Will your phone work in Bali? The IMEI rule

Search this subject and you find two camps: travellers warned their phone will die on arrival, and travellers assured nothing ever happens. Both are reporting honestly. They were in different legal situations, and the regulation that separates those situations is short. What it leaves out, the customs deadlines, is where a reader following it alone gets caught.

The system, in one paragraph

Indonesia operates an IMEI whitelist: devices sold through official channels are registered centrally, and operators must refuse mobile network access to devices that fail verification. The instrument in force is Permenkominfo No. 1 Tahun 2020, which revoked and replaced the 2019 regulation in its Pasal 15. Articles citing the 2019 text are citing withdrawn law. One inconsistency for the record: Komdigi's own JDIH database still lists the 2019 regulation as Berlaku, against both the BPK record and Pasal 15 itself. We follow the statute.

Case one: you stay on roaming

Pasal 3 ayat (5):

Verifikasi sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (1) dikecualikan untuk Pengguna HKT dengan kartu Subscriber Identification Module negara asing (inbound roamer) yang menggunakan layanan jelajah roaming internasional.

Devices on a foreign SIM using international roaming are excluded from verification. If you never insert a local SIM, the IMEI system does not concern you, at any length of stay.

Case two: a local SIM, up to 90 days

The regulation allows a foreign tourist's device using a local operator's number onto the grey list. Pasal 6 ayat (2) says "dapat diberikan", may be given, where ayat (1) on the white list says "wajib memberikan", must give. The grey list is a permission to the operator, not a right of the traveller:

Alat dan/atau Perangkat HKT wisatawan asing yang menggunakan nomor MSISDN dan IMSI Penyelenggara dengan masa aktif paling lama 90 (sembilan puluh) hari

Up to 90 days of access on a local SIM, with no IMEI registration. What is required is SIM registration. Bea Cukai, reading the same article, puts it this way:

Perangkat HKT wisatawan asing menggunakan SIM card Indonesia dengan melakukan registrasi di gerai operator seluler untuk mendapat akses jaringan telekomunikasi paling lama 90 hari.

Permen Komdigi No. 7 Tahun 2026, in force since 19 January 2026, makes that outlet visit an in-person identity check: "Registrasi Prabayar wajib dilakukan: a. di gerai Penyelenggara Jasa Telekomunikasi; atau b. sendiri dengan bantuan perangkat Telekomunikasi dan/atau teknologi informasi". The self-service branch, Pasal 7, requires an NIK, the Indonesian identity number, and face recognition, so it is closed to a visitor; Pasal 6 is the foreigner's route, at the outlet, where staff verify "paspor, Kartu Izin Tinggal Tetap (KITAP), atau Kartu Izin Tinggal Terbatas (KITAS)". Without that registration there is no local number, and without a local number there is nothing for Pasal 6 ayat (2) to place on the grey list. The market runs a route the regulation does not describe for foreigners: XL and Smartfren sell tourist eSIMs registered online with a passport and the IMEI, Smartfren adding a selfie, and XL's physical tourist SIM is bought at a shop and then registered with the same details. What to buy, and what each operator publishes, is on SIM cards and eSIMs in Bali. The regulation says wisatawan asing, tourists. Bea Cukai applies the same 90-day reading to anyone "hanya tinggal sementara (ex: turis, keperluan bisnis)".

Case three: longer stays, and the customs clock

After the grey list window closes, an unregistered device loses access to local networks. Registration for arriving travellers runs through customs, under PER-13/BC/2021 jo. PER-7/BC/2023, and it does not wait for the 90 days. Bea Cukai:

Pendaftaran IMEI dilakukan pada saat kedatangan sebelum keluar terminal bandara atau jika penumpang telah keluar terminal bandara dilayani paling lambat 60 (enam puluh) hari sejak kedatangan dengan konsekuensi tidak memperoleh fasilitas pembebasan bea masuk.

Two conditions, both stricter than the grey list. The duty exemption is kept only by declaring the phone on arrival: registration at a customs office "tanpa terlebih dahulu memberitahukan barang bawaan pribadi kepada Petugas Bea Cukai saat kedatangan" gets no exemption at all. A passenger whose passport and IMEI were recorded at the airport may complete it at the nearest office "paling lambat 5 (lima) hari sejak tanggal kedatangan"; in the further-examination branch, "penyampaian bukti QR Code harus dilakukan dalam jangka waktu paling lambat 5 hari sejak kedatangan". Registration after leaving the terminal is served up to 60 days, with the bill Bea Cukai itself prints, "bea masuk 10% dan PPN 12%" on the full value without the USD 500 allowance, and after 60 days the answer is "Tidak bisa". A traveller who lets the 90 days run out and then goes to customs has missed both. The duty side connects to the personal goods rules in what you can bring into Bali.

The declaration itself starts on the electronic arrival card. Since at least 19 August 2026, allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id asks: "Are you bringing Mobile Phones, Handheld Computers, or Tablet Computers purchased abroad that will be used in Indonesia on local cellular networks? (IMEI Registration)", with the caption "(IMEI registration is not required for foreign visitors staying under 90 days.)". Bea Cukai confirms the routing: "Penumpang menyampaikan pemberitahuan pembawaan HKT pada All Indonesia."

On how many devices, the official sources do not agree, and we will not pick one. Pasal 6 ayat (1) huruf d admits "Alat dan/atau Perangkat HKT milik pribadi penumpang dan/atau awak sarana pengangkut dengan jumlah paling banyak 2 (dua) Perangkat HKT per orang", personally owned devices of passengers and crew, two per person. Bea Cukai answers the same question from trade law: "tidak terdapat ketentuan mengenai batas maksimal jumlah HKT yang dapat dibawa", with the one limit of two per person per arrival per year into a Kawasan Bebas, citing Permendag No. 16 Tahun 2025. The live customs form at old.beacukai.go.id offers two device blocks, Device 1 and Device 2, each with two IMEI fields for dual-SIM phones, and no way to add a third device.

What we could not establish

• How long registration takes at Ngurah Rai. Bea Cukai gives only a
• national service pledge, "2x24 jam sejak pendaftaran".
• Whether the 90 day grey list clock restarts on a new SIM or a re-entry.
• The regulation does not say, and we will not guess.