- Indonesia tightened its e-visa system with new two-factor authentication and stricter enforcement against unauthorized influencer activities.
- Authorities warned that unpaid influencer collaborations with commercial value are prohibited on tourist visas starting May 2026.
- Over 2,000 stay permits were cancelled recently as Indonesia intensifies scrutiny on visa misuse and international cybercrime syndicates.
(INDONESIA) – Indonesia’s Directorate General of Immigration tightened its e-visa system on May 23, 2026 and warned that unpaid influencer work with commercial value is not permitted on a tourist visa, as authorities widened scrutiny of cybercrime and visa misuse.
The new e-visa protocol requires two-factor authentication through one-time passwords sent to a traveler’s registered email address. The agency said the change is intended to prevent account takeover and online fraud in the electronic visa system.
Officials also clarified on May 23, 2026 that unpaid influencer collaborations and content creation will face strict scrutiny under the B1 tourist visa category. If those activities carry “economic or commercial value,” immigration authorities treat them as prohibited under a tourist visa.
The warning followed a broader policy review announced earlier in May. Hendarsam Marantoko, Director General of Immigration, said on May 13, 2026, “Cases of foreigners involved in illegal activities, including those coming from countries granted visa-free entry facilities, give rise to a need for evaluation of our policies.”
Indonesia has begun a formal review of its visa-free entry regime, known as Bebas Visa Kunjungan, with attention on Southeast Asian nations. Officials said they want to ensure that travelers entering under those facilities are “beneficial.”
Enforcement figures released for the first months of the year show the scale of that campaign. Between January 1 and May 5, 2026, immigration authorities carried out 6,779 administrative actions, and approximately 2,026 stay permits were cancelled or ended in deportation.
Two large cybercrime cases drove much of the official messaging in May. On May 13, 2026, authorities detained 320 foreign nationals in West Jakarta for links to an international online gambling syndicate.
Five days earlier, on May 8, 2026, officers arrested 210 foreign nationals in Batam for alleged involvement in investment fraud. Those operations came days before Hendarsam’s statement on reviewing visa policy.
Indonesia also highlighted the use of its automated border controls in an unrelated case. On April 23, 2026, the autogate system at a Jakarta airport intercepted an American fugitive identified as AJP, who was wanted for murder and was later deported.
Taken together, the measures affect several categories of travelers, especially visitors whose trips mix leisure with online promotion. A free hotel stay, meal, service, or other benefit tied to social media promotion now sits squarely in an enforcement zone if officials judge that it has commercial value.
That leaves little room for the informal arrangements that became common in tourism hubs, including Bali, where visitors often exchange posts, reels, or branded content for free accommodation or services. Immigration authorities now treat those exchanges as activity that can cross from tourism into work, even when no salary changes hands.
E-visa applicants face a separate compliance issue: account security. The Directorate General of Immigration has directed travelers to use the official e-visa portal and complete the new authentication step through the registered email account used in the application.
Authorities also warned against the use of fixers in visa processing. A lapse in account security, or a visa application handled outside the official system, can lead to visa cancellation and entry bans.
Americans still have access to the electronic visa on arrival, or e-VOA, for travel to Indonesia. Any stay extension, however, requires biometric verification under a hybrid requirement introduced in 2025.
Indonesia’s actions landed in the same month as a harder line from U.S. immigration authorities on several fronts. On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued a memorandum reminding officers that adjustment of status through Form I-485 is a matter of administrative grace, not a guaranteed right, and instructed them to apply stricter vetting to applicants who overstayed visas.
Another U.S. change takes effect on May 29, 2026. DHS will impose a $100 filing fee for asylum seekers and a $102 recurring annual fee for pending cases.
The U.S. State Department had already widened screening for some temporary visitors before those May actions. Expanded social media vetting for B-1/B-2 applicants took effect in October 2025, adding to processing times for travelers from high-risk regions.
Those U.S. measures do not form part of Indonesia’s visa rules, but they shape the wider travel environment for people moving between stricter immigration systems. Travelers who once treated visitor visas as flexible documents for mixed-purpose trips now face more screening at the application stage and closer checks after arrival.
Indonesia’s immigration agency has directed the public to its official channels for updates, including the Indonesian Immigration Newsroom. U.S. travelers checking country conditions can consult the State Department’s Indonesia advisory page, while applicants tracking U.S. policy changes can monitor the USCIS newsroom.
The practical effect inside Indonesia is already visible in the agency’s enforcement record: thousands of administrative actions in just over four months, more than five hundred foreign nationals swept up in two cybercrime raids, and a visa-free entry regime under formal review. At the same time, the new two-factor authentication rule has turned the registered email account behind every e-visa application into a gatekeeper for travel itself.
