Can a foreigner be a director of an Indonesian company?

You can own an Indonesian company as a foreigner. Working in it is a separate question with a separate process, and conflating the two is one of the more common and more serious mistakes foreign owners make.

Shareholder, director, employee

A shareholder owns shares. There is no work authorisation implied and none required, because holding shares is not working.

A director — *direksi* — is an officer of the company with legal authority to bind it. A foreign director who is actively performing the role in Indonesia requires work authorisation and an appropriate stay permit.

A commissioner — *komisaris* — supervises rather than manages. The position is less operational and the requirements differ, which is why some structures place the foreign party here instead.

The distinction that matters is not the title. It is whether you are performing work in Indonesia. Signing documents from abroad as a non-resident director is a different position from running the business from a desk in Canggu.

What authorisation requires

RPTKA — *Rencana Penggunaan Tenaga Kerja Asing*, the foreign worker utilisation plan. The company applies, justifying why the position requires a foreign national, and the plan is approved for defined positions and durations.

DKP-TKA — the compensation levy payable for employing a foreign worker, charged per position per month.

The immigration permit — a work KITAS tied to that position and that sponsoring company. It is not transferable. If you leave the company or the position changes, the permit needs to change with it.

There are also positions closed to foreign nationals entirely, and requirements around Indonesian counterpart staffing depending on the sector.

What happens without it

This is not a technicality that gets overlooked.

A foreigner working in Indonesia without the correct permit faces immigration consequences ranging from fines to deportation and re-entry bans, and the sponsoring company faces its own exposure. Enforcement has become more visible and more consistent.

The practical risk for most people is not a dramatic raid. It is that the exposure exists continuously and materialises at the worst moment — during a licence renewal, a visa extension, a dispute with a former employee or partner, or a complaint from a competitor.

The structures people use

Foreign director with a work KITAS. The clean answer if you are genuinely running the business from Indonesia. It costs money and time and it is correct.

Foreign commissioner, Indonesian director. Places the foreign party in a supervisory role. Workable where you genuinely are supervising rather than managing, and it requires an Indonesian director you actually trust, because they hold the operational authority to bind the company.

Non-resident foreign director. You hold the position but do not perform work in Indonesia. Legitimate where it is true, and it is frequently claimed where it is not. Running daily operations from Bali on a tourist visa while describing yourself as a non-resident director is the version that goes wrong.

Investor KITAS. Available to shareholders meeting an investment threshold. Note carefully that this is a residency route tied to an investment, and it is not a general work permit for any role you choose to take on. Confirm the current scope rather than assuming.

If you own a villa through a PT PMA

Most owners do not need to work in the company at all. The property is held, a manager operates it, and the owner is a shareholder and possibly a non-resident director.

That is a clean position and it avoids the entire question. The problems start when the owner is in Bali managing staff, handling bookings, dealing with suppliers and making operational decisions, while holding no work authorisation.

If that describes your intention, sort the permit. If it does not, structure the company so nobody needs to pretend.