Can you film in Bali on a tourist visa?

By Film Permit Bali Editorial Desk

Sourced figures: prices in the table carry their source and check month. Fees change, and they are official or third-party figures, not our offers.

Can you film in Bali on a tourist visa? For paid, sponsored or commissioned work, the sources say no: the visitor visa bars local pay, and Bali bars working without permits. For your own holiday video, no official text we know of draws a clear line. Treat that as unsettled, not as permission. This page is not legal advice.

Can you film in Bali on a tourist visa?

It depends on who the footage is for, and only one half of the question has a firm answer. Work that someone pays for belongs on a production visa, and a foreign company also needs the Bali film permit. Video of your own holiday is another matter: the visa pages list purposes and bar local pay, and they say nothing about a phone clip of a sunset. Paid work has a clear rule and private video meets silence. Creators sit in the contested space between. Sites also set their own conditions, and the conduct rules for sacred places are in the photography permit guide.

What does the visitor visa allow?

Read the B1 page literally and you get a list: tourism, family visits, attending meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, and transit. Filming is not on it. The stay is 30 days, extendable once to a total of 60. The page then adds a condition that matters more than the list: no selling goods or services, and no pay from individuals or companies in Indonesia.

The official visitor visa portal uses a slightly different list, naming tourism, government visits, business meetings, goods purchasing or transit as the only purposes, and it sends other purposes to an e-VISA application. The two lists do not match word for word. Neither one names filming or content. That same portal warns of fines, detention, deportation or a travel ban for overstaying, which is worth remembering if a shoot runs long: a stay problem is a separate problem from the filming one.

Where is the line between holiday video and work?

The official wording does not draw it. Bali's rules speak about working, not filming. Governor Circular 7 of 2025 targets tourists who work or run a business without proper permits, and Love Bali's 2026 guidelines repeat that working or conducting business without proper permits is strictly prohibited. Neither defines where a personal video becomes work.

Press coverage reads the line more tightly than the visa page does. The New York Post reported in July 2026 that a tourist visa is breached by content posted for revenue, payment or sponsorship, even if it goes up after the traveller has left. That is a newspaper's paraphrase of Australian and Indonesian advisories, not a regulation. The same report quoted Australia's Smartraveller, which treats working, conducting research and volunteering on a tourist visa as illegal.

Production companies are firmer still, though they also sell the alternative. Atlas Film Fixers says a tourist visa cannot legally be used for paid or commercial film production. NEEDaFIXER says filming on a tourist visa puts footage, equipment and crew at risk of deportation and blacklisting.

Until an office rules on it, these questions are a sensible way to test your own plan. They are our editorial reading, not law:

• Did anyone pay, sponsor, gift or commission this, before or after the trip?
• Is there a client, a brief or a deliverable?
• Would the footage earn money on a monetised channel?
• Did you come to Bali in order to make it, with a crew or lights?

A yes to any of these moves you toward work. Creators with a regular income from their channels should read the content creator rules as well.

What does one reported case show?

The clearest recent report comes from the BBC, which reported in December 2025 that a raid on a Bali production studio ended with a content creator deported for working on a tourist visa, an immigration violation. The BBC reported that she was cleared of breaking anti-pornography law, so the deportation rested on the immigration point. Badung police told the BBC they suspected the foreign nationals involved of misusing stay permits to make commercial content.

One case does not set a rule, and it says little about a family filming on a beach. It does show which ground was used: the stay permit, not the absence of a film permit. That is why this question belongs on the visa side of your planning.

Which visa fits paid work?

The immigration service publishes C14 for production work on a single trip. Its requirements, including a sponsor, are on the C14 visa page, and the wider comparison is on choosing a filming visa. The price table on this page shows the visitor visa and C14 fees next to each other, and a lower fee is no reason to choose a category that does not cover the job.

Do you still pay the Bali levy?

If you count as a foreign tourist, yes. Love Bali describes the levy as per person, paid once while travelling, cashless, with a QR voucher. It is a tourist charge, and it does not grant permission to do anything, so a paid receipt does nothing for your filming position in either direction.

What about a film crew on a production visa? Love Bali's description refers to foreign tourists and does not name film crews. Check the exemptions on the Love Bali FAQ, or ask your sponsor. A production that pays the levy before filming can keep each voucher with the crew's travel papers.

What else do travellers ask about filming on a visitor visa?

Can tourists film themselves in Bali?

No official wording forbids or permits it in terms. The B1 page lists purposes and bars local pay, and says nothing about personal video. Sites and temples can still set their own conditions.

Can tourists film commercially in Bali?

Not according to Atlas Film Fixers, which says a tourist visa cannot legally be used for paid or commercial film production. Bali's Circular 7 of 2025 also bars tourists from working without proper permits.

Where can tourists not film in Bali?

We know of no official map of no-filming places for tourists. Bali's conduct rules for sacred sites still apply. Your Happiness Tours, a travel blog, says priests can ask anyone to stop. Our photography permit guide covers those rules.

Can I film a wedding in Bali on a visa on arrival?

As a guest filming for yourself, the rules are silent. As a hired videographer, the B1 page bars receiving pay from individuals or companies in Indonesia, and the press and operator readings go further for pay from abroad.

Does the Bali tourist levy apply to film crews?

Love Bali describes a levy per foreign tourist and does not name film crews. Check its exemptions list or ask your sponsor, and keep the QR voucher if you pay.

Which sources support this page?

• Immigration: B1 visa on arrival
• Immigration e-Visa portal: visitor visa information
• Bali Tourism Office: Governor Circular 7 of 2025
• Love Bali: travel guidelines, updated 24 February 2026
• New York Post, 6 July 2026
• Atlas Film Fixers: Bali
• NEEDaFIXER: filming in Indonesia
• BBC News, 12 December 2025
• Love Bali: levy FAQ
• Immigration: C14 visa
• Your Happiness Tours: photography rules at Bali temples (travel blog)

How do I reach the desk?

Unsure which side of the line a project falls on? Describe who is paying, who the footage is for and how long you will stay, on WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563 or at bd@juaraholding.com. We are a guide, not lawyers, and this page is not legal advice. Because a request can become a paid booking we have a commercial interest in your answer, so weigh that, read the disclaimer, and rely only on what a written offer states.