APOA: new tenant registration rules in Bali from April 2025 — what it means for an owner
AB
Andrei Balinsky
Founder of Balinsky
Since April 2025, Bali has tightened control over property rentals. The main change is the mandatory registration of all tourists through the APOA app (Aplikasi Pelaporan Orang Asing).
What is required:
Every property that rents to foreigners — a hotel, guesthouse, villa or short-term rental apartment — must upload each guest's passport to APOA at check-in. The information goes directly to the immigration service. This applies to both Airbnb and direct rentals.
This is not a one-off check but an ongoing burden. Raids are taking place in Canggu, Bukit and Ubud — they check for a licence: Pondok Wisata (for local homeowners) or business registration in the OSS system (an NIB number, which replaced TDUP in 2021), tax payments and guest registration.
Fines:
— Up to 25 million rupiah (~$1500) for registration violations.
— Possible imprisonment for individuals who systematically break the requirements.
— Forced closure of the property, up to and including demolition (as in the Bingin 2025 case, where 45 illegal buildings on the beach were demolished).
What this means for an investor:
- Illegal villas are dropping out of the market. Those who rented out "in the grey" without a licence, without an NPWP, without registration — can no longer do so. Competition in the legal rental segment is decreasing.
- Demand for legal properties is growing. Tourists, especially from countries with strict tax regimes, increasingly ask for a "fully legal" property. This changes the price bar.
- Licensed legal properties may benefit from the shrinking illegal supply. For reference: by Balinsky's own calculation, a median two-bedroom villa yields about 10% a year gross and about 5% net at 65% occupancy (September 2026).
- Licence and tax requirements are now mandatory in practice. Without a management company, it becomes hard to handle all this on your own.
What to do:
— If you are buying a property — check whether the developer or management company has a guest accommodation licence in the OSS system. From 1 April 2026, Booking and Airbnb delist properties without the "Registered and licensed" status. If you plan to use a management company — check its licence.
— If you are already renting out — connect to APOA yourself or through the management company. At a minimum, get an NPWP and pay tax on rental income.
— If you are planning to buy "as an individual, without a business, for friends, in the grey" — rethink the model. That era is over.
The key principle of the new market: legal infrastructure is a competitive advantage, not just paperwork.
Editorial note
Balinsky editorial team · 12 October 2026.
Update: we replaced the TDUP licence with registration in the OSS system (since 2021). We added the platforms' requirement from 1 April 2026. The immigration service confirms that reporting through APOA is mandatory.
Source: immigration service — https://imigrasi.go.id/berita/2025/03/26/pengelola-penginapan-wajib-lapor-keberadaan-tamu-asing-lewat-apoa; OSS licensing system — https://oss.go.id