Citizenship Law

Oct 4th, 2006, in News, by

The implementation of the new citizenship law seems to be progressing with unusual swiftness.

The new law, UU Kewarganegaraan, touted as a “revolutionary” change in the way that the state views citizenship and nationality, was passed by the parliament on July 11th and the affected government departments were at that time given nine months to prepare the necessary regulations and forms to allow it to be implemented.

On 29th September it was reported that the minister for Law & Human Rights, Hamid Awaluddin, had the previous week just completed two ministerial edicts concerning the new rules for citizenship. The first decree was concerned with the status of children of mixed marriages, marriages where one party was Indonesian and the other foreign. Such children will now receive Indonesian citizenship automatically, whereas in the past this was only possible where the father was Indonesian. Had the children been born to a foreign man and an Indonesian women they were previously regarded as aliens, and needed visas to live in the country of their birth.

The second decree issued by the minister lays out the details, including relevant forms and paperwork, for Indonesians abroad who have lost their citizenship because they did not report themselves to an Indonesian diplomatic mission for five years, to regain their original citizenship. Such people will now have three years in which to re-apply for it.

A further two decrees need to be issued in order for the law to come fully into effect.


127 Comments on “Citizenship Law”

  1. Bradlymail says:

    my friend and his family from other country would like to stay in Indonesia in future. his wife is Indonesian and he plans to apply for Indonesian citizenship. anyone knows,how to apply Indonesian citizenship ? What’s the procedures….need help ! thanks.

  2. Indonesian says:

    Hi Bradly,

    Just get your friend to contact the nearest Indonesian Embassy or Consulate. They can start the process from there.

  3. Katarina says:

    Hi There,

    Is there any such thing like PErmanent resident in Indonesia?
    If yes what’s the requirement. if no what other solution?

    Thanks and Regards,

    Kat

  4. Yuzran says:

    Hi guys,

    I’m an Indonesian guy who plan to married a German girl in the United States.
    We prefer to stay in Indonesia rather than becoming a U.S. citizen.
    Does anyone know, how can she obtains an Indonesian citizenship?
    Need helps also.. Many thanks…

    YB

  5. Gada says:

    For you who needs information about Indonesian citizenship law, this link may helpful:
    http://www.depdagri.go.id/konten.php?nama=ProdukHukum&op=detail_hukum&id=473

    Have nice day,
    Gada

  6. Yuzran says:

    Thanks a lot Gada!!
    This is great

    YB

  7. sri riana says:

    I’m Indonesian citizenship who now married to China and stay here, need more information if I have a baby and deliver here. How about the status of the baby? Can be Indonesia citizenship? If can, how to process the birth certificate and the pasport?

    Need help. Thank’s lot!

    Sri Riana.

  8. bradlymail says:

    Don’t worry just report to the Indonesia Embassy or Consulate.

  9. Fixmanius says:

    Lol, I thought no one wanted to be Indonesian, but then I saw this…

  10. Zsazsa says:

    Hi Guys!

    I am getting married to an Indonesian this coming July. I am a Filipina. Can I get dual citizenship?

  11. Raden says:

    You will regret being as Indonesian. Fyi, to obtain citizenship it will be a loooong journey without clarity and offcourse you will be an object of ‘milking cow’ by our well known greedy immigration officers. Secondly, let say after your first son/doughter want to enroll into university in Indonesia then there will be series of other administrative problems & you may not get your citizenship by then, just prepare for more money & money & money!
    Thirdly, one day you want to surrender your citizenship of Indonesia because you feel sick of it after being discriminated because you are Phillipino Christian minority living in riot rich Muslim militant country of Indonesia, then our immigration officer will squeeze your pocket into the last minute time, by asking you to pay lawyer fee at their designated list of pribumi lawyers which they have back-door cooperation at premium charges.

    DO you UNDERSTAND? If not think twice, Gloria Aroyo still more caring with her citizens than our Indonesian gov’t.

  12. Zsazsa says:

    Thank you raden, will it be possible for me to still have my filipino citizenship even if I get married with an Indonesian?

  13. Janma says:

    Zsa Zsa, you will be filipino, you cannot become Indonesian so easily just from marrying an Indonesian. you must first apply for resident visa, this is a year long renewable visa called kitas, then after 5 years of extending that then you can get kitap, which is a 5 year residency visa, then you can apply for citizenship, must go through court, jakarta etc. Long process, costs a lot.

  14. Zsazsa says:

    Janma, thanks for the good insight of your bureaucracy! I didn’t know it is that hard to get your citizenship. I already got confused on how your government handles your application for National ID. 🙂

    Help me to understand, after getting married there in Indonesia. My husband will apply to change his status to “married”. Is it obligatory for me to apply for anything? Or for resident visa? Or I can just opt to keep my filipino nationality? Is that possible?

  15. Dimp says:

    Hi Zsazsa,

    Unless you are married to Indonesian politician then it is very hard to obtain citizenship. BTW, your husband first name wouldn’t happened to be Yusril right?

  16. Ihaknt says:

    Can anyone tell me, what’s the benefit of being an Indo citizen?

  17. Janma says:

    The benefit of being an Indonesian citizen for me would be that I could own my land in my own name, my business, my car, my motorbike, as it stands now everything is always in my husbands name. when I got divorced I couldn’t save anything except the land because I had an additional document that he signed stating that it was mine. he could still get it if he had the brains and the money to try, but so far so good.
    Two of my close friends were married to Indonesians, they were westerners and they had Indonesian children. they bought land built houses etc, but when their husbands died (untimely but that’s life) they lost any right to their own land and they lost their right to stay in Indonesia as did their children.
    So for us who live here there are definite pluses to becoming Indonesian.

  18. Ihaknt says:

    http://naked-traveler.blogspot.com/2007/05/dipalak-sukarela.html

    missed the link…actually the whole comment earlier is the link. ehehehhe

  19. Raden says:

    There is no benefits as Indonesian period! Whatever benefits you listed above you can get it as only a PR holders in other developed countries.

  20. Raden says:

    Oh sorry, I missed my last statement, yes there is only 1 benefit only if you are Muslim then you can get the first hand of Muslim militant teaching where Indonesia is number one in this respect!
    Plus we have many new stock of martyrs for jihad.

  21. Ihaknt says:

    Raden, I agree with you…but…chill dude.

  22. Zsazsa says:

    Hi Dimp, no Yusril is not my future husband. 🙂

    Bad politics is everywhere. I agree to that. But your system in Indonesia seemed to be on a higher level. 🙂 I think it strongly discourage the intermarriage of another culture? Correct me if I am worng there.

    Janma, sad to hear about your western friends and what happened to them. How can I protect myself on that kind of situation? If we purchase land/house, how do I get that separate document that will state that it is also mine?

  23. Gada says:

    Zsazsa,
    Indonesian doesn’t recognize dual citizenship. Either you surrender your Phillipine citizenship and apply for naturalisation becoming Indonesian citizenship which is not as easy as becoming an UK or USA citizen, or keep your Phillipine and living in Indonesia with regurarly to extend you visa and staying permit.
    With new regulation, your children can have dual passport, but until they reach 17 years old (I think), they have to choose which one to be kept for the rest of their life.

    Thanks for marrying Indonesian people.

    Gada.

  24. Janma says:

    zsa zsa… you go to a notaris or lawyer to have the document drawn up.

  25. Howard says:

    Does anyone know of a link where I can find an English version of the new Indonesian nationality act UU Kewarganegaraan?

    My wife is Indonesian and I am American. We have two children – one born in November 2005 and one born in January 2007. We are trying to find out if they are both considered dual-citizens or if just the youngest one is. Since our oldest child was born before the new act, we don’t if he/she would qualify for dual citizenship.

  26. Richard says:

    I am married to an Indonesian and we are currently living in Australia – we have 2 kids who will now have dual citizenship but obviously an bule so no chance. What visa could I get if I went to Indonesia for more than a month?

  27. Sydney-Surabaya says:

    Hi Richard
    Your two kids have dual citizenship until they reach 18. When both of them reach 18, they’ll decide whether to choose to become Indonesian or Australian citizen. If you want to stay in Indonesia for less than 3 months, just apply for tourist visa. If more than 3 months, I suggest you apply for temporary resident visa (because your kids are Indonesian citizen at the moment (it should be no problem for to apply for temporary resident visa or ‘ijin tinggal sementara’.
    Hope this helps.

  28. Richard Mayne says:

    Thanks for that – do you know if it is possible to conduct business under that visa or become a director in a company? Thanks

    And yes it did help Sydney-Surabaya

  29. Edo says:

    Zsazsa,

    I’m a filipino too and married to chinese indonesian citizen. Hmmmn . . . we married in the church but we never register in the government, because they asked more . . . We bought properties all in my wife name. So if something happen I got nothing. The worse is that my wife is a chinese and I’m a filipino. If you go to government office to secure legal paper or etc. MONEY MONEY MONEY and at the end only your blood remain but you got what you got.

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