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Exa: letsmoveindonesia.com
Exa: letsmoveindonesia.com
Bali Zero handles visas, company setup, tax and property compliance in Indonesia. Ask us directly on WhatsApp.
Chat with Bali Zero on WhatsAppIndonesia's immigration landscape shifted materially in 2025–2026, with national legislative reforms layered beneath a locally-driven enforcement crac
Indonesia's immigration landscape shifted materially in 2025–2026, with national legislative reforms layered beneath a locally-driven enforcement crackdown that has particular bite for Bali's large community of foreign business operators.
At the national level, Permenkumham No. 11 Tahun 2024 formalized two long-contested procedural questions. Under Articles 97(2) and 116, extensions of Visit Stay Permits (ITK) may be filed no earlier than 14 days before the current permit's expiry date — closing the window for early-filing strategies that some agents had exploited. More consequentially for nervous applicants, Articles 94A(5) and 97(3) now provide explicit statutory protection against overstay penalties: provided the extension application is lodged and the state fee (PNBP) paid before the permit expires, the foreign national is legally shielded from overstay classification even if the immigration office completes processing after the expiry date.
A further national procedural change effective June 2025 mandates physical attendance at the immigration office corresponding to the applicant's registered domicile, even though the initial application is submitted via the EVisa portal. This means applicants must appear in person for biometric capture, document verification, and interview. Critically, during the processing period, travel outside the office's jurisdictional territory is prohibited — a Bali-based applicant cannot fly to Jakarta while their extension is being adjudicated.
For KITAS and KITAP holders, UU No. 63 Tahun 2024 simplifies international travel by integrating the Multiple Exit Re-entry Permit (MERP) automatically into limited and permanent stay permit extensions. The previously mandatory separate MERP application and its associated fees are abolished.
The most disruptive development, however, is local. A Surat Edaran issued jointly by the Denpasar and Ngurah Rai immigration offices on March 31, 2026 introduces a categorical ban: any foreign national registered as a shareholder, director, or commissioner of a PT PMA will be refused a C1 Visit Visa extension, with applications neither processed nor entertained. The same circular establishes a formal priority lane at biometric sessions for infants under one year, elderly individuals, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women.
The March 31 circular is not a surprise to those who track Indonesia's immigration enforcement cycles — it formalises a practice that Bali immigration officers had been applying inconsistently for mon
ths. What is new is the explicit, written policy. For our community of foreign founders and investors, the message is unambiguous: the C1 Visit Visa is no longer a viable holding pattern while a PT PM
A is active and your name appears on its deed of establishment.
The practical window to act is narrow. Anyone currently on a C1 who appears in any PT PMA document — as shareholder, director, or commissioner — should treat their next renewal as potentially their last under that visa category. The path forward runs through either an investor KITAS (for qualifying PT PMA shareholders), a work KITAS, or a restructuring of the corporate documentation to remove the personal association, which carries its own legal and tax implications.
The national-level overstay protection under Permenkumham 11/2024 is genuinely useful and reduces anxiety around processing backlogs — but it is protection for the compliant, not a workaround for those now blocked from extending the C1 at all. Immigration status and corporate structure must now be planned together, not separately.
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