Establishing a PMA Company in Indonesia: Process and Timeline

Updated 6 August 2026 · Okusi Associates · All guides

A foreign-owned company (PT PMA) is established in Indonesia through a fixed sequence: sector screening, notarial deed, Ministry of Law ratification, tax registration, and risk-based licensing through the OSS system. The sequence itself is quick; the delays live elsewhere. This guide sets out each step, what it requires from the foreign shareholder, and how long the whole exercise honestly takes.

First, the question that decides everything else

Before any document is drafted, the proposed business activity must be screened against the Bidang Usaha Penanaman Modal (BUPM), the positive investment list that determines, per 5-digit KBLI classification, whether a sector is open to 100% foreign ownership, open with conditions, or closed. Everything downstream — capital structure, licensing risk level, whether the venture is possible at all — hangs on this classification. A day of screening here routinely saves months of unwinding later. Okusi maintains a searchable BUPM reference for this purpose.

The sequence

#	Step	Where	Typical duration
1	BUPM / KBLI screening	Advisory	1–3 days
2	Company name reservation	Ministry of Law (SABH)	1–2 days
3	Deed of establishment (akta pendirian), in Indonesian	Notary	2–5 days
4	Legal-entity ratification (SK Kemenkumham)	Ministry of Law	1–4 days
5	Corporate tax number (NPWP)	Coretax DJP	1–3 days, often issued with the NIB
6	Business identification number (NIB)	OSS system	1–3 days
7	Risk-based business licence	OSS system	Depends on risk level (see below)
8	BPJS health and manpower registration	OSS-linked	Registration at NIB; activation separately
9	Corporate bank account	Commercial bank	3–15 days
10	Capital deposit and proof to Ministry of Law	Bank → SABH	Statutory deadline: 60 days from the deed

Under the risk-based licensing regime (Perka BKPM 5/2025), what the company receives at step 7 depends on the risk classification of its KBLI:

Risk level	Licence consists of
Low	NIB only; the NIB is the licence
Medium-low	NIB + standard certificate, self-declared
Medium-high	NIB + standard certificate, subject to verification
High	NIB + a full licence (izin)

For low and medium-low risk activities (the majority of trading, consulting and service businesses) licensing is effectively automatic once the NIB issues. For medium-high and high risk activities, the licence waits on the underlying approvals: spatial-planning conformity (KKPR), environmental approval, building approvals. Unfortunately, these are precisely the approvals with no reliable timetable, and they, not the corporate steps, are where establishment timelines break.

How long it actually takes

Two honest numbers, not one.

To a licensed company (NIB): 10–20 working days from receipt of complete, apostilled documents, for low and medium-low risk classifications. The corporate machinery (name, deed, ratification, NPWP, NIB) is genuinely fast when the inputs are clean.

To a fully operational company: 4–8 weeks. The difference is the bank account (most banks insist on the director appearing in person, and their compliance departments answer to no timetable), the capital deposit, BPJS activation, and any sectoral approvals. And before the clock starts at all: apostilling the foreign shareholder’s corporate documents takes two to six weeks in the home country, entirely outside anyone’s control in Jakarta.

Any provider quoting a single figure for the whole journey is quoting the part they control and staying silent on the rest.

What the foreign shareholder must produce

For an individual shareholder, director or commissioner: passport, home-country tax identification number where held, contact details and a photograph. Individual documents are straightforward.

For a corporate shareholder, the file is heavier, and every public document in it must be legalised:

Certificate of incorporation or good standing
Articles of association
Board resolution or power of attorney authorising the investment and naming the signatory
Register of directors and shareholders, or equivalent evidence of beneficial ownership
Passport of the authorised signatory

Legalisation runs on two tracks. Documents from states party to the Apostille Convention need a single apostille certificate; Indonesia acceded with effect from June 2022, which removed the old consular-legalisation ordeal for most Western investors. Documents from non-Convention states must still be legalised by the Indonesian embassy in the country of origin. Since 2025, beneficial-ownership disclosure is an express requirement of every establishment filing under the Ministry of Law’s company-administration rules; the days of undisclosed layering behind an Indonesian PT are over.

Shareholders, directors, commissioners

An Indonesian PT requires a minimum of two shareholders (individuals, corporations, or a mix), at least one director and at least one commissioner (Law No. 40 of 2007). A PMA must take the form of an ordinary PT: the single-shareholder micro-company introduced in 2021 is reserved for Indonesian citizens. Foreigners may hold all three roles, and a 100% foreign-owned company with all-foreign officers is entirely lawful where the BUPM permits full foreign ownership in the sector. A foreign director who will actually work in Indonesia requires a work permit and stay permit (RPTKA and KITAS); a commissioner may reside abroad. Should the shareholder count ever fall to one, company law allows six months to restore it before the remaining shareholder becomes personally liable, a deadline that catches more companies than it should.

The first ninety days

Establishment is the beginning of obligations, not the end of them. In its first quarter a new PMA must, at minimum:

File proof of the capital deposit with the Ministry of Law within 60 days of the deed
Register employees with BPJS Ketenagakerjaan within 30 days of each hire, and with BPJS Kesehatan alongside
Begin monthly tax filings from the first payroll or transaction (see monthly tax reporting obligations)
File its first quarterly investment realisation report (LKPM) through OSS, due the 15th of the month following quarter-end
Observe the twelve-month capital arrangement declared in OSS (see capital requirements)

A company that treats these as afterthoughts spends its second quarter answering letters.

The practical route

The process rewards preparation and punishes improvisation: clean documents, correct classification, and a capital structure set up properly the first time. Okusi Associates has run this sequence since 1997 (over 3,000 companies) through its Jakarta, Bali and Batam offices. The complete Indonesian PMA Company establishment package is US$ 1,763, covering everything from BUPM screening to the first LKPM.