Running an agency from Bali: visas, clients, hiring and time zones (2026)
How dev, design, marketing and AI automation agency owners run an agency from Bali: what each visa allows, where the agency entity sits, time zone overlap with your clients, hiring in Indonesia, client meetings, internet backups and finding work locally. Checked 26 October 2026.
Key takeaways
- Indonesia's E33G remote worker visa is for staying in Indonesia to carry out work for a company established outside Indonesia. It needs an employment agreement with that company and income of at least US$60,000 a year (imigrasi.go.id, checked 26 Oct 2026).
- Serving Indonesian clients is a different setup. The C2 business visit visa bans selling services or taking payment from people or companies in Indonesia, and paid work for a local company runs through a sponsored E23 work visa with a Ministry of Manpower work permit.
- Bali runs on WITA, UTC+8, with no daylight saving. A Bali 9 to 5 overlaps Singapore fully and Sydney or Melbourne by five to six hours, but has little or no overlap with London, New York or San Francisco.
- If your clients are outside Indonesia, keep the agency's company outside Indonesia too, since the E33G is built around work for a foreign company. A PT PMA, Indonesia's foreign-owned company, is the route if you want Indonesian clients or Indonesian employees on your own payroll.
- Employer of record services such as Deel and Remote list EOR pricing from US$599 per employee per month (checked 26 Oct 2026), so price that in before you compare it with setting up a PT PMA.
- Plan for outages: Starlink stopped taking new Indonesian customers in July 2025, and mobile data in Bali was set to be switched off for 24 hours over Nyepi in 2026. Nyepi 2027 is on Monday 8 March.
Running an agency from Bali: visas, clients, hiring and time zones
You can run an agency from Bali if your clients and your company sit outside Indonesia: that's what the E33G remote worker visa is built around, and Bali's UTC+8 clock suits Australian, Singapore and Asian clients well. Taking Indonesian clients, or employing Indonesians directly, is a separate setup that needs a local company and the right work permits. The hard parts are US and UK time zones, hiring properly, and keeping your connection up.
It's written for dev, design, marketing and AI automation agency owners. It isn't legal, tax or immigration advice: read our visa guide and tax guide, then ask a lawyer about your case.
What's legal on which visa
Work for clients outside Indonesia through a company outside Indonesia, and don't sell to anyone in Indonesia until you've set up locally. From imigrasi's own pages, checked 26 Oct 2026:
| Visa | What imigrasi says it's for | What it rules out | Fees listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| E33G remote worker | Staying in Indonesia "to carry out tasks from a foreign company". Needs an employment agreement with a company established outside Indonesia, income of at least US$60,000 a year and US$2,000 in the bank. Stay of up to a year, extendable online | Working in a way that doesn't match the permit, and selling goods or services "unless needed in their work" | Rp7,000,000 for a one-year stay |
| C2 business visit | Business, meetings, buying goods, negotiating and signing agreements. 60 days, extendable to 180 days in total | Selling goods or services, or taking wages or payment from people or companies in Indonesia | Rp2,000,000 for 60 days |
| E23 work visa | Working with a sponsor in Indonesia. Needs a work permit from the Ministry of Manpower. 180 days, one year or two years | Needs a sponsor, so you can't apply alone | See imigrasi's page |
Where the sources don't line up. Our visa guide describes the E33G as being for people "employed by, or running" a company outside Indonesia. Imigrasi's page only mentions an employment agreement with a foreign company, and doesn't say whether an owner contracting with their own overseas agency qualifies. We couldn't confirm this on 26 Oct 2026, so ask an immigration lawyer before you apply. Our visa guide also refers to the business visit visa as the B211A; imigrasi's own list now calls it the C2.
Indonesian clients. If a Bali villa company or a Jakarta brand wants to hire your agency, you're selling services in Indonesia, which the C2 rules out in plain words. The usual route is a PT PMA, a foreign-owned Indonesian company, which can sponsor your work visa. Our PT PMA playbook walks through the setup.
One update to that playbook: under BKPM Regulation 5 of 2025, a PT PMA needs at least IDR 2.5 billion of paid-up capital per business activity, which stays in the company account for 12 months unless it's spent on capital items or running costs, inside a total investment plan of IDR 10 billion (Withers, 10 Oct 2025, checked 26 Oct 2026). That's real money, so wait until local work justifies it.
Where the agency entity sits
If your clients are outside Indonesia, the simple setup is a company outside Indonesia too: in your home country, Singapore, the US or another base that fits your clients and your tax position. Clients sign with that company and pay it, and it fits what the E33G expects. Our visa guide describes the same pattern, with a PT PMA only once there's a local reason for one.
Which base suits you is a global question, so Remote Builders covers it:
- Where to incorporate as a remote founder compares the usual bases.
- US LLC for non-US founders covers the US route.
- Business accounts for remote founders covers getting paid.
One Bali-specific point: your company's location doesn't settle where you pay personal tax, because days in Indonesia count. Read the Bali tax guide and tax residency for remote founders.
Time zones: what a Bali workday overlaps
Bali runs on WITA (Waktu Indonesia Tengah), which a 1987 presidential decree set at GMT+8 for Bali (Keppres 41/1987, checked 26 Oct 2026). Indonesia doesn't use daylight saving, so your clients' clocks move and yours doesn't.
The table shows each city's 9am to 5pm in Bali time. Clock change dates are from the NSW Government, GOV.UK and NIST (US rule), checked 26 Oct 2026; Melbourne changes on Sydney's dates, and we worked the offsets out with the IANA time zone database.
| City | Season (2026 to 2027) | Hours vs Bali | Their 9am to 5pm in Bali time | Overlap with a Bali 9 to 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney and Melbourne | Daylight saving, 4 Oct 2026 to 4 Apr 2027 | 3 ahead | 6am to 2pm | 5 hours |
| Sydney and Melbourne | Standard time, 4 Apr to 3 Oct 2027 | 2 ahead | 7am to 3pm | 6 hours |
| Singapore | No daylight saving | Same | 9am to 5pm | 8 hours |
| London | GMT, 25 Oct 2026 to 28 Mar 2027 | 8 behind | 5pm to 1am | None |
| London | BST, 28 Mar to 31 Oct 2027 | 7 behind | 4pm to midnight | 1 hour |
| New York | EST, 1 Nov 2026 to 14 Mar 2027 | 13 behind | 10pm to 6am | None |
| New York | EDT, 14 Mar to 7 Nov 2027 | 12 behind | 9pm to 5am | None |
| San Francisco | PST, 1 Nov 2026 to 14 Mar 2027 | 16 behind | 1am to 9am | None |
| San Francisco | PDT, 14 Mar to 7 Nov 2027 | 15 behind | Midnight to 8am | None |
What that means in practice:
- Singapore and Australian clients fit a normal day (if you're weighing a Singapore base instead, see Bali vs Singapore). In Australian summer, protect your mornings, because Sydney's working day ends at 2pm your time.
- UK and European clients get your late afternoon. A 4pm to 7pm Bali window is 8 to 11am in London in winter and 9am to noon in summer.
- US East Coast clients mean a 7 to 9am Bali slot (the previous evening in New York) or a 9 to 11pm Bali slot (their morning).
- US West Coast clients get your early morning: 7 to 9am Bali is 3 to 5pm the previous day in San Francisco in winter, and 4 to 6pm in summer.
Around the March, April, October and November clock changes, check a converter before you send invites. For running a team across these gaps, see running a remote team across time zones.
Hiring in Indonesia
Our hiring developers guide covers sourcing and vetting. The legal side comes down to three routes.
| Route | How it works | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Contractor | They invoice your overseas company | Our hiring guide warns that someone working full time, only for you, on your schedule can be treated as an employee under Indonesian law |
| Employer of record (EOR) | A provider employs them in Indonesia and you pay a monthly fee | Deel and Remote both listed EOR from US$599 per employee per month (checked 26 Oct 2026) |
| Your own PT PMA | Your Indonesian company employs them directly | Paid-up capital, local payroll and social security registration, and an annual compliance load (see the PT PMA playbook) |
For a pay floor in Bali: the 2026 provincial minimum wage is Rp3,207,459 a month, and Badung, the regency that includes Canggu, set Rp3,791,002.57 (Kompas TV, 26 Dec 2025, checked 26 Oct 2026). Treat it as a legal floor, not a market rate. We haven't quoted market salaries here because we couldn't find a dated, published source for agency roles in Bali.
For hiring people outside Indonesia, see hiring remote employees internationally.
Client meetings: coworking with meeting rooms
For pitches and workshops with a client in the room, book a coworking space that lists meeting rooms.
- BWork, Canggu and Uluwatu. Its own site lists "Private Meeting Rooms" and says access to other areas needs booking or extra fees. It doesn't publish meeting room prices (bwork.id, checked 26 Oct 2026).
- Tropical Nomad, Canggu. Finns' coworking guide, updated 21 July 2026, lists air-conditioned meeting rooms (Finns, checked 26 Oct 2026). We couldn't load its own website on 26 Oct 2026.
- Others in the same Finns guide with meeting or conference rooms listed: Setter, Nebula (a conference room for up to 20), Camp 308 and Ducat Space. Check directly before you book a client in.
Dojo Bali and Outpost Canggu's coworking floor have closed, though older guides still list them. Our coworking guide has the fuller comparison, and how to meet founders in Bali lists the spaces we've confirmed open.
Internet reliability and backups
An agency lives on calls and deadlines, so plan for the connection to fail.
- Two connections, two networks. A fixed line at home plus mobile data on a different provider, so one fault can't take out both.
- A coworking fallback. Know which space you'll go to when the villa line drops, and keep a day pass in your budget.
- Don't count on Starlink. Starlink stopped taking new customers across Indonesia from 13 July 2025, saying capacity had sold out (Investortrust, 15 Jul 2025, checked 26 Oct 2026). We couldn't confirm on 26 Oct 2026 whether new orders have reopened.
- Plan around Nyepi. In 2026, mobile data and local broadcasts in Bali were scheduled to be switched off for 24 hours from 6am on 19 March, with fibre wifi left on (What's New Indonesia, 13 Mar 2026, checked 26 Oct 2026). Nyepi 2027 is on Monday 8 March, and Idul Fitri follows on 10 and 11 March (Setneg, checked 26 Oct 2026). We couldn't find a 2027 notice yet. Warn clients and don't schedule launches that week.
Finding clients and collaborators locally
Most clients will be overseas, but Bali is good for collaborators, subcontractors and referrals.
- How I AI, every Wednesday from 4 November to 9 December 2026, 6 to 9pm at Seoul Soul Project, Canggu, free. Builders share what they've shipped with AI that week, so it's a useful room if you sell AI automation. RSVP on the events page.
- Networking drinks and dinner #39, Thursday 12 November 2026, 6:30pm at Yema Kitchen, Canggu. A broader room of founders, operators and agency owners.
- Read the playbooks. The rise of AI agencies in Bali covers the models people run here, and Remote Builders' AI automation agency guide covers packaging, pricing and contracts.
BSTC's Meetup group has 2,700+ members (25 Oct 2026). Don't pitch at the table. Ask what people are building and go back the next week; referrals come from people who've seen you more than once. For the community chat before you land, sign up here.
Tax
Where you live and where your agency is registered are separate tax questions. Start with our Bali tax guide for Indonesian residency, then tax residency for remote founders for the home-country side. Get advice in both countries early.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run my agency from Bali on the E33G remote worker visa?
The E33G is for working in Indonesia for a company established outside Indonesia, with an employment agreement and income of at least US$60,000 a year. Imigrasi's page doesn't say how that applies to an owner contracting with their own overseas agency, so confirm your case with an immigration lawyer.
Can I take Indonesian clients while living in Bali?
Not on a visit or remote worker visa. The C2 business visit visa bans selling services or taking payment from people or companies in Indonesia, and the E33G is tied to work for a foreign company. Indonesian clients usually mean a PT PMA, an Indonesian company, plus a work visa and work permit sponsored through it.
What time zone is Bali in, and which clients does it suit?
Bali uses WITA, UTC+8, all year. It suits Singapore and Australian clients best: Sydney and Melbourne are two or three hours ahead depending on their daylight saving. London gets a late-afternoon window, and US clients mean early mornings or late evenings.
How do I hire Indonesian staff for my agency?
There are three routes: contractors, an employer of record that employs them for you, or your own PT PMA. Deel and Remote both listed EOR from US$599 per employee per month on 26 October 2026. A PT PMA costs more to set up but puts staff on your own payroll.
Is the internet in Bali good enough for client calls?
It can be, but don't rely on one connection. Keep a fixed line plus mobile data on a different network, and a coworking space as a fallback. Starlink stopped taking new Indonesian customers in July 2025, and mobile data was switched off over Nyepi in 2026.
Where can I meet other agency owners in Bali?
BSTC's How I AI runs every Wednesday from 4 November to 9 December 2026, 6 to 9pm at Seoul Soul Project in Canggu, and it's free. The next networking drinks and dinner, #39, is on Thursday 12 November 2026 at 6:30pm at Yema Kitchen, Canggu.
Join BSTC
Sign up at balistartupandtech.com/join. The Telegram community link arrives straight after you sign up, so you can ask about visas, coworking and referrals before you land. Our events are free.
Lachlan McRitchie