Your next trip starts here.
Your cart is empty. Choose a destination to get started.
Browse destinationsThe three things, kept apart
This is where most confusion lives, so here it is as a table.
| Item | What it is | When | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Indonesia Arrival Card | The arrival declaration covering immigration, customs, health and quarantine | From three days before arrival | Free |
| Visa on arrival or e-VOA | Permission to enter | e-VOA at least 48 hours before travel, or VOA on arrival at certain entry points | A fee applies |
| Bali tourist levy | A levy on foreign tourists entering Bali | Paid separately | IDR 150,000 per person |
Doing one of these does not do the others. People arrive having paid the levy and not filled in the arrival card, or having done the arrival card and assumed it covered the visa. They are three systems.
The 72 hour window
The arrival card opens three days before arrival. Smartraveller describes that as within 72 hours of your travel. Same practical window as Thailand’s.
If you try earlier, it will not go through. That is normal, and it is worth knowing because the moment a government form refuses a submission is the moment people go looking for an alternative site, which is how paid look-alike sites find their customers. There is no reason to pay anyone to submit this.
If you are also doing the e-VOA through All Indonesia, complete the arrival card first, then apply for the e-VOA at least 48 hours before travel on Smartraveller’s guidance. The site keeps the two tasks together, but they remain different requirements.
What it replaced
Worth a sentence, because it explains why older advice is wrong.
The All Indonesia system consolidated arrival reporting that four different agencies used to handle separately, including the electronic customs declaration and the health and quarantine forms. If you travelled to Bali before and remember filling in a separate e-CD, that is the process this replaced.
Which means advice written before late 2025 is out of date. If a guide tells you to complete an electronic customs declaration as a separate step, it predates the change.
Do you need a travel eSIM for it?
No.
Complete it at home on wifi within the 72-hour window and screenshot the QR code. Nothing about the form needs mobile data, and having a travel eSIM does not change the arrival process.
The screenshot is worth taking regardless. Ngurah Rai at 11pm with a full flight ahead of you is not the moment to discover the wifi is congested.
If you want working data when you land, for the driver, the villa address and maps, that is a different question and we have answered it in the best eSIM for Bali.
For the equivalent forms in Thailand, New Zealand and Japan, our digital arrival card guide keeps the current rules side by side.
Questions people actually ask
Is the All Indonesia Arrival Card required?
Yes. Smartraveller states all international passengers are required to complete it online within 72 hours of travel.
Is it free?
Yes, and if a site is charging you to submit it, you are not on the government system.
Is the arrival card the same as the Bali tourist levy?
No. The levy is IDR 150,000 per person for foreign tourists entering Bali and is separate from the visa and from the arrival card.
Is it the same as the visa on arrival?
No. If you are applying for an e-VOA online, Smartraveller says to do it at least 48 hours before travel.
How early can I complete it?
From three days before your arrival in Indonesia.
Do I still need to do the e-customs declaration?
The All Indonesia system consolidated the separate declarations, including the electronic customs declaration, into one form.
Does it apply outside Bali?
Yes. It applies to international passengers arriving by air or sea across Indonesia, not only Bali. Land arrivals follow separate customs guidance.
Do I need internet in Indonesia to use it?
No. Complete it before you travel and screenshot the code.
Sources
The requirement to complete the All Indonesia Arrival Card online within 72 hours (3 days) of travel, the order for the combined arrival-card and e-VOA flow, the guidance to apply for an e-VOA at least 48 hours before travel, and the IDR 150,000 Bali tourist levy being separate from the e-VOA or VOA, from Smartraveller’s Indonesia travel advice, checked 3 September 2026. The launch across Indonesia’s international airports and seaports, three-day window, and integration of immigration, customs, health and quarantine are from the Indonesian Government’s All Indonesia announcement. The QR and separate land-arrival guidance are from Indonesian Customs. Both Indonesian sources were checked 3 September 2026. Government requirements change without notice; check the official page before you travel.
Written by Lachlan, who runs The SIM Shop from Brisbane and answers the support email himself.
