I

am a foreigner who has lived in Indonesia, mainly Bali, for over 20 years. I am now retired and I receive a modest pension, which allows me to live comfortably here. I have been married to a Javanese woman for almost 15 years.

We speak Indonesian at home, and I have broken most ties with my country of birth.

Living as a foreigner in Indonesia is not always easy and even less easy in Bali. I have no privileges whatsoever for being married to an Indonesian national. I must renew my “retired person’s visa” once a year. I am not allowed to approach the immigration department directly but must apply at via “agent”.

The actual cost of obtaining visas is not published, but I know that I pay almost ten times the official amount.

Last year, it was announced that a new law has been passed, allowing foreigners married to local people to obtain a long-term visa and giving them the same rights as locals. The local immigration department and their agents claim that this law is not active yet and cannot, or will not, provide any information about it.

The agent suggested that I am now eligible for a five-year retired person’s visa at a cost of approximately Rp 30 million (US$3,280).

I have lived with this situation for quite some time and have to continue, having no option but to accept it.

There is a major problem though. Foreigners in Bali, regardless if they are tourists or long-term residents, must pay anywhere from seven-to 10-times the local fees of doctors and hospitals. I was told that having a “retired person’s visa” would give me the same rights as locals.

In practice, this is not true. My wife recently saw a doctor at one of the largest hospitals here and paid a fee of Rp 60,000. A few days later, I needed a doctor at the same place. After having presented my visa, I was told the doctor’s fee was Rp 400,000 and I had to pay it in advance.

I asked to see the manager who told me that the fee I was given was already “discounted”. I can also live with this if it occurs very occasionally. What frightens me and my wife is that since I am now quite advanced in age, I may, one day, need medical assistance on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.

The costs involved would bankrupt us within a very short time.

In my younger years I traveled extensively but never encountered a country (in this case it is the province of Bali) where foreigners, especially those who had made the country their home, were treated in this manner.

This terrible treatment appears to be a Bali specialty only. To avoid the ridiculously-high cost to have some dental work done, I selected a dentist in Surabaya. I was treated as a local and paid the same price as a local. I now see old friends disappearing either to Java or back to their home countries. They simply have had it with the unfair treatment.

This is a warning for visitors to the Island of the Gods. If there are readers who have further news about the new regulations regarding foreigners married to locals I would appreciate hearing about it.

Jam
Bali