They said mixed-marriage in Indonesia is always full of legal complications. If you pay attention to legal issues, the mixed-marriage should be practical since people get marry in order to look for a life of happiness. Foreigners who married to Indonesian spouses should be consider legal assistance from the very beginning. If you wish to get marry in Indonesia, you must pay attention to the religion of yours and your fiancee. If you are Moslem than you must hold Moslem ceremony with Office of Religious Affairs. If you are Non-Moslem, you must perform religious ceremony and register your marriage with Civil Registry Office. When you have decided to get marry abroad, you need to report your marriage with Indonesian Civil Registry Office.
Prior to marriage, don't forget to get a prenuptial agreement. Considering foreigners are not allowed to have a property in Indonesia, and if you wish to take the quite sensible precaution of a prenuptial agreement for the purpose of protecting yourself and your properties in the event that one of you dies, a prenuptial agreement is a must-have choice. The Indonesian government can, by law, take virtually everything away from the grieving party because they did not create such a protective document PRIOR to marriage.
When your Indonesian wife delivering a baby in Indonesia, you must report the birth within 10 days to get Foreign Birth Certificate. Otherwise, Civil Registry Office requires Court Decree. Afterwards, you need to get your baby passport from your embassy in Indonesia and apply KITAS with Immigration Department. If you have decided to stay in Indonesia, you need to get Family Card from Civil Registry Office. In the past, the baby was born in mixed-marriage with foreign father, the baby's nationality goes to that father. Under the old law, citizenship could only be handed down via an Indonesian father. So children born to an Indonesian woman and a foreigner could not be citizens. They could only live in Indonesia on temporary permits. The new law considered as landmark law on citizenship. It provides for, among others, children from the mixed-marriage to have dual citizenship until they reach 18 years of age or more when they have to choose one citizenship, either Indonesian or the other.
Under this new law, the child does not automatically lose his or her Indonesian status. Indonesian women are not automatically follow their husbands' citizenship status and can be sponsors for their husbands to turn status to Indonesian citizens. The new law also states that foreigners who have been living in the country for 5 (five) years will be able to apply for Indonesian citizenship, but they must give up their original citizenship and be able to speak Indonesian, among other conditions. It also stipulates that Indonesian Chinese, who make up 4 per cent of the country's 209 million people, will no longer need to produce proof of their citizenship or undergo the naturalisation process, provided they were born to Indonesian parents. The law also makes it punishable if officials do not treat them on a par with other citizens.
Wijaya & Co can assist you with the complications arise in your mixed-marriage. Our Indonesian lawyers have assisted many international clients with their legal matters at Civil Registry Office and Immigration Department.
