Indonesia Visa Categories: What Each Visa Code Means
Indonesia visa categories explained: what the letter on each visa means, which index fits which purpose, and who may and may not take paid work on each one.
- Kepmen Imipas No. M.IP-08.GR.01.01 Tahun 2025 tentang Klasifikasi Visa — signed 2 May 2025, in force 30 days later; revokes Kepmenkumham M.HH-02.GR.01.04 Tahun 2023; visas and stay permits issued before it remain valid until they expire (KETIGA). The annex sets each index's activities, rights, obligations and prohibitions
- Permenkumham No. 22 Tahun 2023 tentang Visa dan Izin Tinggal, as amended by Permenkumham No. 11 Tahun 2024 — Article 33 limited-stay categories; Article 34(2)(a) the manpower document for a work visa; Article 38 the investor visa; Article 70 the classification; Articles 81, 82, 84 and 95 stays and extensions; Article 201 approval for an added activity
- Perpres No. 157 Tahun 2024 — in force 5 November 2024. Articles 57 and 58: immigration moves to the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, and earlier regulations remain in force
- UU No. 6 Tahun 2011 tentang Keimigrasian — Article 34 visa types; Article 61 work by spouses and children of Indonesian citizens; Article 122 misuse of a stay permit
- UU No. 1 Tahun 2026 (Penyesuaian Pidana), Lampiran I row 83 — restates the Article 122 penalty as up to five years and/or a category IV fine, IDR 200,000,000 under UU No. 1 Tahun 2023, Article 79(1)(d)
- Permen Imipas No. 3 Tahun 2025 — Article 35, work by diaspora permit holders. Permen Imipas No. 10 Tahun 2026 — additions to the visa-free list
- PP No. 34 Tahun 2021 on the employment of foreign workers — Article 6 the RPTKA; Articles 36 and 37 sanctions and fines. UU No. 13 Tahun 2003 Article 42, as amended by UU No. 6 Tahun 2023 and read with Constitutional Court decision 168/PUU-XXI/2023
Indonesia sorts its visas into 110 indices, each a letter and a number — C1, D2, E23. The letter gives the type of visa, and the classification states what each index lets its holder do in Indonesia and what it forbids (Permenkumham No. 22 of 2023, Article 70). This guide to the Indonesia visa categories explains what each letter means, which index fits which purpose, and the question that catches employers out: who may be paid.
The classification in force is Kepmen Imipas No. M.IP-08.GR.01.01 of 2025, signed by the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections on 2 May 2025 and in force 30 days later. A visa or permit issued under the old codes stays valid until it expires. The current list, with a page for each index, is on the Directorate General of Immigration’s website.
The letters behind the Indonesia visa categories
The Immigration Law sets four types of visa — diplomatic, service, visit and limited-stay (UU No. 6 of 2011, Article 34). The letters sit inside the last two.
| What it is | First stay | Extension | Set by | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Visa-free visit, for nationals on the visa-free list — six more added from 9 July 2026 (Permen Imipas 10/2026) | 30 days | None | Article 84 |
| B | Visa on arrival | 30 days | Once, by 30 days | Articles 82(1) and 95(7) |
| F | Visa on arrival at eight seaports in the Riau Islands | 7 days | None | Article 82(2) |
| C | Single-entry visit visa, applied for in advance | 60 days | 60 days at a time, up to 180 | Articles 81(5) and 95(3) |
| D | Multiple-entry visit visa | 60 days on each entry | Check the index on the official list | Article 81(5) |
| E | Limited-stay visa, leading to a KITAS (Kartu Izin Tinggal Terbatas): work, investment, study, family, return or second home | Depends on the index | Depends on the index | Article 33 |
A visit visa almost never covers paid work
Almost every A, B, C and D index prohibits selling goods or services and taking pay from a person or company in Indonesia. The exceptions are narrow: the arts, culture and sport visit visas (the C7 and C8 series, and D8) allow payment or benefits for the activity itself, and the emergency-work visa (C15) allows pay from an Indonesian person or company.
Visit visas by what you are coming to do
- A1 and B1 — tourism, business and short medical treatment, under one index each. Business and medical visits used to have indices of their own.
- C1 — the single-entry tourist visa, and wider than its name: meetings, conventions and exhibitions, negotiating and signing, site inspections at offices, factories, investment sites and mines, and medical treatment. The old B211A code is no longer used.
- C2 and D2 — business visits, single and multiple entry: meetings, buying goods, negotiating, and checking goods at offices, factories and production sites, but not continuous supervision of production or sales. This is the ground covered by business visas.
- C12 — pre-investment: a site survey or feasibility study, for 180 days and up to twelve months in total (Article 95(4)).
- C6 — social activities, in one index that replaced separate humanitarian and volunteer ones.
- C7C — performances in arts, culture and skills other than music, such as magic shows, fan meetings and chef demonstrations. Payment for the performance is allowed; employment is not.
- C5A — a visit visa for social-media content creators, separate from the press and film-crew indices. Pay from anyone in Indonesia is prohibited.
- C15 — unplanned emergency work that cannot be delegated: a natural disaster, a failure of major machinery, or unrest that must be dealt with to avoid serious loss. Pay from an Indonesian person or company is allowed.
- D1 — the multiple-entry tourist visa. Tourist and social visits, and family stays, are what Indonesia social visa and family stay applications cover.
Limited-stay visas by purpose
An E index leads to a limited stay permit and its card, the KITAS. They fall into four families, and most people belong to one.
Work
E23 is the general work visa. It absorbed twenty company-sponsored expert indices, E23B to E23W. E23A covers special economic zones, and newer indices cover sponsors that are not companies: E23U for a foreign diplomat’s household assistant and E23V for a trade and economic office. E23Y is the work visa for digital experts.
A separate E25 series covers commissioners, directors, deputy directors, general managers, managers and supervisors, so management roles sit there rather than under E23. Every work visa needs a document from the Ministry of Manpower (Article 34(2)(a)), and the employer needs an approved plan for employing foreign workers, the RPTKA (Rencana Penggunaan Tenaga Kerja Asing). That is the work permit KITAS route.
Investment
E28A is the investor visa, for a stay of up to two years on a shareholding of at least Rp10 billion (Article 38(2)). An investor below that threshold who sits as a director or commissioner applies for a work visa instead (Article 38(5)). This is the investor KITAS.
E28F is for a director or commissioner of a company being set up in Nusantara, the new capital, and E28G for a parent company’s representative at its branch anywhere in Indonesia.
Study
E30A covers primary and secondary school, E30B higher education for one, two or four years, E30E special economic zones and E30F student exchange. Whether a student may work is set out in the next section.
Family and return
E31 is family reunification: the spouse of an Indonesian citizen (E31A), the spouse of a foreigner holding a stay permit (E31B), children, parents, and a sibling under 18 (E31J). An investor’s spouse and child hold E31B and E31E.
E32A to E32D cover former Indonesian citizens and their descendants to the second degree (Article 33(2)(i)). The Global Citizen of Indonesia visas, launched by the Directorate General on 26 January 2026 under Permen Imipas No. 3 of 2025, lead directly to an unlimited permanent stay permit. Whether a family member may work is set out in the next section.
Some E indices, E28F and E28G among them, run for five or ten years under the golden visa scheme, which has its own amounts and rules.
Who may take paid work on a family or student visa
A student or family visa is not a work permit. The one group with a general right to work is the spouse and children of an Indonesian citizen — under the Immigration Law since 2011, and restated in the 2025 diaspora regulation (Permen Imipas No. 3 of 2025, Article 35). Everyone else needs approval for the added activity, and their employer needs its own.
| Paid work? | On what basis | The employer still needs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A citizen's spouse or child | Yes, to support themselves and their family | Immigration Law, Article 61, in force since 2011 | Not settled by the regulations — check before paying |
| An expatriate's spouse or child | No general right | The classification grants none, and a child's permit expressly prohibits pay (E31E) | Not applicable |
| Student | No general right | Internships have their own visit visas, C22, C22A and C22B, which also prohibit pay | Not applicable |
| Anyone else | Only with approval for the added activity | Permenkumham 22/2023, Article 201 | An approved RPTKA (PP 34/2021, Article 6) |
Paying someone outside their permit is the employer's offence too
The Immigration Law punishes whoever gives a foreign national the opportunity to work outside the purpose of their permit, not only the worker: up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to IDR 200 million, or both (UU No. 6 of 2011, Article 122(b), as restated by UU No. 1 of 2026). Employing a foreign worker without an RPTKA carries a separate fine of IDR 6 million per position per person for one month, rising by IDR 6 million a month to IDR 36 million at six months, and further RPTKA applications can be suspended (PP 34/2021, Articles 36 and 37).
The employer side may change soon. The Constitutional Court’s decision 168/PUU-XXI/2023 gave the legislature two years from 31 October 2024 to pass a new manpower law, so check the current rules on employing foreign workers before relying on these.
What this means for you
Pick the index by what you will actually do in Indonesia, before you travel. A visit visa never covers pay, whatever the purpose. A dependant’s permit is not a work permit, and the employer’s obligations are separate from the visa.
The official list is the authority, although some of its index pages are still blank, so read the list rather than a single page. And a permit settles your right to be here, not your tax position, which follows its own tests — set out in our guide to moving to Indonesia.