Before you start

A sponsor: an Indonesian employer holding an approved RPTKA foreign-worker plan, a company you own, or a licensed visa agent — self-sponsorship exists only on the investor-grade Golden Visa and Second Home routes
Passport valid at least six months beyond the intended stay, with blank pages
A Jakarta address you can document — the SKTT, and often the biometrics appointment, are tied to the kelurahan you actually live in
For the E33G remote-worker route: proof of at least USD 60,000 a year earned entirely from companies registered outside Indonesia, plus a three-month bank statement

Step-by-step

1
Choose the route before you choose the agent
E23 work KITAS if an Indonesian entity employs you; E28 investor and Golden Visa routes if you are putting capital in; E31 family routes if your spouse is Indonesian; E33 Second Home for retirees and passive-income holders; E33G Remote Worker if you are paid entirely from abroad. The old 'B211A' label is retired — anyone still selling you one is working from stale material. The choice determines who your sponsor is and whether you can change jobs without leaving.
OnlineWho: You, with your employer or an agentDecide before applying — switching index later usually means leaving and re-entering
2
Apply on the official e-visa portal from outside Indonesia
Your sponsor creates the application on evisa.imigrasi.go.id and uploads passport, photograph, CV, the contract or corporate documents, and the financial evidence. Approval arrives as a PDF by email. Budget several weeks rather than the advertised turnaround, and note that the approved visa must be used to enter Indonesia within 90 days or it lapses and the fee is gone.
OnlineWho: Your sponsor or agent, on your behalfCommonly 2–8 weeks depending on route and seasonOfficial state fees vary sharply by index; agents add roughly USD 300–800
3
Land, then complete biometrics at the right Jakarta immigration office
Jakarta has five city immigration offices — Central, South, West, East and North — plus the Soekarno-Hatta airport office, and you are handled by the one covering your address, not the one nearest your office. Fingerprints and a facial scan finalise the ITAS. The physical KITAS card is now optional in many cases; take it anyway so you can leave your passport in a safe.
In personWho: You, usually with your sponsor or agent presentWithin roughly a week of arrival
4
Get the RT/RW letter, the police report, then the SKTT
The sequence most guides skip: introduce yourself to the head of your RT (the block) and RW (the neighbourhood cluster) and get their letter, take that plus your passport and ITAS to the police for a Surat Tanda Melapor, then take the whole bundle to the Dukcapil office of your administrative city for the SKTT. Fourteen days from ITAS issue is not just office folklore: the Population Administration Law — Law 23/2006 as amended by Law 24/2013 — requires an ITAS holder to report to the civil registry within 14 days of the permit being issued. The SKTT is what a bank will ask for when the KITAS alone is refused.
In personWho: You — the RT/RW step cannot be delegatedWithin about 14 days of the ITAS being issuedThe SKTT itself is issued without charge in Jakarta
5
Extend on time, and file an EPO when you leave for good
Extensions require an in-person appearance and are refused close to expiry, so start six to eight weeks out. Overstay is fined IDR 1,000,000 per day and long overstays bring detention and a re-entry ban. When you leave permanently your sponsor files an Exit Permit Only to close the permit; skipping it leaves your status open and creates real problems on any later application.
In personWho: You and your sponsorOverstay IDR 1,000,000 per day

Documents you’ll need

Passport valid six months or more, with the approved e-visa PDF
Sponsor documents: company deed, NIB business number, and the approved RPTKA for employment routes
Proof of your Jakarta address — lease or apartment management letter, plus the RT/RW introduction letter
Surat Tanda Melapor (police report) for the SKTT application
Financial evidence appropriate to the route — income proof and bank statements for E33G, deposit evidence for Second Home

Things most newcomers don’t know

The SKTT, not the KITAS, is the document Jakarta's institutions actually run on.

Immigration issues the stay permit; the civil registry issues the residence certificate. Banks opening an account, landlords registering a tenant, and utility and school offices all want a document tying you to an address in their jurisdiction, and the KITAS card does not do that on its own. People spend weeks bouncing between counters because they treat the immigration step as the finish line rather than the halfway point.

Source: Dukcapil DKI Jakarta; Directorate General of Immigration

Your sponsor owns your permit, which means resigning is an immigration event and not just an HR one.

On an employment KITAS the sponsoring company holds the permit. Leaving that job does not automatically convert you to anything — the old sponsor is expected to file an EPO and the new one to start a fresh application, which can mean leaving Indonesia between jobs. Negotiate the handover of the permit explicitly in any resignation, because a sponsor with a grievance can make the transition slow.

Source: Directorate General of Immigration (imigrasi.go.id)

Jakarta is still legally the capital, and the DKJ law is dormant until a presidential decree says otherwise.

Law 2/2024 restyles Jakarta as the Daerah Khusus Jakarta, but Article 63 keeps Jakarta the capital until a presidential decree transfers it to Nusantara, and that decree has not been signed. The Constitutional Court confirmed the reading on 13 May 2026 in decision 71/PUU-XXIV/2026, rejecting a challenge to Article 39(1) of the State Capital Law. The date has slipped repeatedly since 2024, so treat any guide that describes the move as complete as out of date.

Source: Constitutional Court decision 71/PUU-XXIV/2026, 13 May 2026; Law 2/2024, Article 63

The claim that Jakarta's governor is now appointed by the President is false, and it circulates widely.

An early draft of the DKJ bill in December 2023 did propose presidential appointment, it was reported everywhere, and it was dropped before the law passed. Article 10 of Law 2/2024 keeps direct election of the governor and deputy for five-year terms. It matters practically because the same stale drafts underpin a lot of secondary commentary about what else the law changed for residents.

Source: Law 2/2024, Article 10; Kemendagri Otda

Common mistakes to avoid

Treating the approved e-visa PDF as the permit — it is only a visa, it expires unused after 90 days, and the ITAS exists only after biometrics in Jakarta.
Skipping the RT/RW introduction letter, which is the informal-looking step that the police report and the SKTT both depend on.
Doing biometrics at whichever immigration office is nearest your office rather than the one covering your residential address.
Assuming a remote-work permit lets you take Indonesian clients — the E33G requires 100% foreign-sourced income and local invoicing breaches it outright.
Leaving Indonesia for good without an Exit Permit Only, which leaves the permit technically open and surfaces on your next application.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.