Indonesia Directorate General of Immigration
Indonesia's immigration regulator; its permit apparatus hit by a corruption scandal and leadership vacuum in June 2026.
Indonesia's Directorate General of Immigration expelled 18 foreigners from Bali in the last week of September, one a motorcycle instructor holding a remote-worker permit, as prosecutors took over the graft case against former senior immigration officials.
Last refreshed: 3 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
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Nomads & Communities: Bali's Dharma Dewata: 62 detained across three regenciesBackground
Indonesia's Directorate General of Immigration issues the country's visas and residence permits, including KITAS and KITAP permits, the Second Home Visa and the E33G remote-worker Visa, whose income floor rose to $60,000 a year for 2026. It shares residency records with the Directorate General of Taxes and runs a 100-person Bali task force covering ten areas.
It earns as well as enforces. In 2025 it collected 10.4 trillion rupiah from immigration services, 155% of its revenue target, and its April 2026 sweeps apprehended 346 foreign nationals for overstays and unauthorised work. From 15 April to 4 May 2026 its Dharma Dewata operation detained 62 foreign nationals in Denpasar, Badung and Singaraja; operation head Felucia Sengky Ratna withheld their nationalities.
The directorate sits within the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections. No national total of 2026 enforcement actions has been published, so foreign residents cannot measure their compliance risk.
Misused remote-worker permits end in deportation
The directorate's Ngurah RAI office removed 18 foreigners from Bali in The Week of 21 to 27 September. On 29 September the office singled out a motorcycle instructor among them, whose Remote Worker limited-stay permit it says was obtained by deception. That permit is meant for people employed by companies abroad, so local paid work on it is grounds for removal.
The deportations came as the directorate's own Integrity case moved on. On 30 September the KPK passed its residence-permit extortion file, with eight suspects, to prosecutors. the Commission alleges that officials and agents took 145.5bn rupiah from foreigners applying for the permits this directorate issues, so the agency now polices permit misuse while its past permit handling is before prosecutors.
The permit office loses its leadership
The June sting hit the directorate's own premises. KPK investigators arrested 17 people at its West Jakarta Class I immigration office on 2 and 3 June 2026, including eight immigration officials and nine private Visa agents, over payments to fast-track KITAS and KITAP applications.
By 22 June the directorate's acting director-general was also among the 18 people held. Two of the three senior posts in its Directorate of Residence Permits were empty or under investigation, and the directorate had issued no guidance on keeping renewals moving for its 346,000-plus KITAS and KITAP holders.