That coworking space 'friend' who told me to ignore visa rules cost me a trip to Bali

Met this guy at a hostel in Chiang Mai last year. He said he'd been hopping countries on tourist visas for 3 years and never had an issue. Told me not to bother with a digital nomad visa. I listened to him. Got flagged at immigration in Denpasar and sent back after 48 hours. Lost my apartment deposit and a month of work. Has anyone else had bad advice from someone who got lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

victor_carter511mo ago

Three years is exactly the cutoff where they tighten the rules at Ngurah Rai. I had a buddy who worked the system for 18 months on B211a extensions before they started asking for proof of onward travel and bank statements at every renewal. The guys bragging about three years either had a special connection or left out the part where they paid a fixer to sort out the stamps.

noah_walker161mo ago

Take that story as a free lesson in how dumb it is to trust someone whose main achievement is not getting caught yet. I had a guy in a Medellin coworking space brag about working on a tourist visa for two years, then he got deported six months later and lost all his clients. These people are just lucky until they aren't, and they never tell you about the fines or the bans that come later. Always check the actual government website, not some random backpacker's advice.