Bali's Conduct Rules for Foreigners: What Can Actually Get You Deported

Foreigners living or working remotely in Bali now face a specific, officially codified set of conduct rules — and violations have led to real deportations, blacklistings, and in some cases criminal prosecution under Indonesian law.

Most long-stay guides stop at "respect local culture" and leave it there. That phrasing has never reflected the reality on the ground, and it certainly doesn't reflect the legal reality in 2025. Bali's provincial government issued Circular Letter Number 7 of 2025 — signed by Governor Wayan Koster on March 24, 2025 — which lays out explicit obligations and prohibitions for foreign visitors. This followed an earlier circular (SE Number 4 of 2023) that had limited enforcement traction during a period when Koster was between terms. With his return, enforcement has intensified.

This article is for remote workers, digital nomads, and long-stay foreigners living in Bali — people whose daily routine involves renting scooters, visiting temples, creating content, and building a visible public presence. The overlap between that life and the rules that can get you removed is larger than most people assume.

The Numbers Behind the Crackdown

Before getting into the specific rules, it helps to understand that deportations from Bali are not rare events or edge cases. They are routine and rising. Indonesia's Directorate General of Immigration recorded 378 foreign nationals deported from Bali between January and September 2024 alone — up from 335 for the entire year of 2023, and 188 in 2022. The trajectory is clearly upward.

The reasons span visa overstays, illegal work, criminal activity — and increasingly, conduct violations: disrespect toward sacred sites, public disorder, and social media content deemed offensive or misleading. The Foreigners Supervision Team (Tim Pora), a cross-agency task force, monitors social media as a matter of routine. This is not hypothetical enforcement. It is already happening.

What the Official Rules Actually Say

Bali's Circular Letter No. 7 of 2025 — published on the official Bali Government Tourism Office website (disparda.baliprov.go.id) and confirmed by Indonesia's state news agency ANTARA — lists both obligations and prohibitions. The circular is framed as guidance for foreign tourists (wisatawan asing). Some of the underlying laws it draws on — covering traffic, public order, immigration, and online conduct — apply more broadly to other foreigners in practice, but the circular itself is directed at visitors, not all visa categories equally.

What you are required to do

• Respect the sanctity of temples (pura), religious statues (pratima), and sacred symbols — including during processions and ceremonies you may encounter on the street
• Dress modestly when visiting temples, tourist attractions, and public spaces
• Behave respectfully whether at religious sites, restaurants, shopping areas, or on public roads
• Pay the Bali foreign tourist levy of IDR 150,000 through the official Love Bali portal (lovebali.baliprov.go.id), if your status is subject to the levy. KITAS and KITAP holders, family-unification and student visa holders, and some other non-tourism visa categories are exempt — though some must apply for that exemption through the system in advance
• Use licensed tour guides when visiting cultural or natural sites
• Exchange foreign currency only at authorized money changers displaying Bank Indonesia QR codes
• Follow Indonesian traffic laws; use officially registered rental vehicles
• Stay at licensed accommodation only

What you are prohibited from doing

• Entering the inner sanctums of temple grounds (utamaning mandala and madyaning mandala) unless you are there to pray, wearing traditional Balinese attire
• Climbing sacred trees or monuments — this is an explicit prohibition, not a general suggestion
• Taking inappropriate or nude photographs at religious sites
• Littering, polluting springs or waterways, or using single-use plastics
• Swearing, causing disturbances, or being rude to locals, officials, or other tourists
• Sharing hate speech or misinformation on social media
• Working or conducting business without official documentation from Indonesian authorities

That last prohibition in the list above — the social media clause — is the one most commonly overlooked by foreigners, and the one most likely to create unexpected legal exposure for content creators.

The Social Media Exposure That Most People Underestimate

Indonesia has a domestic law that foreigners rarely think about: the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, commonly known as the ITE Law. Originally enacted in 2008 and amended most recently in January 2024 (Law No. 1 of 2024), it applies to anyone posting content while physically in Indonesia — including foreign nationals.

The ITE Law covers a wide range of online conduct: defamation, hate speech, content deemed to violate "decency," and material considered false or misleading. The 2024 amendment reduced the maximum sentence for certain defamation offences from four years to two, but criminal prosecution and deportation remain available responses under Indonesian law.

What is well-documented: Bali immigration authorities have confirmed the existence of a cyber surveillance unit that monitors foreigners' online activity. Cases where foreigners have been deported following viral incidents — specifically content involving public disorder, disrespect toward sacred sites, or behaviour that generated public outrage — show that online content can become an immigration matter quickly once it circulates.

The risk for content creators is most clearly established at the viral end: footage of disrespectful behaviour at temples or during ceremonies that draws public attention. The two YouTubers deported in 2023 after posting a fake mask-removal prank video that spread widely is one documented example — CNN reported it at the time.

Where the risk is less clearly established is in ordinary criticism or expressions of frustration about local services. The ITE Law is broad enough in principle to cover sharp criticism of institutions, but enforcement against foreigners for that type of content specifically is not something this guide can confidently claim as a documented pattern. What can be said accurately: the monitoring exists, the legal framework is broader than most foreigners assume, and content that goes viral involving conduct issues in Bali has a documented track record of triggering immigration action.

Temples: The Rules That Go Beyond a Dress Code

Most foreigners know they need a sarong at Bali's temples. Far fewer understand where the actual line is drawn, or that there are formal restrictions on which parts of temple grounds non-worshippers may enter at all.

Balinese temples are organized into zones. The inner sanctum — the utamaning mandala — is reserved for worshippers in traditional Balinese attire. This is not a recommendation; it is a codified prohibition under SE No. 7/2025. Non-Balinese Hindus and non-worshippers are simply not permitted in this space. The middle zone (madyaning mandala) carries the same restriction.

Photography inside temple grounds is a consistent area of friction. Taking photographs during active ceremonies — without explicit permission, without any acknowledgement of what is happening — has led to confrontations and, in cases that went viral, to deportation proceedings. The rule against "inappropriate photos" at religious sites is explicitly written into the circular.

Sacred trees on temple grounds are another specific prohibition. This sounds obscure until you encounter a tree draped in ceremonial cloth and surrounded by offerings inside a compound — at which point it is obvious. The deportation of Russian influencer Alina Fazleeva in May 2022, after she posed nude on a sacred tree at Babakan Temple and the photos were shared on social media, is probably the most widely reported example of how quickly this type of violation escalates. She and her husband were arrested directly after a public apology ceremony and deported.

Scooters: The Traffic Risk That Extends Beyond Accident Insurance

Bali's scooter culture is well-known. Less discussed is the formal legal exposure that comes with renting and riding one as a foreign national.

Governor Koster's 2025 circular explicitly requires foreign tourists to follow traffic laws and use officially registered rental vehicles. There is reported confirmation from Indonesian immigration officials that serious traffic violations by foreigners can result in immigration consequences, though the outcome in any given case depends on circumstances and which agency handles it.

The practical point most long-stay foreigners discover late is the licensing question. Foreigners should verify whether their licence and any International Driving Permit actually authorize them to ride the specific class of motorcycle they are renting — not just assume that holding an IDP is sufficient. Most insurance policies, including travel insurance, explicitly require that the rider be properly licensed for the vehicle involved. If the licence does not cover the vehicle class, an accident claim may not pay out.

Police checkpoints specifically targeting foreign riders are periodic, not occasional. A foreigner stopped without a valid licence for the bike they are riding faces a fine at minimum, and in the current enforcement climate, escalation is possible depending on the officer and the situation.

The practical takeaway: before renting, confirm what your IDP actually covers for the specific vehicle — not just whether you have one.

Conduct in Public and the "Disrespect" Category

SE No. 7/2025 prohibits swearing, causing disturbances, and being rude to locals, officials, or fellow tourists. The prohibition on aggression toward officials is the one that bites hardest — because the enforcement chain runs directly from that incident to immigration authorities.

A Dutch man identified only as HRC was deported to the Netherlands in late 2024 after a viral video showed him engaged in indecent behaviour and verbally abusing locals in Canggu. Bali authorities determined that the conduct violated immigration law and acted within weeks. Three Russian nationals were arrested in 2023 for dancing in and disrupting a sacred Hindu temple ceremony, an incident that reached the South China Morning Post and triggered regional media coverage. A German tourist was arrested after gatecrashing a sacred temple performance and stripping naked during the ceremony.

The pattern across these cases is consistent: the incident goes viral, public outrage follows, and immigration authorities respond. The WhatsApp hotline (+62 81-287-590-999) set up under SE No. 7/2025 exists to let residents report misbehaving foreigners directly. It is actively used.

Long-stay foreigners who have lived in Bali for months or years sometimes develop a level of comfort that reads, to local eyes, as entitlement — particularly in heavily expat areas like Canggu, Seminyak, and Ubud. That comfort is not itself a problem. But it can erode the attentiveness that these rules require.

The Practical Layer: How Long-Stay Foreigners Actually Navigate This

The foreigners who have been in Bali the longest and who have had no enforcement problems tend to describe a fairly consistent approach.

They treat Balinese ceremonies and processions with the same seriousness that locals do, which means stopping, being still, and not photographing when something sacred is happening in their vicinity — even on a public road. Bali's Hindu religious calendar means these moments are frequent, not rare.

On social media, the established long-stay community has largely internalized a version of the rule that goes: content about your life in Bali is fine; content that mocks, critiques, or misrepresents Balinese culture or Indonesian institutions is territory where the risk calculus is different than it would be at home.

When renting scooters, the more cautious approach is to use a reputable rental company — one that uses officially registered vehicles — and to confirm what class of vehicle your IDP actually covers before riding it. Helmet use is non-negotiable both legally and practically, given the road conditions.

On temple visits: sarong and sash are the baseline, not the whole picture. Understanding which parts of a temple grounds you are and are not permitted to enter is worth five minutes of research before arriving at a major site. The inner zones are usually clearly cordoned off, but not always in ways that are obvious to a first-time visitor.

What Happens After a Violation

The consequences range significantly depending on the nature of the violation, whether it becomes public, and which agency handles it.

Minor infractions — a traffic stop, an issue at a temple entrance — are typically handled on the spot with a warning, a fine, or removal from the site. They rarely escalate unless the foreigner is aggressive.

Viral incidents and public conduct cases are treated differently. Once a video or post circulates and draws public attention, the immigration response is almost guaranteed to follow. The Foreigners Supervision Team's explicit social media monitoring means this feedback loop is now institutionalized, not incidental.

Deportation from Indonesia can be followed by placement on the Daftar Penangkalan — the prohibited persons list. The duration of any re-entry ban varies by case and by the nature of the violation. In the Alina Fazleeva case, a six-month ban was reported. For more serious conduct violations, reported bans have been longer, but the duration is discretional and not governed by a published fixed schedule. Anyone affected should confirm the current status of their case directly with Indonesian immigration.

Removal from the list is possible through a formal application process involving a sponsor letter from an Indonesian citizen, but there is no guarantee of reinstatement and the timeline is not fixed.

Bali immigration data and reporting from ANTARA indicates that conduct violations are an increasing share of the total deportation count — not the dominant reason (visa overstays and illegal work remain higher in volume), but a growing category with real cases behind it.