Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR) passed a new Labour Protection Law on 6 October 2026, and according to Manpower Minister Yassierli’s own public listing of the law’s provisions, one clause would exempt foreign nationals who have been married to Indonesian citizens for at least five years — and reportedly their working-age children from such marriages — from the Foreign Worker Utilisation Plan (RPTKA) and its associated US$1,200 annual levy, the Foreign Worker Compensation Fund (DKP-TKA). The RPTKA is the authorization Indonesian employers must currently obtain from the Manpower Ministry before hiring any foreign national.
The change, if it proceeds as described, would primarily affect long-term foreign spouses of Indonesian citizens who currently work through an employer-sponsored RPTKA, employers who sponsor them (reported examples include schools hiring foreign teachers), and the adult children of mixed marriages. Other visa holders are not affected: requirements and fees for the Temporary Stay Permit (ITAS) and Permanent Stay Permit (ITAP) stay unchanged, and foreigners remain barred from working in specific sectors such as human resources, the military and the civil service.
The RPTKA and its US$1,200 fee have long applied to mixed-marriage spouses despite a standing tension in Indonesian law: the 2011 Immigration Law gives ITAS/ITAP-holding spouses the right to work or run a business to support their families, while the Manpower Ministry has generally required a corporate RPTKA sponsor for any foreign national who works, regardless of marital status. The Ministry has separately clarified that foreign spouses running their own micro or small businesses do not need RPTKA approval. The RPTKA provisions are a small part of a much larger law — built around stricter outsourcing and contract limits, higher severance, expanded maternity leave and new protections for gig and informal workers — that fulfils a Constitutional Court order to create a standalone labour-protection law separate from the 2020 Omnibus Law on Job Creation.
This is not yet in force. The law’s final text remains unpublished; President Prabowo Subianto is expected to sign it in November 2026, after which it would be published in the State Gazette. Even then, Indonesia Expat reports that the RPTKA/mixed-marriage provisions will need implementing regulations from the presidency or the Manpower Ministry before taking effect, a process the outlet says “could take several months or even years.” Employment lawyers quoted by Indonesia Expat say they have not been able to confirm the precise final wording of the RPTKA-exemption clauses. The Indonesian Mixed Marriage Society (PerCa), which provided input to parliament during drafting, says it will closely monitor the implementing regulations once they are issued.
References
Indonesia Expat – Indonesia Expected to Drop $1,200 Hiring Fee for Eligible Expats / RRI (Voice of Indonesia) – House Approves Labor Protection Bill
