Before you start

A valid home-country licence and a 1949-Convention International Driving Permit obtained before you fly — you cannot get a foreign IDP in Indonesia
A KITAS or KITAP to apply for an Indonesian SIM; visit-visa holders cannot apply directly
Passport and permit photocopies, and in practice an address document at many Satpas counters
A helmet for every motorbike trip including as a passenger, and realistically a second helmet for whoever rides with you

Step-by-step

1
Bring an IDP that covers the categories you will actually use
An IDP only translates the entitlements already on your home licence. If you intend to ride a motorbike — and in Surabaya's heat and traffic many people do — the motorcycle category must be on the home licence before the IDP is issued. Carry both documents together; an IDP alone is not valid.
In personWho: You, in your home country before departureSame day to a weekRoughly USD 20–50 abroad
2
Apply for the Indonesian SIM at a Surabaya Satpas
Bring passport, KITAS and photocopies. You take a computer-based psychology screening and a health check at the clinics attached to the site, then a theory test and, depending on the office, a practical test. The card is typically issued the same day. SIM A covers private cars up to 3,500 kg; SIM C covers motorbikes. Go early — the queue is the constraint, not the tests.
In personWho: You, as a KITAS or KITAP holderOne morning if you arrive at openingState fee plus the two screenings, generally a low few hundred thousand rupiah
3
Read the expiry date printed on the card
Article 4(1) of Perpol 5/2021 sets a five-year term for a standard SIM and draws no distinction between Indonesian and foreign holders. The shorter foreigner-specific terms still quoted on some police-service pages, tying validity to a work permit or a tourist stay, describe the pre-2021 arrangement. Read the expiry printed on the card and diarise it, and if a counter issues something shorter, the regulation is the thing to point at.
In personWho: YouAt issue
4
Understand which regency your vehicle belongs to
Indonesian plates carry a regional prefix — Surabaya's is L, while the surrounding East Java regencies use W and others — and the annual vehicle tax is paid at the Samsat office of the registering region. If you buy a car registered in Sidoarjo and live in Surabaya, your annual renewal happens in Sidoarjo. Since January 2025 that tax has also been split, with the regency levying a surcharge alongside the provincial rate; the provincial rate was reduced at the same time, so the total is broadly comparable, but the notice looks different and confuses people.
In personWho: The registered ownerAnnuallyVaries by vehicle value; check the Samsat notice, not an online estimate
5
Expect enforcement by camera and by document check, not by cash
Police have been barred from collecting cash fines at the roadside since October 2022; enforcement runs through the electronic ticketing system, and East Java has been expanding fixed camera enforcement on the main corridors. Notices go to the address on the vehicle registration. If you drive a company car, agree in advance who receives and settles them, because an unpaid ticket surfaces at the annual tax renewal.
OnlineWho: You and the registered ownerPaid by transfer or app, never in cash to an officer

Documents you’ll need

Home-country licence with the categories you intend to use
International Driving Permit issued abroad, carried alongside the home licence
Passport and KITAS or KITAP plus photocopies, for the SIM application
Psychology screening slip and health certificate from the Satpas clinics
Vehicle registration (STNK), which is checked more often than the licence

Things most newcomers don’t know

There is no transit fallback here, which changes the whole calculation about where to live.

In Jakarta you can choose an MRT-adjacent flat and never own a car. Surabaya has commuter rail on a few corridors and buses on a few more, but nothing that covers the industrial estates, the western housing clusters or Gresik. Distance from work is therefore a hard constraint rather than a soft one, and a house twenty kilometres from the plant is twenty kilometres in traffic every day.

Source: Surabaya city transport network; practitioner reporting

The plate prefix, not your address, determines where you pay vehicle tax every year.

Annual vehicle tax is settled at the Samsat office of the region the vehicle is registered in. Buying a used car with a Sidoarjo or Gresik plate while living in Surabaya commits you to an annual trip to that regency's office, or to a transfer of registration with its own fee. Ask about the plate before you agree a price on a used vehicle.

Source: Bapenda Jawa Timur / Samsat East Java

Vehicle tax was restructured in January 2025 and the new notice looks alarming without being much bigger.

Law 1/2022 on central–regional financial relations introduced a regency and city surcharge (opsen) on provincial vehicle tax, applied from early 2025, with provinces reducing their headline rate to compensate. Owners saw two line items where there had been one and concluded the tax had doubled. Read the total rather than the components, and note that Jakarta does not apply the surcharge at all because its administrative cities are not autonomous regions — so a Jakarta comparison is not like for like.

Source: Law No. 1 of 2022 (HKPD); Bapenda Jawa Timur

Riding a motorbike on a car-only licence voids your insurance as well as breaking the law.

Insurers exclude claims arising from unlawful activity, and a home licence or IDP without the motorcycle category makes every ride unlawful. In a city where the motorbike is the default vehicle and the roads are shared with heavy port traffic, this is the exposure that actually ruins people financially rather than the fine.

Source: Standard travel and expatriate policy exclusions

Common mistakes to avoid

Riding a motorbike on a car-only home licence or IDP — illegal, and it voids most accident cover.
Buying a used car without checking its registration region, then owing an annual trip to another regency's Samsat.
Reading the post-2025 vehicle tax notice as a doubling when it is the same total split into two line items.
Working from an outdated guide that says a foreigner's SIM expires with the stay permit — Perpol 5/2021 sets five years for everyone, so check the card and challenge anything shorter.
Choosing housing on price without testing the commute — there is no rail alternative if you get it wrong.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.