Moving to Bali for good: what Indonesian law does not have, and what it has instead

The short answer

• Indonesian law has no status equal to a permanent residence granted on arrival: Article 48 of Law 6 of 2011 lists exactly five kinds of stay permit.
• The closest one is Izin Tinggal Tetap, ITAP (the KITAP card): under Article 1, the permit to reside and settle in Indonesia as an Indonesian resident.
• You cannot jump straight to ITAP. Article 56(2) knows two conversions only: visit permit to limited stay permit (ITK to ITAS), and limited stay permit to permanent stay permit (ITAS to ITAP).
• Russia is on the official Visa on Arrival list and appears on neither the visa-free visit list nor the calling-visa list.
• No rung of the ladder requires a purchase, with one exception written into the text: under Article 56(2)(b) of Ministerial Regulation 22 of 2023, a commitment to buy an apartment or condominium unit in Indonesia worth at least USD 1.000.000 counts as the financial guarantee for the second-home visa.

Why the law has no word for permanent residence

Article 48 of the immigration law is short. Paragraph 1: every foreigner in Indonesia must hold a stay permit. Paragraph 3: there are exactly five of them, diplomatic, service, visit (Izin Tinggal Kunjungan, ITK), limited stay (Izin Tinggal Terbatas, ITAS) and permanent stay (Izin Tinggal Tetap, ITAP). Paragraph 2: the stay permit granted matches the visa the person entered on, so the status is decided in advance rather than chosen once you land.

Article 1 defines ITAP as the permit given to certain foreigners to reside and settle in Indonesia as an Indonesian resident (penduduk Indonesia), and Article 54(3) repeats that plainly. The same article defines Pernyataan Integrasi, the Integration Statement made by the foreigner to the Government of Indonesia, which the law names as one of the conditions for obtaining ITAP. Article 54(2) adds a limit: no ITAP is granted to a foreigner without a national passport. This is as close as Indonesian law comes, and it is still not the same thing: ITAP runs for a term, requires reporting, and can be lost.

Currency of sources as of the review date: Law 6 of 2011 is recorded in the government legal database as in force, and its third amendment, Law 63 of 2024, in force from 17 October 2024, touches one thing only in the stay-permit block, paragraph 3 of Article 64: the re-entry permit issued to an ITAP holder now runs for the validity of that ITAP rather than the two years set in the 2011 text. Articles 48 to 63 are left alone. Ministerial Regulation 22 of 2023 is recorded as in force in both databases; Ministerial Regulation 11 of 2024, which amended it, is recorded on peraturan.go.id as no longer in force and revoked by Regulation 3 of 2025 of the Minister of Immigration and Corrections, while peraturan.bpk.go.id records the same regulation as in force and revoked only in part by that document. We are not smoothing that disagreement over.

The ladder: ITK, ITAS, ITAP

The law knows no direct road from a visit to ITAP, and the planning consequence is simple: count not from the date you arrived, but from the date you were granted an ITAS in the right category.

1. 01

   Rung one: ITK, the visit permit

   What most people arrive on. The term is short, paid activity inside the country is barred, and the visit leads nowhere by itself: the only way onward is conversion into ITAS, and not from every activity.

2. 02

   Rung two: ITAS, the KITAS

   A limited stay permit tied to a specific activity: work, clergy, foreign investment, family unification, repatriation, second home, education, medical treatment, scientific research. The category matters more than the term, because the category decides whether a third rung exists for you at all.

3. 03

   Rung three: ITAP, the KITAP

   Article 54(1) names the recipients: ITAS holders whose activity is clergy, worker, investor or elderly; family through mixed marriage; the spouse and children of an ITAP holder; ex-Indonesian citizens and ex dual-nationality children. Article 60 sets the timing: the first group after three years of continuous residence and a signed Integration Statement, mixed-marriage family after two years of marriage and a signed Integration Statement of their own, and the last two groups may be granted ITAP directly.

Year one on a Russian passport

Russia is not on the visa-free visit list (Bebas Visa Kunjungan), which holds nineteen countries and territories, mostly Indonesia's neighbours in the region, plus Turkey, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Russia is not on the calling-visa list either, where an extra approval step and longer processing for permit extensions apply: that list holds only Afghanistan, Israel, North Korea, Liberia, Nigeria and Somalia. What remains is the visa on arrival.

Visa index B1 is single entry. The first stay permit under it is a maximum of 30 days from the date of arrival, extendable once, 60 days in total. The fee is Rp 500.000 and no sponsor is required; the documents are a passport valid at least 6 months, a recent photo and a return or onward ticket. An e-VOA is valid for 90 days from issuance, and an unused one has to be applied for again. A B1 holder is expressly prohibited from selling goods or services and from receiving payment for their work or business from persons or companies in Indonesia. Ngurah Rai airport is on the official list of entry points for e-VOA holders.

The rule sits in Article 163(2) of Ministerial Regulation 22 of 2023: a visit permit originating from a visa on arrival or from visa exemption is excluded from conversion into ITAS, and the page on converting ITK into ITAS on imigrasi.go.id says the same. The B1 visa page on the same site does mention a bridging visa mechanism without naming any provision, so plan against the regulation, and let the immigration office confirm the route for your own case.

The list of conversions from ITK into ITAS is closed: expert, worker, clergy, foreign investment, scientific research, education, family unification, repatriation, second home, medical treatment, and grounds of public welfare or humanitarian benefit. The application is filed no more than 30 days before the ITK expires, and if it is filed and the immigration fee paid before the permit itself expires, overstay is not counted even when the process runs past the end of the permit (Article 169, with the same rule for the ITAS to ITAP conversion in Article 180).

Which ITAS people take in year one

The conditions of the individual visas, including E33G, Second Home, the Golden Visa tiers and the visa for applicants aged 55 and over, are covered in our article on visas and buying. For a relocation the durations matter more than the income thresholds.

• E33G, the second-home visa for a remote worker: one year of stay, extension online, no sponsor required, extensions no longer than the first grant, and total ITAS in this category capped at 6 years.
• E33, second home: the first grant runs no longer than 5 years, with total ITAS capped at 10 years. A first grant of 5 or 10 years comes from the investor categories, under the same 10-year overall cap.
• E33F, the second-home visa for the elderly for one year: a sponsor is required, and the special requirement is income or an allowance of at least USD 3.000 per month.

What it takes to reach KITAP

1. 01

   An activity category from a closed list

   Article 173 of Ministerial Regulation 22 of 2023 opens the conversion to ITAS holders whose activity is worker, clergy, foreign investment, family unification, repatriation or second home, the last group consisting of second home, special expertise, world figure and the elderly. On the age there: Ministerial Regulation 11 of 2024 puts it at 55 or more, while the original 2023 text said 60, so the applicable age is one to confirm with the immigration office. Education, medical treatment, scientific research and working holiday are not on the list.

2. 02

   Time served, tied to the category

   Article 179(1): for worker, clergy, foreign investment and second home, the conversion is granted on condition that the foreigner has been in Indonesia for at least 3 consecutive years, counted from the date the ITAS was granted. This is not a general three-years-in-Bali rule. Under Article 179(2) family unification and repatriation may convert from the moment the ITAS is granted, and under Article 179(3) a marriage to an Indonesian citizen must be legal, registered and at least 2 years old. Paragraph 4 of the same article lifts the three-year condition for a worker who is married to an Indonesian citizen for more than 2 years, and no change of guarantor is required for it.

3. 03

   Integration Statement, documents and decision

   The application is filed no more than 30 days before the ITAS expires (Article 174(2)), with the Pernyataan Integrasi attached except for unmarried children under 18 (Article 175(b)); conversion is impossible where the commitments required at the first ITAS grant have not been fulfilled (Article 178). Article 175 also sets the document pack: a valid national passport, the Integration Statement, the foreigner's own ITAS, then, where there is a guarantor, proof of that guarantee plus the guarantor's identity card or family card, and the ITAP of the relative being joined. The head of the immigration office forwards the case to the Director General within at most 3 working days after the fee is received, and the Director General decides within at most 5 working days.

A separate word on remote workers, because this is the question we get most. Article 173(f) describes the second-home group as second home, special expertise, world figure and the elderly, and does not name the remote worker among them. Yet the official E33G visa page states that the stay permit from that visa can be extended and can be transferred into another stay permit. We print both texts and draw no conclusion from them: not that a remote worker will reach ITAP, and not that the route is closed.

What KITAP gives, and how it is lost

Article 59: ITAP is granted for 5 years and can be extended for an unlimited period so long as it is not cancelled, and the holder of the unlimited-term ITAP reports to the immigration office every 5 years, free of charge. The regulation repeats the same in Articles 121, 128 and 132 and adds the filing window for the extension: no earlier than 3 months before expiry and no later than the day the ITAP expires, to the head of the office covering the place of residence. For anyone who flies often, Article 64 matters: leaving and returning on an ITAS or ITAP depends on a re-entry permit (Izin Masuk Kembali).

• Article 62(1): ITAP may end if the holder leaves Indonesia for more than 1 year or does not intend to re-enter.
• It may end if the permit is not extended after five years, and on acquiring Indonesian citizenship.
• It may end on cancellation by the Minister or a designated immigration officer, on deportation, and on the holder's death.
• Article 62(2): the cancellation grounds include breaching the Integration Statement and, for a foreigner married to an Indonesian, divorce, unless the marriage has lasted 10 years or more. Under Article 63(5) that ground also falls away where the divorced ITAP holder obtains a guarantor for their stay.

Registered locally: SKTT, KK and KTP

Immigration is not the only register you enter. Under Article 20 of the population administration law, Law 23 of 2006, a foreigner on an ITAS who plans to reside in Indonesia reports to the implementing agency no later than 14 days from the issuance of the ITAS and receives a Surat Keterangan Tempat Tinggal (SKTT), a residence certificate whose validity matches the ITAS and which must be carried when travelling. Under Article 21, a foreigner whose ITAS has become an ITAP reports within the same 14 days and receives a family card (KK) and an identity card (KTP), and under Law 24 of 2013 the validity of that card is matched to the validity of the permit. That is the practical meaning of the word resident in the definition of ITAP.

Fees under the PP 45/2024 tariff

• ITAS valid up to 1 year: Rp 3.000.000. Up to 2 years: Rp 5.000.000. Up to 5 years: Rp 7.000.000. Up to 10 years: Rp 12.000.000.
• ITAP valid up to 5 years: Rp 7.000.000. Up to 10 years: Rp 12.000.000. For an unlimited period: Rp 15.000.000.
• Visit permit up to 30 days: Rp 500.000. Re-entry permit: up to 1 year Rp 1.500.000, up to 5 years Rp 3.500.000, unlimited Rp 8.000.000.
• Staying beyond the permit by not more than 60 days costs Rp 1.000.000 per day (biaya beban); under Article 78 of the law, failing to pay that charge and staying more than 60 days past the limit both lead to deportation and a re-entry ban, and lifting such a ban costs Rp 90.000.000.

Two official sources disagree on the ITAP fee: the ITAP extension page on imigrasi.go.id lists Rp 5.000.000 for five years and Rp 10.000.000 for ten, while Government Regulation 45 of 2024, in force from 17 December 2024, and the site's own fee table give Rp 7.000.000 and Rp 12.000.000. On ITAS valid up to 10 years the gap runs the other way: the regulation gives Rp 12.000.000 and the same fee table gives Rp 7.000.000. Only the regulation's figures are printed above. The tariff current on the day you file is confirmed by the immigration office.

Beyond KITAP: citizenship

Article 9 of the citizenship law, Law 12 of 2006, allows an application for naturalisation where the applicant is at least 18 or married, has resided in Indonesia for at least 5 consecutive years or 10 non-consecutive years, is in sound physical and mental health, can speak Indonesian and acknowledges Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, has never been sentenced for an offence punishable by one year or more of imprisonment, has employment and/or a fixed income, pays the naturalisation fee to the State Treasury, and provided that acquiring Indonesian citizenship will not result in dual nationality. Article 19 gives the spouse of an Indonesian citizen a simpler procedure, a declaration made before an authorised official instead of a naturalisation petition, on the same residence periods and the same dual-nationality condition, and its paragraph 3 adds that where citizenship is not acquired for that reason, a permanent stay permit may be given instead. We go no further than those two articles.

What this means for a purchase

Run your eye back over the whole ladder: no rung names a purchase as a condition, neither ITK nor ITAS nor ITAP is granted for a deal, and the three years in Article 179 are counted from the date the ITAS was granted in the right category, not from the date of a purchase. One exception is written into the text: under Article 56(2)(b) of Ministerial Regulation 22 of 2023, a commitment to buy an apartment or condominium unit in Indonesia worth at least USD 1.000.000, honoured within 90 days of the ITAS being granted, counts as the financial guarantee for the second-home visa in place of a USD 130.000 deposit. The same mechanism exists for the individual investor in Article 40(3)(d), and second home sits on the Article 173(f) list, which after three years opens the conversion to ITAP under Article 179(1). A leasehold villa does not fit that provision: the words in it are rumah susun and apartemen. Otherwise the link runs the other way: under Article 69(1) of Government Regulation 18 of 2021, a foreigner who may own a house or dwelling in Indonesia is one holding immigration documents in accordance with the legislation; Article 71(1) lists the permitted forms, Article 72 sets four limits, minimum price, land area, number of plots or units and residential use, and Article 73 leaves the actual figures to a ministerial regulation.

In practice this means the decision to move and the decision to buy run on different calendars and different laws. Tax residency is a third calendar, with its own 183-day test, and we cover it separately. We do not arrange stay permits and we give no immigration advice. What we do: show an open catalogue built on checked facts, verify land status, zoning and permits on a specific object, and say plainly when an object does not fit the brief. If a move is in your plans, say so in the form at the bottom of this page.