Indonesia lets you change planes in the international transit area without a visa. To leave the airport, nearly every passport this guide covers needs a visa on arrival, which you can buy online before you fly as an e-VOA.
No visa is needed to change planes in Jakarta airport's international transit area, on one ticket with your bags checked through. To leave the airport, US, UK, EU, Canadian, Australian and Indian passports need a visa on arrival: IDR 500,000 for up to 30 days, paid at a counter when you land or bought online beforehand as an e-VOA. Everyone entering Indonesia also fills in the All Indonesia arrival card.
If you stay airside
You can change planes at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) without a visa, as long as you stay in the international transit area. Indonesia’s immigration directorate says so plainly: no visa is needed if you don’t leave it.
- On one ticket, with your bags checked through, follow the transfer signs instead of the ones for immigration. Terminal 3, where Garuda Indonesia and many foreign airlines fly from, has a transfer desk and its own security check for connecting passengers.
- Changing terminals. International flights use Terminal 3 or Terminal 2, depending on the airline. If your two flights leave from different terminals, ask your airline before you fly whether you’ll pass immigration to get between them. If you will, you need the visa on arrival or e-VOA below.
- The arrival card. It isn’t stated whether passengers who stay airside need the All Indonesia arrival card. It takes a few minutes and needs only your passport and flight details, so if you’re not sure, fill it in.
- Connecting to a domestic flight means entering Indonesia at Jakarta, so the rules for leaving the airport apply.
If you want to leave the airport
Leaving the airport, even for a few hours, means entering Indonesia, so you need the right visa for your passport.
| Passport | What you need to leave Jakarta airport |
|---|---|
| US, UK, Canada, Australia | Visa on arrival or e-VOA, IDR 500,000, up to 30 days |
| EU and other Schengen countries | Visa on arrival or e-VOA, IDR 500,000, up to 30 days |
| India | Visa on arrival or e-VOA, IDR 500,000, up to 30 days |
| Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and the rest of South-East Asia; Hong Kong, Macau, Türkiye, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Suriname, Kazakhstan and Belarus | No visa, up to 30 days |
Whatever your passport, everyone entering fills in the All Indonesia arrival card.
The e-VOA and the visa on arrival
They’re the same visa, bought two ways: a single-entry visitor visa for up to 30 days, at IDR 500,000.
- Online, before you fly (the e-VOA). Register on Indonesia’s official e-Visa site, evisa.imigrasi.go.id, upload your passport’s photo page and a recent photo, and pay by Visa, Mastercard or JCB card. It’s emailed to you within 24 hours, so apply at least 48 hours before you fly, and use it within 90 days. This is the one to get: you go straight to immigration instead of queuing to pay first.
- At the airport (the visa on arrival). Pay at the bank counter in the immigration area, then show the receipt at the visa-on-arrival desk, where the immigration officer puts the visa in your passport.
- Either way, your passport must be valid for at least 6 months from the day you arrive, and you need a return or onward ticket. Everyone needs their own visa, children included.
The All Indonesia arrival card
Since 1 October 2025, every passenger arriving from abroad completes an arrival declaration on the All Indonesia website (allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id) or app, from 3 days before landing. It covers immigration, customs and health in one form and gives you a QR code to show on arrival. Without it, you’re processed by hand, which takes longer.
Visiting without a visa
Citizens of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam, and of Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Macau, Peru, Suriname and Türkiye, can visit for up to 30 days without a visa. That stay can’t be extended, which makes no difference on a layover.
If you’re on separate tickets
On separate tickets, Jakarta isn’t a connection: you collect your bags, leave the arrivals hall and check in again for your next flight. That means passing immigration and entering Indonesia even if you never leave the airport, so you need the visa on arrival or e-VOA if your passport requires one, and the arrival card. Allow for the queue, and for checking in again before the counters close.
At the border
The airport publishes no queue times. With an e-VOA and the arrival card done, you go straight to the immigration desk; without the e-VOA, you pay at the bank counter first. After immigration and baggage reclaim, the arrival card’s QR code also covers customs. Allow about an hour and a quarter from landing to sitting on the airport train, including the Skytrain to the station; see getting into the city.
Before you go landside
- Check that your bags are checked through to your final destination; if not, you’ll collect them after immigration.
- Keep your onward boarding pass on your phone or on paper.
- Be at BNI City station 3 hours 10 minutes before your flight, which gets you back to the airport 90 minutes before departure. See getting into the city.