Frequently Asked Questions: #passive-foreign-shareholder-investor-kitas

No. Shareholding in an Indonesian company carries no obligation to hold any Indonesian visa or stay permit. A foreigner may own shares in a PT PMA while living permanently in Australia, Singapore or anywhere else, visiting Indonesia (if at all) on ordinary visit visas.

An investor KITAS exists for the opposite case: a shareholder who wants to live in Indonesia on the strength of their investment. It is a right, not a duty. The company must still meet its own obligations — capital, licensing, tax and LKPM reporting — but these attach to the company, not to the shareholder’s immigration status.

Points that matter for the passive-shareholder structure:

• Directors are different. A director who actually manages the company from within Indonesia needs proper status and work authorisation. A foreign director who genuinely remains abroad and exercises the role remotely is a common arrangement, but the company then needs practical management on the ground — which is where a resident director, or properly-scoped local management, comes in.
• Signing and banking. Bank account opening, tax administration (Coretax access) and various filings are far simpler with someone locally authorised. Powers of attorney solve some of this; they do not solve all of it.
• Visits. Attending shareholder meetings or inspecting your investment falls within business-visit activities — no work permit needed.

So a small spa or villa company can lawfully have a foreign passive owner abroad and a local partner running operations, with no KITAS anywhere in the structure. What that structure cannot do is dodge the company-level capital and licensing requirements, which apply regardless of where the shareholders sleep.

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