After 5 years on a Pension Kitas lansia (Kitas Lansia), I am eligible to obtain a Kitap Visa. Kantor Immigration is saying the application cost is 25 juta. My highly crooked agent is saying the total price is 35 juta.. which includes sponsor letters from a registered travel agent (Bali IDE) and a bunch of other stuff that all seem quite similar to what I have been paying previously for my Kitas Visa for a lot less money.

I've done a complete search of the Internet, including www.expat.org has no one seems to have any information about how much a Kitap should cost. A couple forums have said as little as 3 juta. Does anyone have any hands-on experience about obtaining a Kitap visa? I feel like I am a walking ATM machine. Places like Immigration, et. al. seem to be making up prices as they go along.

the price is probably correct, I'm afraid. KITAPs are a real circus; they literally just make it up as they go along. my company has done many KITAPs. process is never the same twice, and price has ranged from 10 million to 60 million.

solution? do it yourself. and good luck, jim.

The other solution seems to be to re-wind the Kitas process again by leaving the country. I am quite happy having my agent renew my Kitas every year for a standard fee.

The extra benefits of a Kitap seem to so limited and the path to get one so complicated, that it doesn't seem worth the headaches to process the Kitap by myself.

Thanks for your advice - it confirms what others on the Internet seem to be saying, ie, nobody knows the rules nor the cost.

I just renewed my KITAP last week, at South Jakarta Immigrasi office,.. cost was 3 juta and no hassle at all

cheers

Balibob - Did you travel to Jakarta from Bali - in other words, can you make this visa anywhere or only where you live?

Do you remember what the cost of the you first KITAP was? Is it a situation where the fisrt KITAP was expensive and the renewal was cheap?

ps,, thanks for the information - first really solid answer I've seen.

you may wish to re-read bb's message: he said KITAP *renewal*.

good luck, jim!

Yes, Jim... I saw that. I asked several questions of Balibob to get clarification on the entire procedure.



BTW, I heard on another forum that visas were your line of work. Can you give me any further hints?

I've got a local man with friends in both Immigration and Ka Hakiman(?) office in Lombok trying to shake out more details. I know the 3 juta is in the law, but there are other costs that seem to be totally discretionary.

yes, it is one of my more minor lines of work. thus the advice I gave you was fully qualified, and not cheap bar talk.



discretionary is an understatement. KITAP's are complete circus. if you want to save money, then you can definitely try doing it yourself, but be prepared to waste a *lot* of time. (time is what you pay agents for)

oh I knew I had seen this question before somewhere... on the BTF!!

ummm ... the btf?? what might that be??

oh www.balitravelforum.com nothing exciting

I just recognised the same question