Spouse-sponsored ITAS conversion to ITAP

Mr. J

New Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2020
Messages
2
I live in Singapore and have an Indonesian maid, who's married to a foreigner living at her hometown in Indonesia with their children and mother in-law. She's sponsored his ITAS, which is expiring in September, and he needs to obtain ITAP (his ITAS is reaching the six-year limit). I understand usually ITAP application involves a process in which both spouses need to be present for face to face interview.

My question is, is there anyway the ITAP application can be processed with her absence from Indonesia, while she continues to work in Singapore. Say, can a immigration agency or law firm assist and represent them?

She's the breadwinner of her household, and that even if she manages to return to Indonesia for her husband's ITAP application, she won't be able to return to Singapore given SG is strictly limiting the re-entry/entry of work pass holders due to COVID, so we are helping her find any ways to go through the ITAP application without her physical presence in Indonesia. Her husband made an inquiry with immigration but the formal answer was that she had to be present. She's also reaching out to Indonesian embassy in Singapore for any advice.

Thanks for your help in advance.
 
No, and quite logically so. First of all, she is acting as his sponsor, and the sponsor is required to be responsible for the person they are sponsoring. Further, the stated purpose of the spousal ITAP is for family reunification. Both these are negated by the fact that she lives abroad, and separate from her husband.

Finally, I don't know what the situation will be in Sept, but as of right now there is no processing visas/stay permits of any kind in Indonesia anyway. Everyone is just given an emergency stay permit.

Possible advice I can give:

1. If the situation re Covid19 stays the same (ie. no visa processing, everyone gets emergency stay permit), then just follow along with that.

2. If the situation returns to "normal" immigration wise, then have her travel to Indonesia and do the sponsorship. It does take some time, so she will have to figure out how to get potentially 2+ months off so she can be present here.
 
That makes a lot of sense, thank you very much for your advice. I guess we just have to watch how the covid situation evolves. One last question, would involving a visa service agency (which I can pay) and get their assistance potentially help expedite the application process, in view of trying to minimize the down time? Or perhaps not much difference, if she does a thorough homework of the process and prepare all the paperwork well in advance.
 

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Follow Us

Latest Expat Indo Articles

Latest Tweets by Expat Indo

Latest Activity

New posts Latest threads

Online Now

Newest Members

Forum Statistics

Threads
5,965
Messages
97,419
Members
3,038
Latest member
nightclubs
Back
Top Bottom