KITAS and KITAP: what an Indonesian stay permit actually lets you do

The short answer

• For an ordinary foreigner there are three stay permits: the visit permit ITK, the limited stay permit ITAS and the permanent stay permit ITAP (Law 6/2011, articles 49 to 54).
• KITAS and KITAP are the permit cards, not the permits themselves: the regulation speaks of issuing ITAS and ITAP in card form, including a virtual card (Regulation 22/2023, articles 106 and 122).
• A stay permit by itself carries no right to work: the law grants that right to two groups only, and both are tied to marriage or former citizenship (Law 6/2011, article 61).
• An ITAS runs from 180 days to 10 years depending on the activity, and total renewals are capped at 6 or 10 years depending on the first term (Regulation 22/2023, articles 105 and 113).
• An ITAP is issued for 5 years and renews indefinitely, but the main categories reach it only after three consecutive years on an ITAS and signing an Integration Statement (Law 6/2011, articles 59 and 60).
• For housing the permit matters in one direction only: a house or dwelling may be held by a foreigner who has immigration documents (Government Regulation 18/2021, article 69). Buying produces no status by itself.

Three permits: ITK, ITAS, ITAP

Immigration Law 6/2011 (articles 49 to 54) knows exactly three permits for an ordinary foreigner: Izin Tinggal Kunjungan, ITK, the visit permit; Izin Tinggal Terbatas, ITAS, the limited stay permit; Izin Tinggal Tetap, ITAP, the permanent one. Diplomatic and service permits are issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The law itself was signed on 5 May 2011; the latest revision is Law 63/2024 of 17 October 2024, which its own title calls the Third Amendment to the Immigration Law. It amends nine articles and inserts article 24A: it leaves the articles on permit types and their durations untouched, but it does amend article 64 on the re-entry permit.

Until an ITAS exists, a person lives on a visit permit, and the ceiling is known in advance. On a single-entry category C visa the first ITK runs 60 days and extends in 60-day steps to 180 days in total; on a multiple-entry category D visa the same. The exception is visas for pre-investment activity (single and multiple entry) and for internship (single entry): there the first ITK runs 180 days and extends in 180-day steps, up to 12 months in total (Regulation 22/2023, articles 81 and 95). Visa on arrival, category B, gives 30 days with a single 30-day extension, so 60 days at most. Category F gives 7 days with no extension (immigration service, stay permit page). After that it is either departure or a status transfer to an ITAS.

An ITAS is issued on a closed list of grounds (Law 6/2011, article 52): entry on a visa for limited stay; a child born in Indonesia where the father and/or mother holds an ITAS at the time of birth; a status transfer from a visit permit; service as master, crew member or foreign expert on a vessel or installation in Indonesian waters; lawful marriage to an Indonesian citizen, and the child of such a foreigner. The ground is not a formality, but what it governs is the right to work under article 61: the ITAS term follows the activity the visa was issued for (Regulation 22/2023, articles 33(2) and 105), and the route to an ITAP follows the category in article 54(1) of the Law and articles 120 and 173 of the regulation.

KITAS and KITAP are cards, not the permits

Half the confusion in relocation conversations lives right here. The regulation speaks of issuing ITAS and ITAP in card form, kartu Izin Tinggal Terbatas and kartu Izin Tinggal Tetap, including a virtual card delivered electronically; a printed ITAP card is collected at the immigration office no earlier than 15 working days after the permit is issued (Regulation 22/2023, articles 106 and 122). The practical takeaway: the question is not whether you will get a KITAS, but on which ground and for what term an ITAS will be granted.

How long an ITAS runs

• Expert and worker: no more than 180 days, 1 year or 2 years (Regulation 22/2023, article 105).
• Foreign investor: no more than 1, 2, 5 or 10 years.
• Clergy, scientific research, medical treatment and the work and holiday programme: no more than 1 year; study: no more than 1, 2 or 4 years (article 105 as amended by Regulation 11/2024).
• The second home group: second home itself no more than 5 years; special qualification and world figure 5 or 10 years; a foreigner aged 60 or over 1 or 5 years; a remote worker in an employment relationship with a company outside Indonesia no more than 1 year (article 105(10)).

Renewal has a hard ceiling, and it is measured from the first term. If the first permit was issued for less than 5 years, each renewal runs no longer than that first ITAS, and the ITAS total may not exceed 6 years; if the first permit was 5 years or more, the ceiling is 10 years (article 113). For the maritime ITAS and the 180-day work ITAS the ceiling is a separate 3 years. Renewal up to 1 year, and renewal for students, is granted by the head of the immigration office; renewal for 2 years or more, like renewal for nationals of calling visa countries, requires the approval of the director general of immigration.

Work: the limit nobody mentions

The right to perform work and/or activity to support oneself and one’s family is granted not to every permit holder but to two groups (Law 6/2011, article 61). The first is ITAS holders under article 52 letters e and f: a foreigner lawfully married to an Indonesian citizen, and the child of such a foreigner. The second is ITAP holders under article 54 letters b and d: mixed-marriage families, former Indonesian citizens and former dual-citizenship subjects. For everyone else the permit itself carries no such right, which is where the classic planning mistake starts: the status is in hand while the work was never arranged.

Work runs on a separate, labour track. An employer hiring a foreign worker must hold an approved foreign manpower utilisation plan, RPTKA (Government Regulation 34/2021, article 6(1)); an individual person is barred from employing a foreign worker (article 9), and holding concurrent positions in one company is prohibited (article 10). RPTKA approval is not required for directors and commissioners with a certain ownership share, shareholders in accordance with the legislation, diplomatic and consular staff, and certain activities including vocational training, technology start-ups, business visits and research; for start-ups and vocational training the exemption runs no more than 3 months, after which the employer needs an approved RPTKA (article 19(1), (5) and (6)). A worker employed for more than 6 months must be registered by the employer in the national social security programme, and for less than 6 months in an insurance programme (article 8(1)).

Family: who may join whom

The family ITAS is written out across nine situations (Regulation 22/2023, article 105(8) as amended by Regulation 11/2024), and they fall into two groups: where the person joined is an Indonesian citizen the term is set directly, and where the person joined holds an ITAS or ITAP the family member’s permit may not run longer than theirs. Joining a spouse who is an Indonesian citizen, a child of a foreigner married to an Indonesian citizen, a child joining a citizen parent, and a parent joining an adult citizen child who has turned 21: no more than 1 or 2 years. Joining a spouse, parent, biological child, or a biological brother or sister holding an ITAS or ITAP: 1, 2, 5 or 10 years, but never longer than the permit of the person joined, and for a minor never past the age of 18.

ITAP: who can actually get one

A permanent stay permit may be granted (Law 6/2011, article 54) to an ITAS holder as clergy, worker, investor or elderly person, where the regulation treats worker here as a foreigner in the top leadership post of a company or the head of a foreign company’s representative office (Regulation 22/2023, article 120(5)); to a mixed-marriage family; to the spouse and/or child of an ITAP holder; and to former Indonesian citizens and former dual-citizenship subjects. It is not issued to a foreigner without a national passport. An ITAP holder counts as a resident of Indonesia, penduduk Indonesia, and that is not rhetoric: the status has consequences beyond immigration law.

For the main categories the road to an ITAP takes three years. A worker, member of the clergy, investor or elderly person receives it after living in the country for 3 consecutive years counted from the date the ITAS was granted, and signing the Integration Statement, Pernyataan Integrasi, before the Government of Indonesia (Law 6/2011, article 60; Regulation 22/2023, article 179(1)). The implementing regulation repeats the rule and extends it to the second home category (Regulation 22/2023, articles 173 and 179), and defines the statement itself as one of the conditions for an ITAP (article 1(22)). A mixed-marriage family qualifies once the marriage reaches 2 years and the Integration Statement is signed (Law 6/2011, article 60(2)); the regulation requires that statement from every status-transfer applicant except unmarried children under 18 (Regulation 22/2023, article 175). The spouse and child of an ITAP holder, and former citizens, may be granted one straight away. The transfer application is filed no later than 30 days before the ITAS expires (article 174(2)).

From there the ITAP runs on its own calendar: it is issued for 5 years, and on renewal it is granted for an unlimited term, until the permit is revoked (Law 6/2011, article 59; Regulation 22/2023, article 128(1)). For family reunification it is issued for the term of the spouse’s, parent’s or child’s ITAP, but no more than 5 years (Regulation 22/2023, article 121). A renewal application is filed no earlier than 3 months and no later than the expiry day; if it was filed and the fee paid in time, a delay in processing does not count as overstay (article 128). The holder of an indefinite ITAP must report every 5 years through the application, and no fee is charged for it (article 132).

One consequence of an ITAP that people rarely plan for: the holder enters the civil registration system. Foreigners with an ITAP who have reached 17, or who are or have been married, must hold the electronic identity card KTP-el; its extension or replacement must be reported no later than 30 days before the ITAP expires, and the validity of the KTP-el is tied to the term of the ITAP (Law 24/2013, articles 63 and 64). Permanent status brings a second calendar, running in parallel with the immigration one.

Leaving and coming back

A stay permit and the right to re-enter the country are different things. The re-entry permit, Izin Masuk Kembali, is issued to an ITAS holder for a term equal to the ITAS, and to an ITAP holder for a term equal to the ITAP (Law 6/2011, article 64 as amended by Law 63/2024); it covers several trips. The implementing regulation (Regulation 22/2023, article 159) still names two years for an ITAP: that is the wording from before the 2024 amendment, and the statute prevails. For anyone planning to live across two countries, that is a practical line item.

Sponsor and overstay

Certain foreigners must have a sponsor, Penjamin, and the sponsor’s responsibility is financial: the sponsor answers for the foreigner’s stay and activity, reports every change of civil status, immigration status and address, and must pay the cost of returning or removing the foreigner if the permit has expired or deportation has been applied. The requirement does not apply to a foreigner lawfully married to an Indonesian citizen (Law 6/2011, article 63). Overstay is split at a 60-day threshold: under 60 days beyond the permit brings a biaya beban charge, and non-payment brings deportation and an entry ban; beyond 60 days deportation and the ban apply immediately (article 78). The tariff sets the amount: IDR 1,000,000 for each day of stay beyond the permit where the overstay is under 60 days; lifting an entry ban imposed for an overstay beyond 60 days, or for non-payment of the charge, costs IDR 90,000,000 (Government Regulation 45/2024, annex, section VI).

What it costs at the official tariff

The tariffs are set by Government Regulation 45/2024, in force from 17 December 2024, which revoked Government Regulation 28/2019: an ITAS up to 1 year is IDR 3,000,000 per application, up to 2 years IDR 5,000,000, up to 5 years IDR 7,000,000, up to 10 years IDR 12,000,000; an ITAP up to 5 years IDR 7,000,000, up to 10 years IDR 12,000,000, indefinite IDR 15,000,000; a re-entry permit with no term limit is IDR 8,000,000 per application.

Where a permit meets buying a home

There is exactly one link, and it runs one way. A house or dwelling may be held by a foreigner who holds immigration documents in accordance with the legislation, and a foreign heir must hold them too (Government Regulation 18/2021, article 69). What counts as available housing is set out in article 71: a house on land with Hak Pakai title, or Hak Pakai over Hak Milik under a notarial PPAT deed or over Hak Pengelolaan, plus an apartment in a building on land with Hak Pakai or HGB, where paragraph 2 of the same article places such buildings in special economic zones, free trade and free port zones, industrial zones and other economic zones. Ownership of an apartment unit, Hak Milik atas Satuan Rumah Susun, may be granted to a foreigner holding a permit in accordance with the legislation (article 67(1)(c)).

That ownership is limited on four parameters: a minimum price, plot area, the number of plots or units, and residential use only; the specific limits are set by ministerial order (articles 72 and 73), and we did not re-verify its figures on this pass. Mixed couples have their own rule: an Indonesian citizen married to a foreigner may hold the same land rights as any other citizen provided the land is not joint marital property, evidenced by a notarial marital agreement separating the spouses’ assets (article 70). The direction across all of it is the same: status first, title second. The financial thresholds of the visa programmes are covered in our article on visas and buying, and tax residency in the article on residency.

What to do with this

• Start from the ground and the activity, not from the name of the card: the right to work under article 61 follows the article 52 letter your ITAS was issued on, the ITAS term follows the activity under articles 33(2) and 105 of the regulation, and the route to an ITAP follows the category under article 54(1) of the Law.
• Count the ceiling early: 6 years where the first ITAS is shorter than 5 years, 10 years where it is 5 years or more. If the plan outlasts the ceiling, the ITAP route is built in from the start, not in year six.
• Planning to work inside Indonesia: check the labour track separately from the immigration one, meaning the employer’s RPTKA, the ban on hiring by an individual, and the ban on concurrent positions.
• Put the buying brief together before the visa route: location, budget and ownership form set the questions a notary then closes in a single conversation. The catalogue and the ownership page below are the fast way to build it.