Indonesia will soon start offering a visa that will allow remote workers to live there tax-free as long as their earnings come from outside the country.
According to Bloomberg, Indonesia's tourism minister Sandiago Uno announced the five-year "digital nomad visa" earlier this month, telling reporters that he hopes that the latest move will bring in up to 3.6 million overseas travellers and create one million jobs for Indonesians.
Mr Uno said that the proposed remote working visa will mean freelancers across the globe can live on islands like Bali, provided their earnings come from companies outside of Indonesia.
"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," the Indonesian minister told the outlet.
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Further, Mr Uno revealed that the decision was based on research that showed Indonesia was "top of mind" for 95% of the remote workers that took part in the survey. He also informed that similar plans for a digital nomad visa were in the works last year, however, had to be put on pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Now with the pandemic handled and all the ministries getting involved and cooperating from the health side to the immigration office, we believe that this is an opportune time to relaunch this idea," Mr Uno added.
Currently, there are a variety of visas available to remote workers wanting to visit Indonesia, including Visa on Arrival (VoA), Tourist of Cultural Visa and the country's Free Visa. However, these only last between 30 and 180 days.
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The new visa scheme will allow its holders to stay for as long as five years without paying taxes but only if they don't earn their income within Indonesia.
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