Most founders ask us which visa lets them run their company in Indonesia. It is the right instinct and the wrong question. For the majority of people setting up now, the choice was already made by a rule change in 2025, and the permit that sounds more impressive is usually the one you do not want.
What each permit actually is
There are two routes.
The Investor KITAS (E28A) is based on what you own. It requires IDR 10 billion in share value under Permenkumham 22/2023, as amended. The permanent version, Investor KITAP, requires IDR 15 billion.
The Working KITAS (E23/E25) is based on a job you actually do. The company sponsors it. It needs RPTKA approval and an IMTA work permit, plus the DPKK levy of USD 100 per month. It runs twelve months and extends five times.
Why the numbers stopped matching
Until 2025 these thresholds lined up. Minimum paid-up capital for a PT PMA was IDR 10 billion, the same figure as the Investor KITAS. Capitalise the company properly and the visa followed.
Then BKPM Regulation 5/2025 cut minimum paid-up capital to IDR 2.5 billion. The KITAS threshold stayed at 10.
They have been four times apart ever since. You can hold a fully compliant, correctly capitalised PT PMA and still be nowhere near Investor KITAS eligibility. If you have been working from advice written before 2025, this is the part that is out of date.
The restriction that matters more than the money
Say you do have the IDR 10 billion. We still steer clients away from the Investor KITAS, and it has nothing to do with cost.
An Investor KITAS holder can manage and supervise: sign documents, sit on the board, set direction, hire and fire. They cannot perform operational work.
Read that again if you are the chef in your restaurant, the instructor in your studio, or the architect on your own site. The permit does not cover what you do all day. In Bali that describes most owners. People do not move here to supervise from a boardroom.
Commissioner is not a shortcut
Worth stating plainly, because it causes refusals: a commissioner cannot apply as a director. They are separate roles with separate immigration consequences. If you need to act as director, the deed has to say director. Fixing that later costs more than getting it right at incorporation.
Why we only offer one of them
Consilio offers the Working KITAS (E23/E25) and nothing else. For most clients the IDR 10 billion is impractical. For the ones who clear it, the operational restriction usually makes it the wrong tool anyway.
The Working KITAS is more paperwork. It also lets you do your job.
Where applications actually fail
Refusals are rarely about eligibility. They come from mismatches:
- The deed says commissioner, the application says director
- The KBLI on the NIB does not support the role being sponsored
- The RPTKA describes a position the company cannot evidence it needs
Immigration and company structure are one file and get assessed together. That is why we do not sell them as two engagements.
The short version
Under IDR 10 billion in shares? Working KITAS. The decision is made for you.
Over it? Probably still Working KITAS, because you almost certainly want to work in your business, not just oversee it.
The question to answer is not which permit sounds better. It is what you will be doing on a Tuesday morning, and whether your deed, your KBLI and your permit agree about it.
Correct at the date of publication. Indonesian thresholds and enforcement move; check before you commit, or ask us.