What is the Golden Visa?

Introduced in Peraturan Pemerintah (“Presidential Decree”) 40/2023 on August 4th 2023, and further mentioned in Peraturan Menteri Hukum dan HAM (“Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights”) 22/2023 as well as Peraturan Menteri Keuangan (“Regulation of the Minister of Finance”) 82/2023 on August 30th 2023. The ’Golden Visa’ is the agglomeration of  Limited Stay Visa, Limited Stay Permit, Permanent Stay Permit, and Permit to Return for a certain period of time. This visa was created for the purposes of: Investment activities, Family reunion, Repatriation, as well as ‘Second Home’ activities and can last for as long as either 5 or 10 years. Thus, giving even more advantages compared to the common visas. 

1. Investment Activities: To boost national economic growth by attracting and encouraging foreign investors to invest in Indonesia. The golden visa for investors are further broken down to three tiers:

1. Individual foreign investors that are planning to establish company in Indonesia;
2. Individual foreign investors that are not planning to establish company in Indonesia; and 
3. Foreigners who take office as members of the board of directors or members of the board of commissaries at the company established in Indonesia which is a branch or subsidiary locating within the Indonesian region. 

1. Family Reunion: 

1. Foreigners that affiliate themselves with their spouse as holder of the Limited Stay Visa or Permanent Stay Visa; 
2. Child under 18 (eighteen) years old and is not yet married that affiliate themselves with either of their parents as holder of the Limited Stay Visa or Permanent Stay Visa; 
3. Foreigners that affiliate with their children as holder of the Limited Stay Visa or Permanent Stay Visa.

1. Repatriation:

1. Ex-national of Indonesia living without a grantor; 
2. Second degree descendant of an ex-Indonesian national living without a grantor.

1. ‘Second Home’: This consists of activities, such as: 

1. Second home;
2. Specialty work;
3. Public figure; and 
4. Senior foreign citizen 60 years or older.

Tell me more about the requirements and provisions for investment purposes of golden visa

Basically, the difference lies in the amount/value of ‘investment’ the investor is willing to make. There are 6 (six) categorization of rate to make such investment: 

1. Individual foreign investors that are planning to establish company in Indonesia:

1. Investment value of  USD 2,5 million or equal to Rp 38 billion granting them 5-year Golden Visa ‘Stay Permit’; 
2. Investment value of USD 5 million or equal to Rp 76 billion granting them 10-year Golden Visa ‘Stay Permit’.

1. Individual foreign investors that are not planning to establish company in Indonesia:

1. Foreign investor must place funds worth USD 350,000 or Rp 5,3 billion granting them 5-year Golden Visa ‘Stay Permit’ 
2. Foreign investor must place funds worth USD 700,000 or Rp 10,6 billion granting them 10-year Golden Visa ‘Stay Permit’

These funds can be used to buy Indonesian government bonds, public company shares or place savings/deposits in Indonesia.

1. Foreigners who take office as director or commissioners of corporate investors establishing company in Indonesia:

1. Investment value of US$ 25,000,000 or around Rp. 380 billion granting a 5-year Golden Visa Stay Permit; 
2. Investment value of US$ 50,000,000 granting a 10-year Golden Visa Stay Permit.

What about the requirements for other applicants that are not investors. 

For the purposes of repatriation and ‘second home’ activities. 

Commonly, a grantor is required for the application of visa in general. However, in the cases of repatriation and ‘second home’ activities Golden Visa application purposes, an ‘immigration guarantee’ can be used instead. Replacing the need to have a grantor that would usually be required. Further, it acts as immigration officer’s instrument to evaluate and score the advisability of foreigners’ experience throughout their residence in Indonesia.

For the purpose of family reunion.

An appointee is required to act as the responsible person during a foreign citizen’s stay in Indonesia. This ‘responsible person’ can be chosen from either of these criterias:

1. Spouse (husband or wife) with an Indonesian citizenship; 
2. Parents with an Indonesian citizenship; and 
3. 21 years and older children with an Indonesian citizenship. 

Whatever mechanism a foreigner chooses, either through the appointment of a grantor or enactment of Immigration Guarantee, these mechanisms can be altered in between and as long as it follows Indonesia’s governing rules

I’m still confused, what exactly is an ‘Immigration Guarantee’

An ‘Immigration Guarantee’ puts the foreigner as the person responsible for themselves, hence they are responsible to report changes surrounding their own status, which includes: civil, immigration, and change of address. Furthermore, there are 8 (eight) mechanisms to gain an ‘Immigration Guarantee’, these are: 

1. Deposit of certain number of funds; 
2. Other mechanisms, such as providing for:
   1. Form of foreigner’s commitment to establish company in Indonesia;
   2. Form of commitment to buy Indonesia’s government bonds;
   3. Form of commitment to buy shares from Indonesia’s public company;
   4. Form of commitment to buy mutual funds from public company in Indonesia;
   5. Form of commitment to establish branch or subsidiary company in Indonesia;
   6. Form of commitment to buy tenement or apartment; and 
   7. Form of commitment to submit proof of partnership with the Indonesian government or institutions.

Okay, I’ve chosen my preferred mechanism, what do I do next.

1. Mechanism through the deposit of certain number of funds:

The deposit of funds will be conducted after the foreigner’s entry into Indonesia by placing their funds into an account under their own name in Indonesia’s state-owned bank.

1. Mechanism through form of commitment:

Foreigners fulfil and submit their commitment to the directorate generale, head of immigration office, or selected officials. 

Alright, I get the jizz of it. But my main question, will I be able to legally work with this visa? What rights will I acquire?

Regulation of the Ministry of Human Rights and Law 22/2023 has described several points regarding the facility benefits of holding a golden visa: 

1. Priority-access at Immigration Inspection Office determined by the ministry; 
2. Priority-service at the Immigration office; or 
3. Priority-service by relevant institution, ministry/legislative body, in accordance with related agreements.

Aside from these facility benefits that come with foreigners’ administrative process to obtain ITAS (Limited Stay Permit). The Golden Visa also provides a determinedly longer stay (5-10 years) than the average ITAS holder of 1-2 years. Thus, giving foreigners the liberty of not having to undergo the gruelling administrative and heavily bureaucratic process of gaining an ITAS as well as fulfilling the minimum requirement of 5 years stay in Indonesia for Indonesian citizenship application. 

Just as the name suggested, ITAS (Izin Tinggal Terbatas or Limited Stay Permit) provides foreigners the liberty to conduct businesses that are in accordance to their purpose for entering into Indonesia. These are essentially for: tourism, social, and business functions. The details of such visa can be read here.

Overall…

The Golden Visa is the most recent visa instrument the government of Indonesia created as a way to boost Indonesia’s post-pandemic economic recovery and to implement the doctrine of selective policy ‘prinsip kebijakan selektif’. The visa provides you with more benefits, such are: a more prolonged stay duration, ease of leaving and entering Indonesia, and efficiency because there is no longer a need to apply for an ITAS at the immigration office. 

Having only been regulated for its implementation, the Golden Visa is NOT YET implemented. The regulation itself will only be implemented in the next 6 months, according to statements provided by Silmy Karim (Immigration Directorate General of Indonesia) in recent interviews. In the meantime, however, the process for its implementation has been stated in several prior regulations (as mentioned above). Thus the public is already let known of this upcoming regulation and is expected to start adapting to the idea. Which can prove to be difficult for the wide-range intricacies the concept encapsulate. 

This is where Selaras comes in! We at Selaras provide comprehensive legal conultancy and services that will guarantee you clarity and efficiency for the purposes of your legal concerns. Read more about our company in this section below. 

SELARAS COMPANY PROFILE

Source

1.  Undang-Undang No. 12 tahun 2006 tentang Kewarganegaraan Republik Indonesia
2. Peraturan Presiden No 40 Tahun 2023 Tentang Perubahan Keempat Atas Peraturan Pemerintah No 31 Tahun 2013 Tentang Peraturan Pelaksanaan Undang-Undangan No 6 Tahun 2011 Tentang Keimigrasian, Bagian Penjelasan, Sub-bagian Umum
3. Peraturan Kementerian Hukum dan HAM Nomor 22 Tahun 2023 Tentang Visa dan Izin Tinggal
4. Peraturan Kementerian Keuangan Nomor 82 Tahun 2023 Tentang Jenis dan Tarif atas Jenis Penerimaan Negara Bukan Pajak Kebutuhan Mendesak atas Pelayanan Golden Visa yang Berlaku pada Kementerian Hukum dan Hak Asasi Manusia
5. ‘Scramble for Investors with Golden Visa, Is It Necessary?, 16 September 2023, https://fia.ui.ac.id/en/berebut-investor-dengan-visa-golden-perlukah/ 

‘Aturan Hukum Golden Visa Disahkan Tarik Orang Asing Berkualitas Untuk Berinvestasi’, 2 September 2023, https://www.imigrasi.go.id/en/2023/09/02/aturan-hukum-golden-visa-disahkan-tarik-orang-asing-berkualitas-untuk-berinvestasi/