Expert Calls for Screening Foreign Workers to Protect Domestic Employment

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - The Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) says the government must accompany the acceleration of foreign worker (TKA) permit processing with strict screening to ensure foreign workers do not fill positions that Indonesian workers can occupy.

Head of INDEF’s Center for Macroeconomics and Finance, M. Rizal Taufikurahman, said the government must balance investors’ need for foreign expertise with the interests of the domestic workforce.

He emphasized that simplifying foreign worker permits should focus on reducing bureaucratic hurdles, not weakening protections for Indonesian workers. “It is the bureaucracy that should be trimmed, not the protection of domestic workers,” Rizal said in Jakarta on Saturday, September 12, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

Rizal stressed the importance of maintaining the labor‑market test to determine whether a position proposed for a foreign worker truly cannot be filled by local labor. This mechanism, he said, is essential to prevent streamlined permitting from creating an uneven playing field in the job market.

He noted that foreign workers should be recruited only for roles facing a genuine skills gap, particularly in high‑tech sectors, downstream industries, energy, digital technology, and engineering. “The principle is complementarity, not substitution for local labor,” he said.

Rizal also urged the government to make skills transfer a core requirement of foreign labor policy. He said foreign workers should be paired with local counterparts, have clear competency targets, and follow a defined timeline for knowledge transfer.

With such mechanisms, employing foreign workers would not only meet corporate needs but also improve the quality of Indonesia’s human resources. “The measure of success is not just faster permitting, but the increasing ability of Indonesian workers to take over the roles held by foreign workers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government is accelerating the foreign worker permitting process to provide greater certainty for businesses. A process previously considered time‑consuming will be streamlined to a maximum of five days through the integration of several government service systems.

Minister of Investment and Downstreaming/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Rosan Perkasa Roeslani, said certainty regarding permit issuance timelines is crucial for supporting investment activities.

“The foreign worker permitting process will take roughly four to five days, in accordance with Government Regulation No. 28. I am confident it will be completed within five days. Once that timeframe elapses, the permit will automatically be issued. This ensures certainty. Five days means five days,” Minister Rosan said on Wednesday, September 9, 2026.

Implementation of the integrated service system is scheduled to begin in late September 2026.

The streamlining is being carried out through two Joint Decrees (SKB) signed by Manpower Minister Yassierli, Immigration and Correctional Affairs Minister Agus Andrianto, and Investment and Downstreaming Minister/BKPM Head Rosan Roeslani.

The integration covers the Online Single Submission (OSS) system, the Manpower Service Information and Application System (SIAPkerja), and the All Indonesia application. The government has also established an Integration Technical Team to support implementation.

All Indonesia is the official application of the Government of Indonesia that integrates the arrival declaration system for international passengers--both Indonesian citizens and foreign nationals--entering Indonesian territory.

By integrating these three systems, the administrative process for foreign workers is expected to become simpler and provide companies with clearer timelines. However, Rizal emphasized that this acceleration must be accompanied by oversight to ensure the policy does not reduce job opportunities for Indonesian workers. ***