RI Closes Borders to Indian Travelers

The Government of Indonesia has decided to temporarily suspend granting visas to any foreign national who have recently visited India to thwart the spread of COVID-19 from that highly infectious area of South Asia.

On Friday, 23 April 2021, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartono, told a press conference in Jakarta that the Government is taking several actions related to India that include, effective 25 April 2021, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights will deny visas for Indian citizens until further notice.

Meanwhile, Indonesian nationals who have been residents in India or visited India within the preceding 14-day period are only permitted re-entry to Indonesia if they follow strict COVID-19 testing, quarantine, and overall health protocols.” Indonesia nationals must undergo a 14-day quarantine performed at a designated hotel that differs from standard hotels. They will be required to have a negative PCR test result obtained 2 x 24 hours before departing India for Indonesia and another negative result from a test done on their arrival. They will then undergo a 14-day quarantine that will end with another negative PCR test,” explained Airlangga.

The cost of the testing and quarantine will be the responsibility of the Indonesian traveler.

The Indonesian Government is also tightening all air-sea-land access points from India to Indonesia.

The closure of travel boundaries between India and Indonesia comes after India reported 15,930,965 cases of COVID-19 through 22 April 2021 and a resulting 184,657 deaths.