Indonesia is wooing remote workers to luxuriate in Bali's lifestyle. Photo / Getty Images
Indonesia is hoping remote workers will eat, pray, log-on to their new scheme to allow expats to live 'tax free' in the islands.
A new 'digital nomad' visa has been proposed to encourage travellers to spend longer in the tourism starved resort islands.
Bali is back online and looking to
advertise itself to travellers working in the tech-startups area and other areas lending themselves to remote work.
The region hopes to attract 3.6 million overseas travellers back and Tourism Minister Sandiaga Uno says that spiritual getaways, eco-tourism and a five-year 'special visa' will be integral to this.
"In the past, the three S was: sun, sea and sand. We're moving it to serenity, spirituality and sustainability. This way we're getting better quality and better impact to the local economy," Uno told the South China Morning Post.
While the lifestyle will be a draw to the islands, including Bali, there is an added sweetener for freelancers. The visa would allow expats to stay tax exempt, providing their income made from remote work is not earned within Indonesia.
"Now with the pandemic handled and all the ministries getting involved and cooperating from the health side to the immigrations office, we believe that this is an opportune time to relaunch this idea," Uno said.
Indonesia is jumping on a valuable trend with tech companies, including Airbnb and Twitter, recently announcing their employees would be entitled to work from anywhere. Having scrapped most Covid-19 related travel restrictions the country is looking to cash in on the remote work trend.
Bali recorded 111,000 tourist arrivals, the highest since the pandemic began. Uno says they hope to host flexible workers and give them the option to stay longer.
Bohemian Bali has long been popular with remote workers. However, there have been some high profile cases of visitors being deported for abusing the terms of their visas. In 2021 American Kristen Gray was deported, accused of working on a tourist visa.
Self described "digital nomad", Gray had been self publishing guides to the Indonesian Island as an affordable, LGBT-friendly destination for expats working remotely during the pandemic.
