“No, we do not forgive you. Get ready for deportation. Start looking for tickets to Russia,” – this is how a Russian living on the resort island of Bali described his situation. The reason for the deportation was just one post on social networks about finding a neighbor for a villa to reduce rent costs.
According to the BaliForum portal, the so-called digital nomad, who only needs a laptop and stable Wi-Fi to work, arrived on the island in December last year, settling with friends in a 4-room villa located about 30 minutes drive from Ubud. Some of them have changed their plans, and the room in the villa has become vacant. Then the Russian tried to find a neighbor to reduce the cost to his wallet from the rental load. To do this, he posted a relevant ad on the social network and indicated a price equal to ¼ part of the total amount for the villa – 7 million rupees ($500).
“At the same time, I gave my passport to extend my visa upon arrival. It just so happened that suddenly my agent calls and says: they are waiting for you at the office of the migration service for an interview. I was surprised: what exactly is the matter? It seems that he has already handed in the prints. And the agent sends me the boxes of my ad,” the man said.
As it turned out, he was suspected of providing real estate services. The tourist was sure that he would be able to prove his innocence and that the case against him would fall apart. However, manipulating numbers and mathematical calculations did not help him, the authorities in Bali believed that the post itself was advertising. According to Indonesian law, marketing services are equivalent to earnings, and the migrant did not have a work visa. As a result, three days later, Indonesian officials decided to deport the tourist to his homeland. Since there were no direct flights to the destination and it was not possible to negotiate with the officers, he bought tickets via Kuala Lumpur for $1,320. “It turned out that according to the law, deportation takes place only to the homeland. Thanks to the immigration officers, they hinted, “Since there are no direct flights now, we don’t know what might happen on the layover,” he recalled.
As a result, the traveler did not fly to Russia: he went to Thailand from Malaysia. “They filmed me on the phone saying goodbye. How I pass the ticket check, how I walk along the sleeve. Probably, for reporting… In general, everything happened culturally and politely, I must say. In Malaysia, I crossed the border with my second passport, just in case. Because otherwise, they put a deportation stamp on my departure,” the Russian added and said that he was banned from entering Indonesia for six months.
It seems that the authorities in Bali took seriously the displaced people, not at the request of detractors, but on their own. According to the Russian, since the beginning of 2023, i.e., in just two months, he was the seventh deportee. “When we were sitting before boarding with the officers, I saw how one of them was scrolling through the social network on his phone and looking at rental ads. I could see the inscription Bali. One bedroom, one bathroom.” He read both the post and the comments. Be careful, don’t make my mistakes,” the Russian warned.