is Certificate of Impediment And or Or?

[Kevyou]

Hi all,
reading the Vitas application guide, i came across this in required documents :-

If married in Indonesia, a certificate of no impediment from your embassy. You should have already have this, because is one of the requirements for marriage in Indonesia. If your embassy is not able to provide it, ask if they can notarize a statutory declaration, as this document is also acceptable.

They kept my document, when I got married (in Indonesia), so how would i produce this now for a visa (I am from UK, my spouse is Indonesian), when you cannot get a marriage document without one in the first place? Will my visa process be held up on this point? There is no way I can get a 'new' one from any embassy, and I am pretty sure there is no procedure to 'recover' my original from the registry?

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Kevin.

 

[Smallworld]

No photocopy?

 

[Kevyou]

nope :-( didnt think it would ever be required again at the time, marriage book superseded it in my mind at the time.

 

[William King]

Surely getting a Stat dec notarized is easily done?

" If your embassy is not able to provide it, ask if they can notarize a statutory declaration, as this document is also acceptable"

 

[Bad_azz]

I'm also from UK.

My cert of no impediment was kept by the people who snaffle these things when we married in Thailand.
I have never been asked for it in Indonesia (that I know of), however, I have never applied for a vitas either.
I would just tell them I don't have one nor can I get one if asked. Or for the online form , leave it blank, & put a note on if there is space provided to do so , saying why you no longer have it.
The UK consul doesn't re-issue them or copies of them or anything else that will pretend to be one or notorise a document. Unless they have changed tack recently.


KW
A photocopy is legally worthless as too easy to photoshop.

 

[centurion]

You can submit instead:

a) registration of your Indonesian marriage in your country - in most European countries (and civil law countries) to your marriage be valid in your home country you are required to report your marriage abroad and you will be issued a certificate of marriage abroad, similar as they do in Indonesia for a foreign marriage.

b) some Anglo-Saxon countries accept the foreign marriage straight away without registration. In that case, the embassy can issue a letter stating that your marriage is legally accepted straight away and/or that they need no registration in the foreign spouse country. UK embassy in Jakarta issues these kinds of documents as I know.

Sometimes DirJen Imigrasi can issue you a VITAS without this letter but it will be required for converting VITAS to ITAS/KITAS when you come to Indonesia.

 

[Smallworld]

...


KW
A photocopy is legally worthless as too easy to photoshop.

It doesn't matter. In Indonesia all gov. officials love photocopies. They love paper and stamps and tons of photocopies of very weird documents which by the way are "hard to get" and making no sense to ask for those document in the first place.
To compare how silly it is here is an example: BA, please provide me with your original passport application form, your most current passport and all the passports you had in between.

 

[Smallworld]

nope :-( didnt think it would ever be required again at the time, marriage book superseded it in my mind at the time.

I would:
a) go and visit catatan sipil where you got married and which holds in the archive your original document, ask them kindly if they could photocopy it for you, pay some small fee xx-xxx
b) if a) doesn't work, get an agent pay x xxx xxx to help you process your kitas, learn a lesson to make a photocopies of everything, make sure your wife (indonesian) stays on top of all documents management

I would suggest strongly: You should also make and keep pictures of all documents (upload it to your email inbox or cloud storage service on the internet) so you can access them when you need them from any part of the Indonesia. Just in case hardcopy is impossible to get then you can simply print out pictures of your documents.

 

[centurion]

It is actually good that Indonesian authorities mostly ask photocopies, not originals. In some countries, they ask certified copies making it even harder.

Actually, you have to register your foreign marriage in your home country (except for some number of countries that you do not need to). Living in Indonesia and having laid back attitude as locals do not justify us to be like that when we know that in the outer world including our home countries is different.

The meaning of asking the non-impediment letter is that your marriage in Indonesia is legal. If you were married and not divorced your marriage will be not legal if married again, meaning you would get residentship without valid grounds.

It is a job for KUA or Catatan Sipil to check that before marriage, but there is a lot of illegal marriages between foreigners and locals, meaning they bribe i.e. the KUA/Catatan Sipil to issue marriage book without a non-impediment letter for some reasons (foreigner is married and not divorced etc).

 

[Anglian]

I registered our marriage in the UK, but I’m told no longer s requirement

 

[ratu_tuaq]

Hi Kevin. FWIW I was also asked for this Letter of No Impediment by immigration, and realised it had been kept by the guys at the KUA (Kantor Urusan Agama) when we were married. Like you, we were then given the Buku Nikah, so I thought nothing of it.

When immigration asked me for a copy of it for my first KITAS, I simply went back to the KUA, gave them the date of my marriage, and they then went through their folder for that month until they found my original Letter of No Impediment. I asked to 'borrow' it, and then went and got about 200 photocopies of it, before returning it to them.

I have been asked for the letter many times at immigration for various visa processes, and I always have a copy of it on hand now. So perhaps my advice would be, go to the KUA or CaPil (or wherever you registered/organised your wedding and handed over your original letter) and try asking for the letter.

 

[Jamu]

Hi all,
reading the Vitas application guide, i came across this in required documents :-

If married in Indonesia, a certificate of no impediment from your embassy. You should have already have this, because is one of the requirements for marriage in Indonesia. If your embassy is not able to provide it, ask if they can notarize a statutory declaration, as this document is also acceptable.

They kept my document, when I got married (in Indonesia), so how would i produce this now for a visa (I am from UK, my spouse is Indonesian), when you cannot get a marriage document without one in the first place? Will my visa process be held up on this point? There is no way I can get a 'new' one from any embassy, and I am pretty sure there is no procedure to 'recover' my original from the registry?

Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Kevin.

I believe you can also present a letter from your embassy recognizing / acknowledging your marriage in Indonesia. Alternatively, as set forth in the instructions you quoted, simply prepare a statutory declaration reciting that you have no impediment to be married in Indonesia, to be signed by yourself and then notarized at the embassy.

 

[Kevyou]

Thanks all for the replies, all different angles and points of view. One that I do not understand is this :-
Alternatively, as set forth in the instructions you quoted, simply prepare a statutory declaration reciting that you have no impediment to be married in Indonesia, to be signed by yourself and then notarized at the embassy.
I am married, how is this even an option? this alternative makes no sense to me.

When immigration asked me for a copy of it for my first KITAS, I simply went back to the KUA, gave them the date of my marriage, and they then went through their folder for that month until they found my original Letter of No Impediment. I asked to 'borrow' it, and then went and got about 200 photocopies of it, before returning it to them.
I just checked with the local connections, I didn't realise that this was kept in local archives, this can/will/is now being done!
Thanks all,
Kevin.

 

[Jamu]

Thanks all for the replies, all different angles and points of view. One that I do not understand is this :-
Alternatively, as set forth in the instructions you quoted, simply prepare a statutory declaration reciting that you have no impediment to be married in Indonesia, to be signed by yourself and then notarized at the embassy.
I am married, how is this even an option? this alternative makes no sense to me.

Good point, your statutory declaration should state that as at the date of your marriage in Indonesia you had no legal impediment to being married. This self declaration is then notarized by the embassy, which in the eyes of the Indo authorities effectively 'endorses' your declaration.

 

[Bad_azz]

I still don't think the UK embassy /consul will do this.
I can't recall where I read about it, but it stuck in my mind that basically once you have the document from them to get wed they more or less wash their hands of the whole affair, so I would be interested to read any follow up info the OP has, if they try that route.

 

[William King]

all embassies will sign a Stat Dec, (for a cost) all that means is they witness it is you who wrote the stat dec, they do not check nor care what you write. You could write a stat dec that you think Micky Mouse is the stupidest cartoon in the world and they will sign it.

 

[Bikerbule]

You can't register an Indonesian marriage in the UK anymore.
Sometimes the immigration will ask you to provide the documentation to show that you have registered your marriage. I have been asked for the last two years to provide it.
If you contact the embassy in Jakarta they will send you a copy of a letter to print out and give to immigration that says this:

'Unlike many countries, the UK does not have a central registry of marriage and does not keep records of the marriages of British citizens taking place outside of the UK, nor do we verify any such marriages. The UK considers a local marriage certificate from a foreign country, providing that its authenticity is confirmed by the authorities of that country, as being proof of marriage. We cannot, therefore, validate foreign marriage certificates – we consider that this is for the authorities of that country to do.

Berbeda dengan negara lain, negara Inggris tidak memiliki sentral pendaftaran pernikahan yang dilakukan di luar negara Inggris dan tidak menyimpan data pernikahan warga negara Inggris yang dilakukan di luar negara Inggris, dan oleh karena itu tidak dapat memverifikasi pernikahan tersebut. Negara Inggris menganggap sertifikat pernikahan yang dikeluarkan oleh pemerintah setempat sebagai bukti pernikahan apabila sertifikat tersebut terbukti keasliannya dan pemerintah setempat mengkonfirmasi keabsahannya. Pemerintah Inggris, oleh karena itu, tidak dapat mengesahkan sertifikat yang dikeluarkan oleh pemerintah asing – Pemerintah Inggris menganggap bahwa hal tersebut harus dilakukan oleh pemerintah yang mengeluarkan sertifikat tersbut.'

Edited: I uploaded the letter

 

[Bikerbule]

This is the letter from the British Embassy