Job Discussion Forums

[Johnny Smoggins]

Hey, I got a question. I'm checking the possibilities of working in Indonesia for a while, and I've been told that if I want to leave, I'll need some kind of Exit Permit in order to get out of the country. Something referred to as an "EPO." Is this true? Are all foreigners required to have this exit permit before they can leave, or what?

Many thanks for your advice.

Johnny

[laughing_magpie06]

yes you are correct,
you must get the approval and a letter from your company to leave the country. some schools will ask for a deposit of around 8 million before they will give you this-they are scared you will escape back to your country of choice. the exit permit wil cost you between 400,000 to 800,000 rp depending on the agent you use. it is next to impossible for a foreigner not to use an agent unless you want to pay thru the nose in bribes.

keep these points in mind before making a decision.

[wannaBguru]

exit permit only...... typically issued at the end of the contract (not renewing) or if one party decides to break the contract. the expat cannot re-enter on that visa, but can come back as a tourist or on another company's sponsorship. typically companies do not require any deposit because u are no longer employed by them. your company has to produce many documents, including the return of the blue book, in oder for the EPO to be issued. havent heard of anyone being able to do this without the agent from the company, but anything is possible in indo i guess.

if u want to leave and return during the visa period, u will need a single or multi-reentry permit. u have to pay the fiscal on the way out, but u are allowed to re-enter the country on the same visa as long as it hasnt expired. singles run 250 to 400 depending on the location of your immigration office and agent fees. multi re-entry are usually double the price. none of my companies have ever requested a deposit to ensure my return. but if some company was going to require one like that of magpie, it would probably be on this type of permit, not the EPO.

as far as i know, this only applys to 1 year work visas, not social or tourist visas.

also, u gotta pay the fiscal (tax) to leave if u are on a work visa.
million by air
500,000 by water
250,000 by land

[Johnny Smoggins]

WannaB and Magpie: Thank you very much for the information.

Zhuhai just became suddenly more attractive than ever!

Best to you

Johnny

[guruengerish]

Seems to me the Indonesians don't really want foreigners in their country at all, or else they see them as another source of money.

If you're over 26 and under 55 and get a teaching job, it will cost Rp1 million when you go on an overseas holiday (and that includes Malaysia and Singapore) and as the above has pointed out, an exit visa is not cheap either.

As I had an ailing mother at the time, I purchased a mulitiple entry/exit visa so that I could leave rapidly. The school did not require a deposit, but that varies from person to person.

[TEAM_PAPUA]

Indonesians also need to pay the 1.000.000rp fiscal tax when leaving the country.

Before a change in the laws, Indonesian citizens had to obtain an exit permit before leaving Indonesia - only foreigners here on non-tourist visas must obtain this permit now (unless you are a managing director)

The EPO is stamp in your passport. You get this when your sponsor cancels your work permit before you leave the country.

It is quite a coincidence that this topic has come up now, as I was talking to a teacher who planned to leave Indonesia without an EPO. He left yesterday morning with the plan to tell immigration he had a 'family emergency' - I don't know if he made it, I'll let you know when I know.

What are they going to do, arrest him for wanting to go home?

[wannaBguru]

here is something that i have been told but don't know if it is true or not. maybe TP or someone else can help out.

i have been told that the fiscal tax is supposed to be a deposit for any unpaid income taxes, in case the bule or indo person fails to return to indo. this is used to offset any taxes u might owe. in theory, u can save the receipt and give it to your school and get reimbursed, providing that the school has paid your income taxes.... about 30% of your salary. if they have paid your income taxes as they promise in their contracts, u will have a tax payer id number.

this year, my school gives me a proper pay slip showing my taxpayer id number and the amount that they have remitted to the income tax division. theoretically, i should be able to get my fiscal money back. sooner or later i will go on holiday out of the country. will let u know if i get reimbured or not. in the meantime, if anyone can shed some light on this, it would be appreciated.

[gugelhupf]

Don't even think about it, Wannabe! There is a warning on the expat.or.id website about it. An application for refund is likely to result in a visitation by long-fingernailed 'inspectors' from the tax office who are almost bound to find an 'irregularity' in your ever-so-complex tax affairs and extract a 'gift' for their silence. More trouble than it's worth. Mind you, if your school believes you are determined to get a refund they might even stump up the money themselves just to avoid a visitation from the aforementioned peril in tan uniforms.

[rayman]

My school pays its expat staff the 1 million fiskal on redemption of our receipt. They only pay out for a maximum of two per year though. I'm not sure if that's an in-house thing or government policy.

I've been told that TBI pay their staffs fiskal as well. Definately hold onto your receipt and hit your school up for it. You've personally got nothing to lose.

[Johnny Smoggins]

Sheesh! This kind of red tape, Indonesia just toppled several notches below Iceland, North Korea and Afghanistan on my list. I might be persuaded to change my mind, but they'd have to throw in a nice, personalized tour of bombed-out night clubs and good seats at the next Muslim pep rally.

Thanks for the warning, guys.

Johnny

[happy_me]

The red tape is here to make a buck and keep some out and others in, just get use to it or go! its worse here as bulas have more money, but once they know you, not bad. The pisser for me is the air fair drict to SG is 500us orther ways a bit less but need 10hrs to do it

[TEAM_PAPUA]

[derya]

this past august when I was leaving for malaysia, the guys at the immigration asked 1juta fiskal...i played the stupid and I said i did not know about it and i ddn't have that much money.. i speak a bit bahasa and i asked if it' possible to 'kurang' it a bit....well after a bit of bargaining i ended up paying 600,000Rp...isn't that funny? like buying tomatoes from the market....i've never tried that before but intend to try again next time

has anyone experinced such thing before?

[Dave Nesbit]

Regarding Fiscal...I've never actually been in a position where I should have paid it but whenever I've left the country I've just walked straight past the "Fiscal Check" desk and never even been challenged. In fact, the last time I went out there was not a soul on the immigration desk at all. I just waltzed through and actually had to hang around waiting for someone to finish his coco-pops and come and stamp me out

[rayman]

Yup, I've got the discount before. This was at Bali airport and to the immigration officer. Rp600 000 was the price he offered as well. I seriously doubt you coud get the discount at the actual fiskal counter though. If you want to try it, just walk past the fiskal counter and fiskal check desk and go straight to immigration. Ask him if you can just pay the Rp600 000 (in a more discrete manner though of course). That seems to be the going rate. I say 'him', because I've heard the women immigration agents are less enthusiastic about the process. Of course, you won't get a receipt doing it this way. So only worth it if you're employer won't redeem the Rp1 juta.