The government will simplify bureaucratic procedures in the documentation of foreign workers and end overlapping among state institutions through an online licensing system.

The simplified procedure is expected to ease the recruitment of the particular foreign workers the country needs most.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Tuesday that certain qualified foreign workers were needed to support investment. He added, however, that procedures for foreign-worker recruitment were complicated.

“I’ve received a lot of complaints that foreign-worker licensing is complicated,” Jokowi said during a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.

Under prevailing regulations, a company needs to produce at least 10 documents to employ a foreign worker. These are the foreign manpower employment plan (RPTKA), recommendation of foreign manpower employme...