival card guide.

Transit scenarios, decided

Find your row. The Visa on Arrival column matters as much as the card column, because entering Indonesia without a visa hits both requirements at once.

When in doubt, file the card

The asymmetry is decisive. Skipping the card when you did not need it saves ten minutes. Missing it when you did need it costs an on-the-spot filing in the arrivals hall, with the queue behind you, and if you also lack the right visa the situation compounds. Since the card is free and takes about ten minutes, transit passengers with any doubt should file one inside the 3-day window before arrival and carry the QR code unused if the connection turns out airside.

If you enter, remember the sequence: card for everyone, visa status by nationality, Bali levy if Bali is where you clear immigration. Who needs what is untangled in do I need an Indonesia arrival card, and the system-wide picture is in our complete Indonesia arrival card guide.

Frequently Asked Questions