Here are the key provisions of the new immigration bill that was passed by the Indonesian House of Representatives on April 7, 2011 which will affect expat spouses (women or men) who are married to Indonesian nationals (men or women). The new law is expected to be signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Pres SBY) within 30 days.
- Foreign spouses of Indonesian citizens can get a permanent residence permit (Kitap) after two years of marriage. They will only be required to report to the immigration office once every five years — a free service — instead of the annual renewal currently required.
- If they have been married to an Indonesian citizen for at least 10 years, foreigners can stay in the country even after a divorce.
- Foreign spouses will be allowed to work in the country.
- Children from mixed marriages will automatically get a Kitap regardless of their nationality. Under the current arrangement, these children have to choose a citizenship at the age of 18. If they choose to adopt foreign citizenship, they have to apply for a residence permit.
- Foreign investors who have worked in Indonesia for three years, less than the five years now required, can get a Kitap.
- Former holders of Indonesian citizenship can get a Kitap.
Hold your horses everyone.... this may not all get implemented as expeditiously as eager expat spouses (including myself) would hope for. Additionally, I am relying upon secondary sources of information (press and media) as above and have not actually read the primary source (THE LAW) itself.
Moreover, we'll have to wait and see what modified version or draft President SBY actually signs into law, assuming that he does so and does not veto this Bill. The Bill does not officially become law until SBY signs off on it; so we'll have to wait and see what he actually does sign off on and then read exactly what the law stipulates or says.
Furthermore, after a law is passed, supporting governmental regulations need to be codified or enacted in order to carry out the new law from an administrative point of view. Such supporting governmental regulations (or administrative law) should ideally be enacted within one (1) year of a new law being passed. Indonesian legislative representatives, however, have been known to be dilatory and miss deadlines. The government has been told to speed things up, however.
So, expat spouses married to an Indonesian who are hoping now to not have to renew their KITAS annually, obtain Permanent Residency (PR) status, and obtain a work permit are not out of the woods quite yet on all this.
In my case, my KITAS (limited stay permit) expires on September 8, 2011. I will have been married to an Indonesian for two (2) years on August 30, 2011 one week prior to my KITAS expiring. Does this mean that I will not have to renew my KITAS and will be eligible to alternatively apply for a PR under the new law and will be able to work after September 8, 2011 (which is the purpose and intent of this new law) ??? Unfortunately for me the answer is, NO ! It doesn't look like things will be in place administratively for this to take place in the next couple of months, and I will be forced to renew my KITAS until this all gets finalized and worked out....
Kudos go out to the Indonesian Mixed Marriage Society (Perkawinan Campuran Indonesia - or "PerCa") for their past, and continuing, grassroots lobbying efforts to see this all come to fruition and become a reality for so many cross cultural or trans-national married couples in Indonesia.
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