Indonesia Corporate Immigration – What to Know About VITAS and ITAS

Some of the notable changes to the limited stay visa (visa tinggal terbatas or VITAS) and limited stay permit (izin tinggal terbatas or ITAS) under Government Regulation No. 40 of 2023 regarding Implementing Regulation of the Immigration Law (GR 40/2023) and Minister of Law and Human Rights (MOLHR) Regulation No. 22 of 2023 regarding Visa and Stay Permit (MOLHR Reg 22/2023) are summarised below.

Change relating to the scope of activities under VITAS

MOLHR Reg 22/2023 introduces new scopes of activity eligible for a VITAS and ITAS, namely, work holiday and reasons of expediency for the welfare of the community.

Conversely, there are also scopes of activities that fell under VITAS in the previous regulation but are no longer included within the scope of VITAS under MOLHR Reg 22/2023. These are:

1. activities relating to a profession that receives compensation;
2. activities relating to commercial filmmaking that has obtained a permit from the relevant authorities;
3. quality control of goods and production;
4. inspection or audit of a branch company in Indonesia;
5. aftersales;
6. installation and repair of machinery;
7. non-permanent work for construction purposes;
8. art, music and sports exhibitions;
9. professional sport; and
10. prospective foreign worker undergoing probationary period.

Most of the above activities are now included as activities falling within the scope of visit visas.

Entry stamp for foreigners

For foreigners who enter Indonesia with a VITAS and receive an entry stamp from an immigration official, MOLHR Reg 22/2023 provides that this entry stamp is valid as an ITAS. It was previously regulated that an entry stamp was only valid for 30 days and the foreign national had to obtain an ITAS by submitting an application to the head of the relevant immigration office no later than 30 days from the date of the entry stamp. MOLHR Reg 22/2023 has eased the ITAS process.

ITAS extension

An extension application for an ITAS must be submitted within these periods:

1. for an ITAS with a maximum period of one year, the extension application must be submitted no earlier than 30 days before and no later than the day the ITAS expires;
2. for an ITAS with a period of more than one year, the extension application must be submitted no earlier than three months before and no later than the day the ITAS expires.

An ITAS will be given one day after the initial ITAS expires. MOLHR Reg 22/2023 provides looser enforcement as the predecessor regulation did not allow an extension application to be submitted on the day the initial ITAS expired.

Excerpted from Lexology In-Depth: Corporate Immigration 2024, published by Law Business Research.

Find the Indonesia chapter of Lexology In-Depth: Corporate Immigration 2024 here.

Further reading:

Indonesia Looks to Attract Investment, Skilled Workers with Changes to Immigration Provisions

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