Indonesia Drops Covid-Test Requirement For Vaccinated Incoming Travelers

Indonesia’s president on Tuesday announced that the country would drop the last remaining covid-travel hurdle for fully vaccinated visitors.

Travelers to Indonesia are no longer required to have a predeparture PCR-RT test within 48 hours of departure to the country, effective May 18, 2022, per covid task force spokesman.

You can access Indonesia’s page for incoming travel here.

Note that this regulation is NOT in effect until it is officially published in a government gazette in Indonesia. It will also take from a few hours to a couple of days to disseminate to airlines that enforce this requirement when checking in/boarding a fight.

UPDATE: Indonesia has now released the Surat Edaran confirming the policy change in regards to predeparture testing:

Surat Edaran (Bahasa)

Download (PDF, 569KB)

Surat Edaran (Google Translate)

Download (PDF, 417KB)

Here’s an excerpt of CNA:

Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced on Tuesday (May 17) that the country will no longer require vaccinated travellers from overseas to present a negative COVID-19 test upon entering the country.

“Domestic and international travellers who are fully vaccinated no longer need to take PCR (polymerase chain reaction) or antigen swab tests,” he announced on the presidential palace’s YouTube channel.

Speaking at a separate press conference, spokesman for Indonesia’s COVID-19 task force, Wiku Adisasmito said that the new policy will take effect on Wednesday.

“The instructions will be elaborated in a number of regulations and will be effective on May 18,” he said.

Conclusion

Like most Southeast Asian nations, Indonesia has quickly relaxed entry requirements this year, and this predeparture test was the last hurdle still in place.

However, visitors need to be fully vaccinated or spend five nights in quarantine and pay for two PCR-RT tests.

I am scheduled to enter Bali on Saturday and have planned to do the PCR-RT test tomorrow in Bangkok. If the official circular is released today or tomorrow morning, I can skip it.