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Lapor diri KBRI Australia: have you reported to your Indonesian mission yet?

Tips · 2026-10-24 · 10 min read

Lapor diri at the KBRI in Australia means telling Indonesia's own mission that you now live and work there. For one group it is a legal duty: under Article 63 of Law No. 18 of 2017, an individual migrant worker (PMI Perseorangan) who takes a job directly with an employer, with no placement agency in between, must report to the manpower office and to the Indonesian mission. In Australia that means KBRI Canberra, KJRI Sydney, KJRI Melbourne, KJRI Perth or KRI Darwin; in New Zealand, the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington.

This guide covers the weeks right after you land: who must report, which office covers you and what to have ready.

Who has to report, and why the law asks for it

Law No. 18 of 2017 calls any Indonesian citizen who will do, is doing or has done paid work outside Indonesia a Pekerja Migran Indonesia (PMI). So the moment you start work in Brisbane, Hamilton or Perth, the law sees you as a PMI, even if nobody in Indonesia arranged the job.

The law gives two broad ways to go. Article 49 says workers can be placed only by the government Agency, a licensed placement company (P3MI) or a company placing workers for its own business. Article 63 adds the individual route: you can work for an employer that is a legal entity without any agency at all.

The individual route comes with two conditions. You carry the employment risks yourself, and you must report to the manpower office and the Indonesian mission.

What if a P3MI or the government placed you?

Workers who go through official placement register on SISKOP2MI, attend the Orientasi Pra Pemberangkatan (OPP) and receive an E-PMI, the record that shows they are officially a PMI. Your placement is already on file. Even so, it costs nothing to ask the mission near your workplace whether it wants your local address and phone number, and it means the office in your new city knows you are there.

Which Indonesian mission covers you

Australia is a big country, so pick the office closest to where you live and work. Kemlu's Safe Travel page for Australia lists Indonesia's five missions there. Each mission's own page says which states and territories it serves, so check before you visit or send anything.

The New Zealand details come from the MFAT page for the Indonesian Embassy. Wellington can feel far away: at the 2023 New Zealand Census, 54.5% of people of Indonesian ethnicity lived in the Auckland Region and 13.2% in the Wellington Region. If you work in Auckland, Christchurch or a small town, ask the Embassy by phone how it prefers people outside Wellington to report.

You will not be alone in Australia either. The 2021 Census counted 87,075 people born in Indonesia living there, and 19,558 of them had arrived between 2016 and 2021.

What reporting in does for you, and what it does not

Think of lapor diri as putting your name on the map. When the mission knows your name, your passport details, your employer, your address and who to call at home, it can act on facts if you lose your passport, have an accident or end up in serious trouble at work.

Our guide to the risks of the PMI nonprosedural route explains why working with no record anywhere leaves people exposed. Reporting is the simple opposite: a legal job, written down in the right places.

Some things are outside the mission's role, and knowing this saves you time:

• Your visa. The Department of Home Affairs decides Australian visas and Immigration New Zealand decides New Zealand visas. Questions about your visa conditions go to them or to a registered adviser, as our guide on checking a registered migration agent explains.
• Your pay and conditions. In Australia the Fair Work Ombudsman handles workplace rights. Its page for visa holders and migrants says you can call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask them to call the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94. In New Zealand, everyone, migrants included, has the same minimum employment rights, including paid holidays and sick leave.
• Your Indonesian placement record. Questions about placement, BPJS Ketenagakerjaan or a placement company go to KP2MI and its regional BP3MI offices.

An employer cannot cancel your visa. Fair Work says only Home Affairs can grant, refuse or cancel visas, and contacting the Fair Work Ombudsman will not get your visa cancelled.

How to report to the Indonesian mission, step by step

Do the first three steps in Indonesia, before you fly. The rest fit into your first weeks in Australia or New Zealand.

1. Report to the manpower office before you leave. Article 63 names it next to the mission. Ask what it needs from a PMI Perseorangan, and keep any letter or receipt it gives you.
2. Check your social security. Article 5 of the law says a PMI going abroad must be registered with a social security membership number, and the SISKOP2MI FAQ says migrant workers must be registered with BPJS Ketenagakerjaan.
3. Pack the papers the mission will ask about. Article 13 lists the documents a prospective PMI must have, including a passport, a work visa and an employment contract. Carry clear copies.
4. Find your mission. Use the table above and Kemlu's Safe Travel page, then open that mission's own page and read how it takes reports: online, by email or in person.
5. Report in your first weeks. Give your full name, passport number, visa type, employer, work address, home address in Australia or New Zealand, and one emergency contact in Indonesia. Use the mission's own channel only, never a middleman.
6. Keep the proof. Save the confirmation email, screenshot or receipt in two places, for example your phone and your email.
7. Update it when life changes. A new employer, a new city or a new phone number makes your old record less useful. Tell the mission again.
8. Save the emergency numbers. KP2MI's call centre is +6221-29244800 from abroad, and its complaints WhatsApp is 0811-8080-141.

The other things to set up in your first weeks

Reporting to the mission is one item on a short list. Do the others in the same weeks.

Keep your records ready for the next step

An Indonesian SKCK is valid for up to 6 months from the date of issue and can be extended, while police certificates for Australian visas are valid for 12 months from the issue date. If your old SKCK has run out, you can apply for a new one in person at a police office or online.

Documents from Indonesia may also need an apostille for later applications; our explainer on what AHU's apostille does for Australia or NZ paperwork covers that.

Keep proof of the work you do here too. A short monthly note of your duties, plus pay slips and reference letters, builds a work history that is hard to argue with. You can show that history on a verified Talent Tabloid profile, and turn it into an English CV with Build AI CV when you are ready to look for your next role.

If you are still searching for that first job, sponsored roles on our site include a fabricator / welder job in Perth, near KJRI Perth, and a duty manager job in Christchurch. Our simple guides to the Skills in Demand (482) visa and the AEWV for New Zealand explain how employer sponsorship works.

Common mistakes Indonesian workers make with lapor diri

• Thinking it is only for workers sent by an agency. Article 63 puts the reporting duty on the individual PMI, the worker who found the job alone.
• Reporting once and never again. A record with an old employer and an old address helps no one. Update it after every move.
• Asking the mission to fix a visa problem. Only Home Affairs grants Australian visas, and Immigration New Zealand decides New Zealand ones. Use the mission for Indonesian matters and the right office for the rest.
• Handing your passport to an employer or agent. The Australian Embassy in Jakarta lists requests to hand over your passport among its scam signs. Your passport stays with you.
• Paying a calo to "arrange" paperwork. Indonesian law says migrant workers cannot be charged placement costs, as our guide to biaya penempatan and the law explains. Deal with the mission directly.
• Staying silent out of fear. Reporting in, and asking Fair Work for help when pay is wrong, are normal steps. An employer cannot punish you by cancelling your visa.

Frequently asked questions

Is lapor diri compulsory for every Indonesian worker in Australia?

For an individual PMI (PMI Perseorangan) who works for an employer without a placement agency, yes: Article 63 of Law No. 18 of 2017 says they must report to the manpower office and the Indonesian mission.

Which Indonesian mission do I report to in New Zealand?

The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia at 70 Glen Road, Kelburn, 6012, Wellington, phone (04) 475 8697. If you live in Auckland or the South Island, call first and ask how it takes reports from people outside Wellington.

I work in Darwin. Do I still go to Canberra?

Not necessarily. Indonesia has five missions in Australia: KBRI Canberra, KJRI Melbourne, KJRI Perth, KJRI Sydney and KRI Darwin. Check each mission's own page for the area it covers and start with the one closest to your work.

Can the KBRI help with my Australian visa?

No. The Department of Home Affairs decides Australian visas and Immigration New Zealand decides New Zealand visas. The Indonesian mission deals with Indonesian matters; for visa advice, use a registered migration agent in Australia or a licensed adviser in New Zealand.

Who do I contact if my employer underpays me?

In Australia, call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask them to call the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94. You can also tell your mission and KP2MI, whose complaints WhatsApp is 0811-8080-141, so the problem is on record in Indonesia too.

Key takeaways

• Article 63 of Law No. 18 of 2017 says a PMI Perseorangan must report to the manpower office and the Indonesian mission.
• Australia has five Indonesian missions; New Zealand's is the Embassy in Wellington.
• Report through the mission's own channel, keep the proof and update it when you move or change jobs.
• The mission does not decide visas or pay disputes: use Home Affairs, Immigration New Zealand and Fair Work for those.
• Set up your tax number, bank account and pay records in the same first weeks.

#lapor diri #kbri australia #pmi perseorangan #kbri wellington #indonesian workers #indonesian embassy