The government is working to formulate a new type of visa for the digital nomad. This type of visa will later facilitate tourists who want to work remotely from Indonesia. Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said that the progress was still under further discussion.
He said that the issuance of this digital nomad visa was to respond to the flow of digitalization as well as to facilitate the changing work patterns of employees after the pandemic.
“This is the top of the priority list, we want significant progress, according to my communication with the Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna,” he said in the Ministry of Tourism’s Weekly Press Briefing, Monday (25/7/2022).
The plan is to offer digital nomad visas for remote workers, which is expected to boost the economy of destinations such as Bali for a long time.
The visa will be valid for 5 years, in contrast to the visa on arrival (VoA) which has a maximum duration of 180 days. This visa grant aims to attract digital nomads who now work a lot in Bali. The plan is that the recipients of this visa will be exempt from taxes with a record that they do not earn income in Indonesia.
it can be seen that, due to the pandemic, the work pattern of employees who originally had to be in the office, can now work from anywhere. Not a few of them work remotely from home or while on vacation.
Digital nomads are also emerging because of an increase in the types of work that can be done boldly.
Sandiaga explained that the nomad digital visa policy is also aligned in supporting the achievement of the target of 1.5 million foreign tourists to travel to Bali.
He also hopes that the quality of foreign tourist visits to Bali can reach between 50 and 60 percent, with a longer stay and a higher quality of spending or amount of spending.
The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy noted that the expenditures made while foreign tourists were in Indonesia included 40 percent for accommodation, 27.5 percent for food and drink, 7.89 percent for spending, and 4.9 percent for health.
Some remote jobs such as marketing consultant, software engineer, programmer, blog writer, content creator, graphic designer, and data analyst are increasingly in demand. On the other hand, the origin of this company can also save operational costs by allowing employees to work outside the office (become nomads).
According to a report by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), 25 countries have now adopted digital nomad visas since Estonia first introduced them in 2019.
According to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, there are around 13,000 tourists who fall into the digital nomad category from January-August 2022. The Canggu area in Bali is the main destination for the digital nomads, followed by Jimbaran and Uluwatu.
Meanwhile, the five countries with the highest contributors of foreign tourists to Bali are Australia, Singapore, England, the United States, and France.
