[Guide] ITAP / IMK: Moving to self-sponsor after spouse’s death (or divorce)

[snpark]

Can the child sponsor you or must be 18? He is your son, so he is family

 

[Nicho]

I now find myself in this unfortunate position of my Indonesian wife of more than 20 years passing away. We have a son together, born in Bali, he is now 13 and goes to school here. I have a KITAP. I have reported the death to Dukcapil, thay have issued the certificate and I have updated our Kartu Keluarga. However 2 things. 1. the updated KK still says married as they told me they did not want to say divorced (no oportunity to say Widowed, only Maried, single or divorced). 2. I have been to the Renon Immigration 2 times now to try to report the death and pickup a "Surat Keterangan Pelaporan Perubahan Status Sipil", but on both occasions they told me at counter 5 that I do not need to tell them as the certificte from Dukcapil is sufficient. They do agree my KITAP, MREP still valid but say I will need to get a new sponsor. He did not seem aware of the independent sponsor possibility. Any suggestions?

Unfortunately the new e-visa system has not provision for our problem and you have to go to the office As you probably previously read I reported my wifes death , civil status at the office , they said I would need a new sponsor . My brother in law was with me and agreed to be my new sponsor . the officer processed the detail changes etc and also lodged the application for a new sponsor account . The sponsor account was approved with in a week and they said I could now lodge the change of sponsor application on my brother in laws new account . I returned to the office as I also need to lodge a Mutasi Paspor application to update to my new passport . The office said I'd have to wait , lodge the sponsor change which he did on my behalf at the office when it was approved I could lodge the Mutasi Paspor application . 3 days later I checked my brother in laws account and the application was showing "Pending" . I then checked my account and opened my kitap box to find I had been automatically updated to self sponsor as per the new law , Rule 40 Pasal 160/2023 by the Sim/KIm system when I reported the death . I was unaware of the new rule/law so I returned to the office again with a letter to cancel the sponsor change and ask why the application was "pending" . He then insisted the self sponsor change was a system error and confirmed the same with Jakarta in my presence . My brother in laws account had been locked because the change of sponsor application information showing my new passport conflicted with my old expired passport in the system . He should have processed the Mutasi Paspor application first which would have updated my passport and shown the new details allowing the sponsor change to proceed . He had to ring Jakarta to get my brother in laws account unlocked . I have now been 2 months waiting for approval with several request for more documents some of which I already supplied . My brother in laws account gets locked every time they send another request . Today I got an email to say all the documents I had uploaded over the last 2 months had been deleted !! No explanation why , just a request to upload everything plus several new documents into the application page on my brother in laws account again . I"ve had to supply proof my wife had been my sponsor for the last 12 years , supply proof/receipt of payment for my new passport and today they wanted proof of my wife and my relationship even though they have copies of our buku nikah , several sponsorship letters from Kitas renewals and Ahli Status to Kitap , Surat Keterangan Menikah fro the local Kepala Desa etc etc . Seems none of them know what there doing !! My only sugestion if you want to push the Self Sponsor problem the new rule was put in place in 2023 , Rule 40 Pasal 160/2023 , the self sponsor part is buried within that rule under another Pasal number. A friend recently had problems with there local office over a different problem but involved a rule/law change in 2023 , She contacted Jakarta on Instagram . They fixed the problem and notified the local office who were unaware of the rule changes in 2023 . You may reslove your problem by contacting Jakarta as well ! I unfortunately proceeded with the sponsor change but after today I'm hoping it now gets approved quickly as I have to renew/extend my Kitap to Lifetime by the 4th of October and am yet to go to Dudukcapil and do the KTP and KK changes , I'm going to be cutting it fine if there is any more delays . Thoughts are with you , I know what your going through and having to deal with this B/S doesn't help . Good Luck .

 

[Nicho]

Can the child sponsor you or must be 18? He is your son, so he is family

No his son is only 13 , must be over 18 . He can use another family member , brother or sister , parent of his deceased wife as his new sponsor . In some cases a close friend is allowed . Or he can try and resolve the self sponsor problem through the Director Generals Dept in Jakarta "Stay Permit Services" But they seem unaware of the new rule as well as in my case where they agreed with the local officer that self sponsorship was not an option in our cases . The mention of self sponsor is buried deep with in the new rule , Rule 40 Pasal 60/2023 regarding the death of the spouse of a Kitap holder .

 

[Nicho]

A difficult time to cope with your loss without the added stress of all the uncertainy associated with your visa status. I hope it all resolves quickly and in the simplest way for you. Good luck

Hi Harry , Seems to be a problem with there communcation of new rules and individual offices and officers not knowing or choosing to use the option they know , the old rules or there own . Still having problems with my sponsor change , going on 2 months now as your probably aware with my rants/whining on here .