To clear a foreign-flagged yacht into Indonesia via Bali, four things need to be arranged before you arrive at Benoa: an electronic vessel declaration lodged in Indonesia’s national clearance system (the successor to the old CAIT permit), customs temporary-import paperwork for the vessel itself, valid visas or visa approvals for every person on board, and a licensed Indonesian yacht agent appointed to coordinate the CIQP boarding, covering Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and the Harbourmaster, once you are alongside. If any one of these is missing, the usual result is days at anchor while officials reconcile your file.
Bali Yacht Concierge runs a dedicated clearance desk for exactly this sequence. We are a concierge and coordination desk, not a clearing agent ourselves: we brief you on what is required, collect the vessel and crew documents in one pass, place the work with licensed Indonesia yacht agents in Benoa, Labuan Bajo and Sorong, and track every lodgement until it is confirmed. By the time you make landfall at Benoa, the declaration is pre-lodged, the agent is booked, and the authorities are expecting your vessel.
This page walks through what Indonesian clearance actually involves, what our desk includes, what it realistically costs, and how to engage us. It is written for captains, owners and yacht managers planning a Bali entry followed by cruising toward Komodo or Raja Ampat.
What Indonesian Clearance Involves: The CIQP Sequence
Indonesia clears foreign yachts through four authorities, in a defined order, at a designated port of entry. Benoa Harbour in Bali is the most practical entry port for vessels arriving from Singapore, Australia or the Indian Ocean, both for its position and because the officials there process visiting yachts week in, week out.
The vessel declaration: what replaced CAIT
For years foreign yachts needed a CAIT (Clearance Approval for Indonesian Territory), a permit issued in Jakarta weeks before arrival. That system was retired in favour of an electronic vessel declaration lodged online before you enter Indonesian waters, recording the vessel, flag, tonnage, crew list and intended ports. The electronic system is far quicker than CAIT was, but it must be lodged accurately and matched to your actual arrival port: mismatched crew lists and wrong port codes remain the most common reason boardings are delayed. The appointed agent lodges the declaration; our desk verifies the data against your documents before submission.
Customs and temporary import of the yacht
The vessel enters under a temporary-import arrangement handled by Customs at the first port. The paperwork records the yacht as a visiting pleasure craft rather than a dutiable import, which is what allows it to cruise Indonesian waters without paying import duty. Customs officers board at Benoa, sight the vessel and endorse the file. The stamped documents stay aboard for the rest of the voyage, since harbourmasters at later ports will ask for them.
Immigration for crew and guests
Every person aboard clears immigration individually. Visa on arrival is available to many nationalities, but it suits short stays; crew on longer rotations, or owners planning several months around Komodo and Raja Ampat, are usually better served by an e-visa arranged before arrival. Our desk checks each passport and stay plan, then routes visa casework to the group’s Bali visa services desk. Complicated files, such as prior overstays, residence questions or mixed crew arrangements, go to the group’s legal and immigration concierge rather than being improvised at the dock.
Quarantine and port health
Port health reviews the maritime declaration of health and grants the vessel free pratique, the formal permission to interact with the shore. In practice this is quick when the paperwork is in order and slow when it is not, so we make sure the declaration, crew health details and vessel particulars are consistent across every document before officials see them.
The Harbourmaster and inter-port clearance
Clearance into Indonesia is not the end of the paperwork. Each leg between Indonesian ports, from Benoa to Labuan Bajo and Labuan Bajo to Sorong, requires port clearance from the departing harbourmaster before you sail. For a Bali-Komodo-Raja Ampat season this means formalities at every stop. Our desk lines up agents at each port in advance so the outbound clearance is ready when you want to leave, not requested after you have decided to.
What the Clearance Desk Includes
One engagement covers the full entry file and, if you want it, the whole cruising season:
- Document review against a single checklist: registration, tonnage certificate, insurance, crew list, passports and last port clearance, checked once, before anything is lodged.
- Appointment of a licensed Indonesian yacht agent at Benoa, with the vessel declaration pre-lodged before your arrival.
- Coordination of the CIQP boarding on arrival day, scheduled so the four authorities come in the right order.
- Visa routing for crew and guests through the group’s visa desk, timed to your crew-change dates.
- Inter-port clearance arranged ahead of each leg at Benoa, Labuan Bajo and Sorong, plus clearance out of Indonesia at the end of the season.
- A single WhatsApp thread with our desk from first contact to final departure stamp.
How We Arrange It: The Juara Holding Group Ecosystem
Bali Yacht Concierge is an English-language specialist desk of Juara Holding Group, a Bali-based group working in Indonesian travel and marine services since 2015. The group’s structure is what makes a single-desk clearance service possible: licensed clearing agents handle the lodgements they are licensed for, the visa desk handles immigration casework, the legal concierge handles anything contentious, and our desk sits in the middle as your one point of contact. We do not hold the agency licences ourselves and do not claim to; our job is to select the right licensed operator for your vessel and ports, agree the scope and fee in writing, and stay accountable to you for the result.
Realistic Price Guidance
Clearance costs split into two parts: government charges, which are modest, and agent fees, which are the real cost and scale with vessel size and port. Budget along these lines as a general guide for private pleasure yachts:
| Item | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Full clearance-in at Benoa (agent fee, CIQP coordination) | USD 600-1,500 depending on LOA |
| Clearance-out of Indonesia | USD 400-1,000 |
| Inter-port formalities, per port (Labuan Bajo, Sorong) | USD 150-500 |
| Crew e-visa, per person | USD 50-200 by visa type |
| Our desk coordination fee | Quoted flat per season, agreed in writing before we start |
Vessels over roughly 40 metres, and any vessel intending to charter commercially in Indonesian waters, are priced individually because the regulatory position changes. If commercial chartering is part of your plan, read our Bali yacht charter regulations and permits guide before committing to a season structure: private cruising and commercial charter are treated very differently.
How to Book the Desk
- Message us on WhatsApp at +62 811-3941-4563 or email bd@juaraholding.com with the vessel name, flag, LOA, planned arrival window and a rough itinerary.
- We reply with a document checklist and a written quote from the licensed agent we propose for your ports, alongside our coordination fee.
- Once you confirm, we collect and verify documents, and have the vessel declaration and visa applications lodged, ideally 14 days or more before arrival.
- On arrival day the agent meets the vessel at Benoa and walks the CIQP boarding through; our desk stays on the thread until you are cleared.
- For the rest of the season we arrange each inter-port clearance ahead of your schedule, through to final clearance out of Indonesia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I still need a CAIT permit to bring my yacht into Indonesia?
No. The CAIT permit was retired and replaced by an electronic vessel declaration lodged before arrival. The declaration is faster to obtain, but it still has to be accurate and submitted through the proper channel, which is why a licensed agent handles it. If your cruising notes refer to CAIT lead times of a month or more, they no longer apply.
How long does clearance at Benoa actually take?
With the declaration pre-lodged and documents in order, the CIQP boarding is normally completed within one working day of arrival, often within hours. Arrivals on weekends or public holidays, or files with inconsistencies, take longer. The single biggest factor is preparation before you arrive, which is precisely what the desk exists to do.
Can my crew get visas on arrival by sea at Benoa?
Visa on arrival is available to many nationalities at Benoa, but it is short by design and not always the right tool for crew rotations or long cruising seasons. We review each passport and planned stay, and where an e-visa or a longer visa category fits better we arrange it through the group’s visa desk before the vessel arrives, so nobody is negotiating their status at the gangway.
How long can the yacht itself stay in Indonesian waters?
The temporary-import arrangement allows a visiting pleasure yacht to remain well beyond a single visa cycle, with a commonly applied ceiling of up to three years before the vessel must exit, subject to keeping the paperwork current. The crew’s immigration status runs on its own clock and usually needs renewing far more often than the vessel’s. We track both timelines for clients staying a full season or longer.
Do Komodo and Raja Ampat need separate permits on top of clearance?
Yes, but of a different kind. National clearance gets the vessel into and around Indonesia; Komodo National Park and the Raja Ampat marine areas charge their own entry and conservation fees, collected locally. These are handled per visit, and our desk includes them in the season file so they are budgeted rather than discovered. Port clearance for each sailing leg is still required as described above.
What should I prepare before contacting the desk?
Vessel registration, tonnage and insurance certificates, a current crew list with passport scans, your last port clearance, and an itinerary, even a rough one, is enough to start. With those in hand we can quote quickly and lodge without back-and-forth. Broader questions about how our desk works are answered on our FAQ page.
Start Your Benoa Entry File
If your yacht is heading for Indonesia this season, the sequence rewards early contact: fourteen days before arrival is comfortable, and more is better for complex crews. Send the vessel’s basic particulars to our desk on WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563 or by email at bd@juaraholding.com, and you will receive a checklist, a written quote and a named licensed agent for your ports. From there, your only clearance job is to arrive.