Greater Jakarta or Jakarta (10 mill), Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi and Depok consist of 28 million people (2nd largest urban area in the world) – this place is big, unstructured and very complex to figure out.
Jakarta is located on the island Java and 165 million of the 250 million Indonesians live on Java.
But Indonesia also consists of a number of other famous islands like Borneo (70% Indonesian), Sumatra and New Guinea (50% Indonesian). All these are known for tropical forest and primitive tribal life.
Working and making an income in Indonesia requires a KITAS, the normal annual cost for a KITAS is USD 1200 (actual fee) + around USD 500 (agent fees, this amount depends on the agent) + a trip out of Indonesia (typically to Singapore or Malaysia) the first year – these trips are often referred to as “VISA runs”.
Not using agents is almost impossible and requires so much local knowledge and time that it is not worth it.
First of all, setting up companies in Indonesia as a foreigner is hard! At the same time, the road is paved with pitfalls in terms of rules that can be misunderstood, people who want to cheat you for money, and bureaucracy that will drive you crazy.
My advice to anybody, who wants to setup a company, is to examine your actual needs for a company very carefully. If you can fulfill your needs with a local partner that creates the company or the simplest form - a representative company (described below), please do this.
