Marriage and Kitas Application during Covid

Hoppelboppel

Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Messages
3
Hey guys,

I am new here and I have a few questions to the community regarding the current immigration policy of Indonesia.
I am not sure, if I understand their regulations correctly.
But first I want to explain my fiancée's and my situation:
My fiancée and me met in Europe last time in march. She flew back to Indonesia and me to Germany to gather all the necessary documents for our marriage in Indonesia.
Then everyone closed their borders, so I couldn't follow her anymore since we are not married yet and therefore I don't have my kitas yet.
Since we can't follow our initial plan to marry in Indonesia anymore, we were looking for Turkey. They let both of us in.
If I understand the current regulations from immigration Indonesia right, we should be able to apply for my kitas after marrying in Turkey, right? So we can fly to Indonesia together.
Are they accepting and processing new applications at the moment and can I fly to Indonesia with that Vitas stamp in my passport?
My head is already smoking over all these regulations...
So, if anyone knows something I would highly appreciate Your advice.

Enjoy Your day and best wishes from Germany!
 
You definitely need to register the marriage at the Indonesian embassy in Turkey as a first step.
 
If I understand the current regulations from immigration Indonesia right, we should be able to apply for my kitas after marrying in Turkey, right? So we can fly to Indonesia together.
Are they accepting and processing new applications at the moment and can I fly to Indonesia with that Vitas stamp in my passport?

I very much doubt that you can fly back to Indonesia together with VITAS in hand. In order to sponsor you has her husband, your future wife will need to update all her Indonesian documents (ID card, family card) to married status. This needs to be done in Indonesia. Also processing times is up in the air right now, with immigration working from home, and lots of backlog application. Could be months before your VITAS gets approved.

An additional issue could be getting married in Turkey. You will need translated and legalized documents, and register this at the Indonesian embassy in Turkey. This is in addition of whatever the requirements are from the Turkish side.
 
Thank You guys for Your kind replies!
So if processing times are up in the air, that means they started processing them again?
Thats already more than we could wish for!
I just discussed Your post with my fiancée and we both agree that not sitting on the same plane and having to wait for their approval is already much better than having no chance to start our life together.
We already checked with the Turkish authorities about marriage in Turkey. It's a lot of paperwork, but definetly doable. Thank Your for mentioning that we havew to register our marriage with the Indonesian embassy in Turkey. Didn't know that.
All in all absolutly great news! Thank You so much!
 
Adding to the valuable replies above:

You should check with the Indonesian Embassy/Consulate in Turkey for the document requirements to obtain the "Proof of Marriage Registration Abroad"-Letter. i.e. you will need passport photos (particular sizes..) etc., this list will be different from embassy to embassy so there is no alternative to checking with them directly (write an email).

The "Proof of Marriage Registration Abroad"-letter is called: "Surat Bukti Pencatatan Perkawinan di Luar Negeri". This is not the registration of your marriage in Indonesia yet! This is only one out of several documents that your spouse will have to provide to local administration after her return to Indonesia to register the marriage in Indonesia (i.e. you also need a sworn translation of the marriage certificate into Indonesian language etc.).

In Indonesia your marriage will be registered with KUA/Kantor Urusan Agama/Religious Affairs Office if you are both muslim. They are likely to ask proof of you being muslim and the marriage abroad being conducted in a muslim way. The document is called: "Pendaftaran Surat Bukti Perkawinan Warga Negar Indonesia Yang Dilangsungkan di Luar Negeri". This document is usally signed by both spouses, I am not sure whether they can produce this document without both spouses being present.

The marriage will be registered with Pencatatan Sipil/Civil Registration if it is a mixed-religion marriage.

Besides the other remarks already made (your wife needs complete set of new documents, national ID card, family card in order to sponsor your visa), one more strong recommendation:
Think already ahead and go through the full process to prepare documents for registration of your marriage to German authorities!
Only if it is registered in Germany, the German Embassy in Jakarta will be able to provide a confirmation letter late-on that your marriage is registered in Germany. You are likely to need this embassy-confirmation during KITAS or KITAP procedures. There are some reports on this forum, sometimes it is not asked for, but technically it is required. So you should think ahead concerning this even if you don't plan to ever live in Germany together with your wife (in which case you would of course also require the marriage to be registered, and hence the Apostille on the certificate of marriage.).

While Indonesia takes the special way to confirm the authenticity via the local embassy/consulate, Germany follows the more common way to request a legalization of the Turkish marriage certificate as proof that it is a real document (i.e. that stamp, signature etc. are true and match the registered specimens). Luckily for you, Turkey is (as well as Germany - but not Indonesia!) a participating country in the 1961 Hague Convention. Designated Competent authorities, which means you only need a "simple legalization" called apostille or apostillation.

Legalization: document goes to Justice Ministry for verification, then to Foreign Ministry, then to your local Embassy abroad. This is what all Indonesian documents need to go through to be accepted abroad.
Apostillation: document only goes to Justice Ministry for verification and will be recognized by authorities of participating states (i.e. your local administration back in Germany).

So you need to check the apostillation process in Turkey and get the apostille sticker before leaving the country (or using legal service for this if available and you like to entrust them the original document and you are in a rush). Of course you could also come back to Turkey and do this later... but it does not make much sense as you will be already there. With the apostille on your marriage certificate and a fully legalized translation of all the documents of your wife (because Indonesia does not take part in apostille, see above), you can register your marriage in Germany.

One final word of advise concerning this: register the marriage in Germany via German Embassy in Jakarta once you finished the visa procedures and are living in Indonesia. They accept a German translation of your wife's legalized documents by a translator registered with the German Embassy, it's quite cheap and easy to do. The embassy does the document checking quite straight-forward and confirms to German authorities + sends a copy to them. Then everything is processed at the Standesamt of your last residential address in Germany. You keep the originals with you all the time.
If you register directly with the German authorities you will need to go through a translator that is sworn-in by higher courts in Germany, driving up costs, processing times + they will scrutinize everything much more than the German Embassy + you need to give the original documents away or even send them around the globe.

Good luck, it's quite an adventure and you will be rewarded with even more memories.
 
Thank You guys for Your kind replies!
So if processing times are up in the air, that means they started processing them again?
Thats already more than we could wish for!
I just discussed Your post with my fiancée and we both agree that not sitting on the same plane and having to wait for their approval is already much better than having no chance to start our life together.
We already checked with the Turkish authorities about marriage in Turkey. It's a lot of paperwork, but definetly doable. Thank Your for mentioning that we havew to register our marriage with the Indonesian embassy in Turkey. Didn't know that.
All in all absolutly great news! Thank You so much!

Some bad news for you: they are only processing visas for foreigners stuck in Indonesia, and for those with special exemptions (airline crew, national strategic project workers, etc).

 
I very much doubt that you can fly back to Indonesia together with VITAS in hand. In order to sponsor you has her husband, your future wife will need to update all her Indonesian documents (ID card, family card) to married status. This needs to be done in Indonesia. Also processing times is up in the air right now, with immigration working from home, and lots of backlog application. Could be months before your VITAS gets approved.

An additional issue could be getting married in Turkey. You will need translated and legalized documents, and register this at the Indonesian embassy in Turkey. This is in addition of whatever the requirements are from the Turkish side.

Me and my wife are also trying to apply for a family reunion vitas. We have the foreign marriage certificate and the recognition letter from the Indonesian consulate. My wife is in Indonesia at the moment trying to get the remaining documents.

It will be much easier for us to register the marriage at KUA if we can do it both together in Indonesia after I arrive on VITAS, if that is possible. As pointed out above, KUA wants both of us to be present in the office to sign the form. We presumably need that registration in order to change the KTP to "kawin" so it's a catch-22 situation if a new KTP is required for VITAS.

My question is whether registering the marriage at KUA and getting a new KTP/KK is actually a requirement to get the initial VITAS to enter the country. We have heard some anecdotal reports of couples that didn't change the KTP before applying and were nevertheless granted a visa.

Digging into it, these are the official requirements from Ditjen's website for the visa (https://www.imigrasi.go.id/apply_ri/other/joinfamily/):

Orang Asing yang menggabungkan diri dengan suami atau istri yang warga negara Indonesia;
1. surat permohonan dari suami atau istri warga negara Indonesia;
2. fotokopi Paspor Kebangsaan yang sah dan masih berlaku paling singkat 18 (delapan belas) bulan;

3. fotokopi akta perkawinan atau buku nikah;
4. surat tanda bukti pelaporan perkawinan dari Perwakilan Republik Indonesia dan fotokopi akta perkawinan atau buku nikah yang telah diterjemahkan dalam bahasa Indonesia oleh penerjemah tersumpah, kecuali bahasa Inggris, jika perkawinan dilakukan di luar wilayah Republik Indonesia;
5. bukti memiliki biaya hidup bagi dirinya dan/atau keluarganya selama berada di Wilayah Indonesia paling sedikit US$1500 (seribu lima ratus dollar Amerika); dan
6. pas foto berwarna dengan ukuran 4 cm x 6 cm (empat sentimeter kali enam sentimeter) dengan latar belakang berwarna putih sebanyak 2 (dua) lembar.


I assume that "fotokopi akta perkawinan atau buku nikah" refers to the foreign marriage certificate, since the document we lack from KUA is not an akta perkawinan nor a buku nikah.

The "surat tanda bukti pelaporan perkawinan dari Perwakilan Republik Indonesia" surely refers to the letter we got from the consulate, the English version of the website explicitly states that.

There's no mention of KTP or KK. Is it wishful thinking to think we can get away without changing it?
 

I think chances are small, but worth trying in your case.
During the online VITAS procedure your spouse needs to upload her KTP + Kartu Keluarga + Akta Kelahiran. The idea behind the procedure that the documents must show "married" is certainly to deter marriage of convenience only to provide visa sponsoring. You can try, can't loose much I think. Worst case besides the application being rejected straight away would probably be paying the first fee of 200,000 IDR and then be rejected afterwards during "Verifikasi lanjutan" or "Keputusan".

HARI 1 = Permohonan (Anda berada di tahap ini)
HARI 2 = Verifikasi permohonan
HARI 3 = Pembayaran
HARI 4 = Verifikasi lanjutan
HARI 5 = Keputusan dan penerbitan persetujuan visa

This is based on the previous process. No idea whether the new e-visa procedure might mix payment procedure up or really only changed the last process. Also don't know whether e-visa will (continue to) be active after the trial week 13-19.10.2020.

"Bahwa mulai tanggal 13 Oktober 2020, Subdit Visa Direktorat Lantaskim akan melakukan uji coba visa elektronik (e-Visa) selama 5 hari kerja ke depan sampai dengan tanggal 19 Oktober 2020 dengan metode pembayaran di depan (setelah pemohon mengajukan permohonan maka aplikasi akan merespon dengan mengirimkan nomor permohonan dan kode pembayaran). "

1603115489107.png
 
My question is whether registering the marriage at KUA and getting a new KTP/KK is actually a requirement to get the initial VITAS to enter the country. We have heard some anecdotal reports of couples that didn't change the KTP before applying and were nevertheless granted a visa.

The procedure always has been that the WNI's KTP says "Kawin" (married) for immigration to accept the application.

Since the application is done online, I suppose you could always try it and see what they say.
 
Okay thank you both for the help. If it's only ~200rb then it's indeed worth trying even if it's a small chance.

At the moment we are attempting to register our marriage at the Catatan Sipil instead of at KUA. Is there any bad consequence that can come of registering our marriage in the "wrong" place? (since we are both Muslim)
 
Okay thank you both for the help. If it's only ~200rb then it's indeed worth trying even if it's a small chance.

At the moment we are attempting to register our marriage at the Catatan Sipil instead of at KUA. Is there any bad consequence that can come of registering our marriage in the "wrong" place? (since we are both Muslim)

Marriages abroad need to be registered with Catatan Sipil, whether or not you are Muslims. So you are at the correct place.
 

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