Before you start

An Indonesian employer with an approved RPTKA foreign-worker plan and the corporate documents to sponsor you — self-sponsorship is realistically limited to the investor and Second Home routes
Passport valid at least six months beyond the intended stay, with blank pages
A confirmed residential address, because it determines both your immigration office and your civil registry office
Educational and professional credentials for the position, which the manpower side of the process assesses rather than immigration

Step-by-step

1
Let your employer clear the manpower side before immigration starts
The foreign-worker plan is approved by the manpower ministry against a specific job title and location, and the immigration application follows it rather than the other way around. If your job title changes, or the plant you are assigned to sits in a different regency, that is a manpower amendment and not just a form correction. Delays at this stage are the usual reason a Surabaya start date slips.
Via employerWho: Your employer's HR and their agentWeeks, and the least predictable part of the process
2
Apply for the e-visa from outside Indonesia
Your sponsor submits on evisa.imigrasi.go.id with passport, photograph, CV, contract and corporate documents. Approval arrives as a PDF. The approved visa must be used to enter Indonesia within 90 days or it lapses and the fee is lost — a real risk when a project start date moves, which in industrial Surabaya it frequently does.
OnlineWho: Your sponsorCommonly 2–8 weeksState fees vary by index; confirm the current schedule on the portal
3
Do biometrics at the immigration office that covers your address
Greater Surabaya is not served by a single immigration office — Kantor Imigrasi Kelas I Khusus TPI Surabaya and Kantor Imigrasi Kelas I TPI Tanjung Perak divide the region between them, and neighbouring regencies have their own arrangements. Which office handles you follows your registered address. Ask your sponsor to confirm the office in writing before you book anything, because turning up at the wrong one costs you a day.
In personWho: You, with your sponsorWithin roughly a week of arrival
4
Get the RT/RW letter, the police report, then the SKTT from the right office
Introduce yourself to the head of your RT block and RW cluster and collect their letter, take it with your passport and permit for a police report, then apply for the SKTT at the civil registry of the city or regency you live in. If you live in Waru or Sidoarjo town rather than Surabaya proper, that is Sidoarjo's Dukcapil, not Surabaya's — the offices do not cover for each other.
In personWho: YouWithin about 14 days of the ITAS being issuedThe SKTT itself is issued without charge
5
Renew early, and close the permit properly when you leave
Start extensions six to eight weeks before expiry; they require appearing in person. Overstay is fined IDR 1,000,000 per day with detention and a ban for long overstays. On final departure the sponsor files an Exit Permit Only. On an employer-sponsored permit this is the sponsor's job, so if you resign in bad terms, put the EPO obligation in the separation agreement.
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
Employer's corporate documents and the approved RPTKA foreign-worker plan
Employment contract and evidence of the qualifications the position requires
Lease or address confirmation stating the kelurahan and the regency
RT/RW introduction letter and police report (Surat Tanda Melapor), for the SKTT

Things most newcomers don’t know

The invisible boundary between Surabaya, Sidoarjo and Gresik decides which offices you deal with for years.

The built-up area is continuous and nothing on the ground marks the line, but the administrative consequences are real: a different civil registry for your SKTT, a different minimum wage, a different set of regional taxes and potentially a different immigration office. Housing agents describe everything within forty minutes as 'Surabaya'. Get the regency written on the lease.

Source: Directorate General of Immigration; East Java provincial administration

Surabaya has almost no self-sponsored foreign community, which changes what advice applies to you.

The great majority of Bali and Jakarta guidance is written for people who sponsor themselves through an agent or a company they own. Here, the employer holds the permit, HR runs the process, and the agent works for them rather than for you. The practical consequence is that you have less control and less visibility — ask to see the actual documents rather than being told they are handled.

Source: Practitioner reporting; Indonesian foreign-worker framework

The e-visa expiring unused is a live risk in an industrial city where start dates move.

An approved visa must be used to enter Indonesia within 90 days of issue. Plant commissioning, vessel schedules and project mobilisation all slip routinely, and a visa approved for a start date that then moves by four months is simply void, with the fee gone and the application to be redone. Ask your sponsor to time the submission to a realistic date rather than an optimistic one.

Source: evisa.imigrasi.go.id

Resigning is an immigration event, and the leverage sits with the sponsor.

Because the sponsoring company holds the permit, moving employers usually means the old sponsor closing the permit and the new one starting a fresh application — sometimes requiring you to leave Indonesia in between. A departing employee is entirely dependent on the former employer's cooperation for the EPO. Write the obligation and a timeline into any separation agreement while you still have negotiating power.

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

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming an address 'in Surabaya' is in the city of Surabaya, when Waru, Sidoarjo and Gresik are separate administrations with separate offices.
Letting the e-visa be applied for months before a realistic start date, then losing it to the 90-day entry deadline.
Attending the wrong one of Surabaya's immigration offices for biometrics because you chose on distance rather than address.
Skipping the RT/RW introduction letter, which the police report and the SKTT both depend on.
Resigning without an agreed timeline for the sponsor to file the Exit Permit Only, leaving your status open.

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