A Bali visa is an Indonesian visa: Bali has no visa of its own, so you enter under the rules of Indonesia's Directorate General of Immigration. For a medical elective or nursing placement, the purpose of your stay decides the category, not its length. The visa on arrival covers tourism, while a hospital placement for your degree fits the C22A academic internship visa, which your Indonesian sponsor applies for.
Researched and editorially reviewed by Nils-Andre Stritt, travel4med. Nils-Andre organises placements and pre-departure preparation for our four destinations, including Bali.
A Bali visa is permission from the Republic of Indonesia to enter and stay for a stated purpose. Indonesia's immigration directorate lists 110 visa types in 11 groups, from tourist visas to internship, work and education visas. Which one you need depends on what you will do, how long you stay and your nationality.
Bali is a busy front door. Statistics Indonesia's Bali office counted 6,948,754 direct foreign arrivals between January and December 2025, 9.72% more than in 2024, as reported by the Antara news agency. Almost all of them are tourists, which is why most Bali visa advice online is written for a beach holiday, not for a ward round.
That is the gap this guide closes. Our Bali destination page explains the placement at RSU Bangli Hospital, a teaching hospital of Udayana University, and our guides to a clinical clerkship in Bali and nursing in Bali describe the hospital day. Here we deal only with the paperwork at the border.
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For a supervised placement that counts towards your degree, the fitting category is C22A, the "Visa Kunjungan Pemagangan Akademik" (academic internship visit visa). Indonesian immigration describes its purpose as an internship at an education institution, company or other place to fulfil the academic requirements of education abroad. That describes a medical elective, nursing placement or final-year block.
The official C22A page sets out the rules in Indonesian. In plain English:
Two neighbours on the visa list help you see the line. C22B, the "competency internship" visa, is for internships and skills development at companies, offices or other workplaces, outside an academic requirement. C1, the single-entry tourist visa, allows tourism and personal development and needs no sponsor, but it is still a tourist visa.
Older blogs and some AI answers still talk about a socio-cultural visa or the B211A. The current official list does not show a B211A or a "sosial budaya" category at all. If a forum tells you to use one, it is out of date. Your medical school decides separately whether the placement counts, so get that approval in parallel (our medical elective application timeline shows when).
No, not if you go by the official purpose lists. The visa on arrival (index B1) covers tourism, family visits, meetings, incentive trips, conventions, exhibitions and transit. The UK government adds that the visa on arrival "is not suitable for all business activities, volunteering, influencer work, or creating commercial online content". A clinical placement is none of the listed purposes.
It's tempting, we know. The Bali visa on arrival is easy: IDR 500,000, no sponsor, 30 days from arrival and one extension to a total of 60 days. You can also apply for it online as an e-VOA. The official eVisa page lists 87 eligible countries, says you can apply 14 days before travel and recommends applying at least 48 hours before departure; the UK government tells British travellers to apply at least one week ahead.
But the purpose test applies to the e-VOA too. The eVisa portal limits this visitor visa to tourism, government visits, business meetings, goods purchasing and transit. So "is it better to get a Bali visa online or on arrival?" is the right question for a holiday and the wrong one for a hospital placement. For you, the question is: which category matches what I will do on the ward?
A C22A internship visa costs IDR 3,000,000 for a 60 day stay or IDR 4,000,000 for a 180 day stay, set by Indonesian immigration. At the European Central Bank rate of 5 November 2026 (1 EUR = 20,281.15 IDR), that is about 148 EUR or 197 EUR. The visa on arrival costs IDR 500,000, about 25 EUR.
The C22A amount is made up of two parts. For 60 days it is a visa fee of IDR 1,000,000 plus a "Verification II" charge of IDR 2,000,000; for 180 days, IDR 2,000,000 plus the same IDR 2,000,000. Your sponsor receives a billing code after submitting the application, and payment runs through designated banks.
| Bali visa or charge | Fee in IDR | About in EUR | Stay | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 visa on arrival (tourism) | 500,000 | 25 | 30 days, one extension to 60 | Directorate General of Immigration |
| C1 tourist visa | 1,000,000 | 49 | 60 days, extensions to 180 | Directorate General of Immigration |
| C22A academic internship, 60 days | 3,000,000 | 148 | 60 days | Directorate General of Immigration |
| C22A academic internship, 180 days | 4,000,000 | 197 | 180 days, extensions to 12 months | Directorate General of Immigration |
| Bali tourist levy (unless exempt) | 150,000 | 7 | once per trip | Bali Provincial Government |
The EUR column is our conversion for orientation only. Your card or bank uses its own rate, and if you think in another currency, convert from the rupiah figure. Our Bali currency guide explains cash, cards and ATMs once you're there.
Start your Bali visa preparation about two months before you fly. Indonesian immigration processes a C22A in five working days after payment, but the steps before it take longer: the placement agreement, your university letter, the sponsor's application and the vaccines. These seven steps follow the order in which documents become available.
Doing this for another destination as well? Our Zanzibar visa guide and our visa guide for Sri Lanka and Nepal cover the other three, and the packing list for a clinical internship abroad helps with the folder you carry.
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Up to 180 days from arrival on a C22A, according to Indonesian immigration. Your sponsor can extend it online in steps of 180 days, but your total stay may not exceed 12 months. You can choose a 60 day or a 180 day stay when the sponsor applies, and the fee follows that choice.
That is far more room than the Bali visa on arrival, which ends at 60 days even with its one extension. It also covers a long final-year or practical-year block, which international students can do with us in Bali.
Overstaying is expensive. The UK government warns of an overstay fine of 1 million rupiah a day, about 49 EUR, and immigration can do more than fine you. Put your exit date in your calendar on day one, and if your placement might run longer, ask your sponsor about the extension early, not in your last week.
Besides the Bali visa, plan for four more checks: the All Indonesia arrival card, the Bali tourist levy, your vaccinations and your insurance. The UK government lists the first two for visitors to Bali; the last two are on you, and they take the longest to arrange.
All Indonesia arrival card. The UK government says you should complete the online customs and health declaration within 72 hours of arrival, and that the card is "a service free of charge". Use the official All Indonesia site and ignore lookalike sites that ask for money.
Bali tourist levy. The Bali provincial government charges foreign tourists IDR 150,000 per person, once per trip. Holders of some non-tourist visas are exempt but must apply through the Love Bali system first. Our Bali tourist tax guide explains the exemption step by step.
Vaccinations and insurance. Neither is part of the Bali visa, but both belong in the same folder. Our guides to vaccinations for a medical elective abroad and medical elective insurance cover what to book and when.
German-speaking readers get the same topic framed for their own universities on our sister sites: the Swiss guide to the Indonesia visa for a placement in Bali and the Austrian guide to the Bali visa for a clinical placement, both in German. travel4med belongs to the futuredoctor group ecosystem of medical education services.
We place medical, nursing and physician assistant students at RSU Bangli Hospital, with accommodation in Ubud. According to our Bali page, medical students are registered officially as elective students, and our team goes through the entry formalities with you as part of your trip preparation. After booking you receive a step by step guide.
Planning your placement in Bali? We organise medical electives, clinical placements including the final-year placement, nursing placements, physician assistant placements and observerships for doctors in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bali and Zanzibar. We'll tell you which Bali visa documents you need and when. Book a free consultation or compare all our destinations.
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The Bali currency is the Indonesian rupiah (IDR). See the euro rate, every banknote, card or cash tips and the customs cash limit before your Bali placement.
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