Advantages of registering a marriage filed abroad to a WNI in Indonesia?

multatuli

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Hi all,

As the title may be a bit confusing, my wife (Indonesian national) and I (US national) are moving back to Jakarta soon. We came to the States with her on a K1 visa after living together for some time in Indonesia. We got married in the US but never made our marriage official in Indonesia. Are there any material and/or convenience benefits to having our marriage registered in Indonesia? Perhaps tax deductions/KTP/kartu keluarga/SIM, etc?

Many thanks!
 
Compliance with the law is a good advantage. You have to register it within 30 days of arrival. You'll need the marriage certificate that was verified by the Indonesian embassy in the US. Unless she would like to be permanently registered here on all documents as unmarried, which would make life difficult.
 
Thanks for letting me know. Is it possible to do this at Kantor Catatan Sipil or, because she is Muslim, do we have to go through Kantor Urusan Agama?
 
Thanks for letting me know. Is it possible to do this at Kantor Catatan Sipil or, because she is Muslim, do we have to go through Kantor Urusan Agama?
You have to register your marriage in KUA exclusively. For that, you will have to have proof that you have conducted a Muslim marriage ceremony abroad. You can take a letter from a local mosque in US where you did the ceremony.
 
Thanks for letting me know. Is it possible to do this at Kantor Catatan Sipil or, because she is Muslim, do we have to go through Kantor Urusan Agama?
Well, that is not entirely clear, but my own experience was that in Jakarta you do it at the Catatan Sipil, and they do not care about the religious aspect. I would try that first and see what the Catatan Sipil tells you. If they object to the mixed religion aspect, let us know! The most important thing is that you registered it at the Indonesian embassy where you are, and they have approved/stamped the wedding certificate. If you don't have that, then Catatan Sipil won't accept it.
 
Well, that is not entirely clear, but my own experience was that in Jakarta you do it at the Catatan Sipil, and they do not care about the religious aspect. I would try that first and see what the Catatan Sipil tells you. If they object to the mixed religion aspect, let us know! The most important thing is that you registered it at the Indonesian embassy where you are, and they have approved/stamped the wedding certificate. If you don't have that, then Catatan Sipil won't accept it.
All this is history now. Rules have been changed. And if Catatan Sipil rejects, and the religious ceremony was not being performed abroad, the KUA will insist on marrying in Indonesia by religious rule (which can be a problem as the already married foreign bride cannot provide a non-impediment letter anymore).

For marriage to be valid, it has to be registered in Indonesia as well.
 
I'm sure multatuli is capable of calling Catatan Sipil or asking someone to visit them and find out their current policy on this issue.
 
Thanks both. I will do my DD and get to the bottom of this. First step though is to make an appointment at the embassy. Will try to update as I go along for others in similar situation.

Cheers
 
:)

My experience took place in 2011 and things may or may not be different now.

I am a WNA from USA married to WNI. We got married in the USA and never reported the marriage to the embassy/consulate.

I can't speak for the above information, but for me to get my visa to stay in Indonesia on a KITAS the marriage needs to be reported to Catatan Sipil. To report to them you need your marriage certificate translated by a certified translator and whatever other documents catatan sipil will ask you for.

You don't have to do anything, but there might be some consequences of this down the road in terms of fines or additional headaches.

If you wish to remain in Indonesia without having to fly to Singapore and back every couple months, i suggest submitting it and get a spouse sponsored KITAS. If you are employed here, good for you. But be sure to get your marriage certificate recorded so you can get a spouse sponsored KITAS in case your employment gets terminated (if you're working here).

As far as I know, because you got married abroad, you'd have to report the marriage at catatan sipil. Your wife might be Muslim, but are you? Mixed marriages abroad are easy peasy but marriage in Indonesia is a religious affair. I would check with Catatan Sipil first before going anywhere else for reporting the marriage. If there's a problem, you just go from there and hunt down all the fun papers one by one.
 
In case anyone is interested, I just got off the phone with the Embassy in DC, and they've said that as of June 4, they no longer provide legalization services. The embassy rep said I should certify my marriage certificate through Apostille (1961 convention), and bring this certified document to Kantor Catatan Sipil once in Jakarta.

I have a very strong feeling Kantor Catatan Sipil could care less whether the marriage certificate is certified through Apostille. I'm concerned they will not know or care about the embassy's recent policy change and say that, because my translated document is not "legalized" by the relevant embassy, they won't be able to help.

Will be calling Kantor Catatan Sipil in the coming days and provide an update here once I know more.
 
That's an interesting change of policy, I wonder what the reason for that is? Yes - please let us know what CatSip say about it.
 
In case anyone is interested, I just got off the phone with the Embassy in DC, and they've said that as of June 4, they no longer provide legalization services. The embassy rep said I should certify my marriage certificate through Apostille (1961 convention), and bring this certified document to Kantor Catatan Sipil once in Jakarta.

I have a very strong feeling Kantor Catatan Sipil could care less whether the marriage certificate is certified through Apostille. I'm concerned they will not know or care about the embassy's recent policy change and say that, because my translated document is not "legalized" by the relevant embassy, they won't be able to help.

Will be calling Kantor Catatan Sipil in the coming days and provide an update here once I know more.
Indonesian embassies do not provide any more legalization services where the Vienna convention on apostille is in place, as Indonesia became a full member on June 4th.

You do not need to legalize your marriage, you need a report of the marriage to the Indonesian embassy and get "Surat Keterangan Laporan Perkawinan", issued in the embassy. This report is obligatory for reporting marriage in Indonesia.
 
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I checked my documents and I don't have a separate letter from the Embassy, but there is a big stamp on the back of the English version of the marriage certificate saying "Seen by the Indonesian Embassy" with a signature, and it also says that the embassy "assumes no responsibility for the content of the documents". So it doesn't seem like a legalisation but it does show that the embassy ackowledges the documents, and the catatan sipil in my opinion will need to see something like that (the exact format may differ from embassy to embassy).
 
I checked my documents and I don't have a separate letter from the Embassy, but there is a big stamp on the back of the English version of the marriage certificate saying "Seen by the Indonesian Embassy" with a signature, and it also says that the embassy "assumes no responsibility for the content of the documents". So it doesn't seem like a legalisation but it does show that the embassy ackowledges the documents, and the catatan sipil in my opinion will need to see something like that (the exact format may differ from embassy to embassy).
That is a legalization stamp that is not issued any more, and it is not the appropriate document. In the past, it was recognized by Catatan Sipil due to their ignorance, but less and less now.

Surat Keterangan Laporan Perkawinan is a document with a specific form.
 
The word "legalization" is often misunderstood as "stamped by... (Notary/Embassy/etc.)".
Legalization/Apostille means the verification of authenticity of a document for cross-country usage.

Who knows how a document in country XXX looks like and whether it's real or fake?
Think: birth cirtificate from a small town, issued in 1950.
None of this confirms the actual content, i.e. whether the person was actually born in 1950 or maybe in 1949 or never... it only confirms that the document itself is an original.

Two procedures are available. If both countries (origin/destination) are member states of the Apostille Treaty, then Apostille is enough. Otherwise, full Legalization is required.

1) "Full" classic Legalization:
Step 1: Original brought to the [Court | Ministry of Justice | or similar, depends] at origin country.
They have the full archive of all specimens (sample signatures), stamps, formats etc. and can varify whether the document is an original or fake. The authenticity is confirmed with a permanently attached sticker on the back side of the original document.

Sample for such a sticker from Indonesia:

1661356330022.png


Step 2:
The Original with the attached sticker on the back (see above) is brought to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They can verify the sticker for authenticity (but they would not know whether the signature of a 1950 birth certificate is true or false)

The authenticity is confirmed with a permanently attached second sticker on the back side of the original document.

Sample for such a sticker from Indonesia:
1661356925799.png


Step 3:
The Original with the attached two stickers on the back (see above) is brought to the Embassy of the destination country (but at origin). They can verify the sticker of the Foreign Ministry for authenticity (but they would not know whether the signature of a 1950 birth certificate is true or false, and also would not know or be able to verify the first sticker from the Court/Ministry of Justice)

The authenticity is confirmed with a permanently attached third sticker or stamp/writing on the back side of the original document.

Step 4:
Document is used at destination country and they can verify the sticker/stamp of the embassy (but they would not know whether the signature of a 1950 birth certificate is true or false, and also would not know or be able to verify the first sticker from the Court/Ministry of Justice, or the 2nd sticker from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at origin).


2) Apostillation (also referred to as "simplified Legalization"
Fantastic that Indonesia finally joined the treaty!
Only Step 1 and Step 4 of the above procedure are needed.
No need to bring the document to the Foreign Ministry or the Embassy at the origin country anymore.

The destination countries will be able to verify the stamp of the origin Court/Ministry of Justice without the need of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassy to "bridge".

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Surat Keterangan Laporan Perkawinan is a document with a specific form.

Looks like this:

1661357571890.png
 
You have to register your marriage in KUA exclusively. For that, you will have to have proof that you have conducted a Muslim marriage ceremony abroad. You can take a letter from a local mosque in US where you did the ceremony.

Depending on the KUA in charge (based on KTP domicile of your wife), they might be surprisingly supportive on this matter, too. Probably the smaller the local KUA office, the more flexible.

Personally, I had a very pleasant experience at the local KUA that was in charge in our case (Bogor). As there had not been a documented Muslim marriage ceremony abroad, they just spontaneously conducted one right away at KUA "just to be safe" and for the sake of everyone being happy. Make sure your wife's male guardian (usually father) is present for this to work, so best to stop by and feel out the requirements first. I am sure they can find a solution for you, just keep it all smiles and friendly vibe.

It was a fun and memorable experience!
 
Hey mate, not sure I can be of much help but to say we are going through this right now & running into all kinds of invisible walls. I am so confused with the whole situation as it seems to defy logic. We are currently getting documents ready to go to court. Anyone knows if we can register in Jakarta CatSip instead of our local office in Serang? Would like to avoid court but that is obviously our last option. We have Commonwealth Marriage Certificate, Western Australian Certificate of marriage & Surat Kerterangan Terdaftar from Konsular Jendral Perth, Western Australia. We also have Pernikahan Siri as a Muslim from village. We have recently obtained Surat Kerterangan Pernikahan Tidak Tercatat in KUA. With all this bothh KUA & CatSip refuse to register & after sending us back & forth to each other finally told us to go to court Pengadilan Agama, Serang.
 
You can both change your religions and register in Catatan Sipil straight and easily.

The logic behind the refusal is that you did not perform the religious marriage ceremony abroad.
 
You can both change your religions and register in Catatan Sipil straight and easily.

The logic behind the refusal is that you did not perform the religious marriage ceremony abroad.
We performed the religious ceremony in Indonesia 3 months after our civil ceremony in Australia. We have the certificate from village.
 

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