Indonesia Arrival Card for Children and Families
How the Indonesia arrival card for children works: one declaration and one QR code per traveler, who submits for a minor, and how families stay organised.
If you are travelling to Indonesia with children, there is one rule worth absorbing before anything else: there is no family submission. The arrival card is issued per traveler, not per booking or per household. A family of five makes five declarations and carries five QR codes. This guide explains how to do that calmly, at home, before you fly.
- One per person: every traveler with a passport needs an individual declaration, including newborns and infants.
- No family QR: there is no combined submission covering a whole family under one code.
- Who submits: a parent or guardian completes the form on the child's behalf, using the child's passport data.
- Email: one parent's email address can receive every declaration in the family.
- Cost: no-cost on the official portal, no account needed, within the 3 days before arrival.
Why there is no family submission
The declaration is tied to a passport, not to a party of travelers. The system takes one passport number, one name, one date of birth, and issues one QR code bound to that data. There is no field for "plus two children".
This surprises families who are used to hotel bookings and flight reservations, where one adult covers everyone. Immigration does not work that way. The officer at the counter scans a code and expects the passport in front of them to match it.
So the practical model is simple: count the passports in your bag, and make that many declarations.
Quick summary: the arrival card follows the passport, so every passport in the family needs its own declaration.
Who submits on a child's behalf, and whose email to use
A young child obviously cannot complete a form. A parent, legal guardian, or the accompanying adult completes it for them, entering the child's own details rather than the adult's.
The distinction matters. The name, passport number, date of birth, and nationality must all be the child's, exactly as printed in the child's passport. Only the contact email and phone number are typically the adult's — and that is entirely normal.
Using one parent's email for the whole family is the sensible default. Every confirmation lands in one inbox, in one thread, which makes it far easier to find the right QR code later.
Submit the declarations one after another in a single sitting, oldest to youngest, and rename each downloaded PDF immediately: ARRIVAL-Lucas-2026-08-14.pdf. Ten minutes of naming beats ten minutes of scrolling at the check-in desk.
If you have never seen the form, our step-by-step walkthrough of the arrival card shows what each field asks for before you start on five of them.
Quick summary: an adult submits using the child's document data and the adult's contact details.
Children travelling on a parent's passport
Most countries have phased this out, and most children now hold an individual passport. But a small number of jurisdictions still issue passports with child endorsements, and families occasionally arrive with that arrangement.
The workable rule is this: the declaration follows the travel document. If the child does not hold a passport of their own and travels on a parent's document, there is no separate passport number to declare, and the practical route is to ask the airline and check the official portal before you fly rather than guessing at the form.
If your child holds their own passport — which is the near-universal case today — treat them exactly like any other traveler and submit a full, separate declaration.
Quick summary: own passport means own declaration; endorsed-passport cases should be checked with the carrier in advance.
The accompanying adult and guardian fields
The form asks who the child is travelling with. Fill this in with the adult who will actually be standing next to them at the counter, not the parent who booked the trip from home.
Keep the answer consistent across siblings. If two children list different accompanying adults, an officer may reasonably ask why. If the family splits across two flights, declare the adult on each child's actual flight.
Quick summary: name the adult physically travelling with the child, and keep it consistent across the family.
| Family situation | Declarations needed | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Two parents, two children | 4 | Four separate QR codes; label each one. |
| Newborn or infant with a passport | 1 for the baby | No age exemption — the baby needs their own. |
| One parent travelling with a child | 1 each | Extra consent documents may be requested by the airline. |
| Child with a different surname | 1 each | Enter the surname exactly as printed, never the parent's. |
| Unaccompanied minor | 1 | Airline UM procedures apply in addition to the declaration. |
| Grandparents or extended family | 1 each | Everyone declares, whatever the relationship. |
Children with a different surname from the parent
This is the single most common source of anxiety at the counter, and the answer is reassuring: the form wants the child's name as it appears in the child's passport. Nothing else. Do not adjust it to match the parent's surname, do not shorten a double-barrelled name, and do not reorder anything to make the family look tidier.
A mismatch between the declared name and the passport is what creates friction — not the fact that a child's surname differs from a parent's. Immigration officers see mixed-surname families constantly.
Where the surname difference does matter is in supporting documents. A parent travelling alone with a child whose surname differs may be asked for a birth certificate or a consent letter from the other parent. Whether that applies to you depends on the airline and on Indonesian immigration practice, so confirm it with your carrier and on the official portal before departure rather than relying on a blog.
Our guide to common arrival card mistakes covers name-field errors in more depth.
Quick summary: copy the child's name exactly from their passport; surname differences are normal and expected.
Unaccompanied minors
A child flying alone still needs a declaration. Someone has to submit it, and in practice that is the parent or guardian arranging the trip, using the child's passport and the family's contact email.
Beyond the arrival card, unaccompanied travel is governed by the airline's own unaccompanied-minor programme and by Indonesian immigration requirements. Those may involve consent forms, handover contacts, and age-based service rules that vary by carrier. We deliberately do not list specifics here, because they change and because getting them wrong has real consequences. Ask the airline directly and check the official portal.
The official submission has no cost and you can do it yourself on the government portal — that is always the honest first answer. If you would rather have a second pair of eyes on five sets of passport data, our optional assisted service reviews each declaration against the documents and returns the QR codes together. It is a paid convenience, never a requirement.
Families on the same flight, and larger groups
Everyone on the same booking still declares individually, but the shared data makes it fast. Arrival date, flight number, point of entry, and the address in Indonesia are identical for the whole family, so after the first declaration you are mostly re-typing passport details.
Work from the passports themselves, laid out in front of you, rather than from memory or a photo. Transposed digits in a child's passport number are the classic family error.
For groups and tour operators the arithmetic is the same, just larger. A leader may coordinate the submissions, but each participant's declaration must carry that participant's own data, and each QR code belongs to one named person. Distribute them individually before travel; do not rely on a leader holding forty codes on one phone.
The timing rules apply to the whole group at once — nobody can submit early, so block out an evening in the three days before arrival and do them together.
Quick summary: shared travel data speeds things up, but each person's identity data and QR code stay separate.
Organising and presenting several QR codes
At the counter you need to produce the right code for the right person, quickly, possibly while holding a tired toddler. A little preparation makes this trivial.
- Download every PDF rather than trusting the inbox. Airport wifi fails at the worst moment.
- Rename each file with the traveler's first name before you leave home.
- Screenshot each QR code into a dedicated phone album named for the trip.
- Print the set and keep it with the passports — one flat battery should not derail five people.
- Give older children their own copy, printed, in their own bag.
Our article on saving and presenting the QR code explains what to do if a confirmation email never arrives.
Quick summary: name-label every file and keep an offline copy per traveler.
What this is not
The arrival card is a declaration, not permission to enter. If your family's nationality requires a visa or e-VOA, that is a separate process for each traveler including children — see arrival card versus visa. And if you are heading to Bali, the tourist levy is a third, unrelated payment, covered in our Bali arrival card and levy guide.
The full picture of what the declaration covers is in our complete arrival card guide.
Quick summary: a no-cost declaration for each traveler, distinct from visas and from the Bali levy.
Frequently asked questions
Do babies need their own Indonesia arrival card? Yes. Every traveler holding a passport needs an individual declaration and their own QR code, with no exemption based on age.
Can I submit one declaration for my whole family? No. There is no family submission. Each traveler gets a separate declaration bound to their own passport data.
Who fills in the form for a young child? A parent, legal guardian, or the accompanying adult completes it using the child's passport details and the adult's contact information.
Can I use my own email for my children's declarations? Yes. One parent's email address can receive every confirmation in the family, which keeps all the QR codes in one place.
What if my child has a different surname from mine? Enter the child's name exactly as printed in their passport. Surname differences are common; extra documents may be requested by the airline, so check before you fly.
Does an unaccompanied minor need a declaration? Yes, and a parent or guardian normally submits it. Additional requirements come from the airline and Indonesian immigration, so confirm those directly.
Is the declaration no-cost for children? Yes. Submission on the official portal has no cost for every traveler and requires no account.
When should a family submit? Within the three days before arrival. Earlier submissions are not accepted, so plan one session for the whole family.
Do we each need a separate QR code at the airport? Yes. One QR code per traveler, presented alongside that person's passport.
Does my child also need a visa? Possibly. Visa rules depend on nationality and apply to children as well as adults. The arrival card does not replace a visa.
Last updated: 20 July 2026. This guide is independent traveler information. The official declaration can be completed at no cost at the official All Indonesia portal of the Directorate General of Immigration. Rules for minors travelling alone or with one parent are set by airlines and Indonesian immigration; always confirm current requirements before travel.