Steps for a dual citizen below 21, having been living in Indonesia since birth, to go abroad with his foreign passport (empty of stamps)

[wildisthewind]

Well, the title says much. I know it is not possible just to exit Indonesia with an empty foreign passport (obviously no entrance stamp to Indonesia in it). But what is the strict minimum needed to do so (what does he have to show to the airport immigration officer to be permitted to embark ?). The dual citizen concerned is 20 years old. He has chosen to keep his foreign citizenship. What is the quickest way for him to be able to go abroad ? Thanks for any information on that matter.

 

[Helpful Herbert]

Well he definitely needs the affidavit from immigration, which they give to dual citizens.
He has never left Indonesia before in 20 years? He wants the citizenship of a country he has never been to?
From his 21st birthday I guess he needs some kind of visa to enter Indonesia as a foreigner, maybe sponsored by his Indonesian mother or other relation?

 

[wildisthewind]

Thank you for your attention. He has traveled abroad several times, and to his second country, citizenship wise, but it was when he was below 10 years old. He prefers to keep his foreign nationality instead of the Indonesian one as he can not keep both when he turns 21 because of Indonesian regulations as you sure know already. It is a hard choice and I guess his decision has been taken after a long analysis (I recommended him to keep the Indonesian citizenship by the way...). Well, he would like to go abroad as soon as possible, but he only possesses a foreign passport (newly made), not an Indonesian one and he can't do any Indonesian passport because he is already 20 years old. Same with the affidavid, no more affidavid given when the dual citizen turned 18. What to expect if he tries to use his foreign passport (no stamps of any sort in it) at an international Indonesian airport ? What should he be able to show to the immigration officer to be granted to embark on the plane?

 

[Wally]

Thank you for your attention. He has traveled abroad several times, and to his second country, citizenship wise, but it was when he was below 10 years old. He prefers to keep his foreign nationality instead of the Indonesian one as he can not keep both when he turns 21 because of Indonesian regulations as you sure know already. It is a hard choice and I guess his decision has been taken after a long analysis (I recommended him to keep the Indonesian citizenship by the way...). Well, he would like to go abroad as soon as possible, but he only possesses a foreign passport (newly made), not an Indonesian one and he can't do any Indonesian passport because he is already 20 years old. Same with the affidavid, no more affidavid given when the dual citizen turned 18. What to expect if he tries to use his foreign passport (no stamps of any sort in it) at an international Indonesian airport ? What should he be able to show to the immigration officer to be granted to embark on the plane?

The problem seems to be that the Indonesian government know that he has dual citizenship. I never let the Indonesia government know that my two sons had dual citizenship. So they had no problem getting an Indonesian passport which they used to get in and out of Indonesia. Now they live in the UK and their Indonesian passports have expired. So now they travel exclusively on their UK passports

 

[Helpful Herbert]

That is indeed a very difficult problem, if it's too late for an affidavit. Nowadays it's no longer possible to hide the fact that the child is a dual citizen, but 10 to 15 years ago it certainly was.
I would suggest going to your local immigration office and asking them directly what you should do. Currently he has not broken any law or any rule so there is no harm in asking, but if he tries to leave the country then at that point he might get into trouble. If they do let him through then of course he will need a visa to come back.

 

[Wally]

Why is it not possible to hide the fact that a child has dual citizenship. How does the Indonesian government discover that If you don’t tell them?

 

[marcus]

... I know it is not possible just to exit Indonesia with an empty foreign passport (obviously no entrance stamp to Indonesia in it) ... He has traveled abroad several times, ... when he was below 10 years old ... The dual citizen concerned is 20 years old ...

In my view , it is legal if your son was officially registered as a dual citizen ; otherwise he is only a foreigner as soon as he got his first foreign passport and so should have an Indonesian Stay Permit to be in Indonesia .

Well, he would like to go abroad as soon as possible ... But what is the strict minimum needed to do so (what does he have to show to the airport immigration officer to be permitted to embark ?).

If he is in a legal situation (as said above) , you/he should report to the Indonesian Immigration of his decision to be a foreigner before he is 21 y.o.

---------------------------------

PP no.21 Year 2022 (revision of PP no.2 Year 2007) - free translation
Article 31
(1) Indonesian citizens automatically lose their citizenship because:
...
g. they have a passport or a document in the nature of a passport from a foreign country or a document that can be interpreted as a valid sign of citizenship from another country in their name;

PP no.2 Year 2007 - free translation
Article 59
(1) Children who have dual citizenship as referred to in the Law must be registered by their parents or guardians at the immigration office or the Indonesian Embassy/Consulate ...

Article 60
(1) Children with dual citizenship ... must, no later than 3 years after reaching 18 years of age or after marriage, declare their choice of citizenship.

 

[Helpful Herbert]

Why is it not possible to hide the fact that a child has dual citizenship. How does the Indonesian government discover that If you don’t tell them?

If you apply for any Indonesian documents for the child (for example passport, affidavit, ktp anak), they will find out during the application that one parent is a foreigner (from the birth certificate) and will register the child as a dual citizen.
It was from about 2015 they started doing this by default.
This is in Jakarta, and I guess it is still possible that in some remote immigration districts it might be possible to hide it.

 

[wildisthewind]

If you apply for any Indonesian documents for the child (for example passport, affidavit, ktp anak), they will find out during the application that one parent is a foreigner (from the birth certificate) and will register the child as a dual citizen.

Yes, you are absolutely right in my opinion. Anyway, every day people address my son in the street as if he was a Bule (he is living in a remote town in Java) because of his height and nose... So no chance to hide to an immigration officer that he is a dual citizen.

 

[wildisthewind]

In my view , it is legal if your son was officially registered as a dual citizen ; otherwise he is only a foreigner as soon as he got his first foreign passport and so should have an Indonesian Stay Permit to be in Indonesia .

If he is in a legal situation (as said above) , you/he should report to the Indonesian Immigration of his decision to be a foreigner before he is 21 y.o.

---------------------------------

PP no.21 Year 2022 - free translation
Article 31
(1) Indonesian citizens automatically lose their citizenship because:
...
g. they have a passport or a document in the nature of a passport from a foreign country or a document that can be interpreted as a valid sign of citizenship from another country in their name;

PP no.2 Year 2007 - free translation
Article 59
(1) Children who have dual citizenship as referred to in the Law must be registered by their parents or guardians at the immigration office or the Indonesian Embassy/Consulate ...

Article 60
(1) Children with dual citizenship ... must, no later than 3 years after reaching 18 years of age or after marriage, declare their choice of citizenship.

How long would it take to get the papers needed (what are they ?) from the Indonesian administration so to be able to embark a plane to leave the country?

 

[marcus]

How long would it take to get the papers needed ...

I don't know , never had experienced that and don't remember of anybody who had posted about .

 

[Helpful Herbert]

How long would it take to get the papers needed (what are they ?) from the Indonesian administration so to be able to embark a plane to leave the country?

I don't think anyone here could know the answer to that, you would have to ask immigration yourself. Normally they are very happy to answer questions in person.

 

[jstar]

If I read this I don’t think he is dual citizen at all. The chances are he never was (since his fifth birthday) because -according to the Citizenship Law of 2006- you had to register your children who were born before 2006 as dual citizens and he’s born in 2005, right?

So if you didn't do that (in his case?)* the dual citizenship was not automatic. You had to do this registration at last in 2010, they gave a 4 years grace period. If you didn’t do this, there was no Indonesian citizenship.

Quite a lot was written about this on a previous version of the forum.

If he was registered as dual citizen I don’t see the problem of getting an Indonesian passport. As absurd as it sounds, it will only be valid for one year of course. I don’t recall there is a cut off date at age 18 for dual citizens.

* I can’t really determine from your posts if you did and if they officially know

 

[wildisthewind]

He has been registered as a dual citizen in 2007. He is already 20 months and a half old and the immigration will not issue an Indonesian passport to him because the minimum validity is 1 year and there is only half a year left before he turns 21. To get a normal length Indonesian passport he has to renounce to his foreign citizenship, something that needs around 10 months processing, and he doesn't want this solution as he wants to keep his foreign nationality and travel out of Indonesia using his foreign passport.

 

[marcus]

If you apply for any Indonesian documents for the child (for example passport, affidavit, ktp anak), they will find out during the application that one parent is a foreigner (from the birth certificate) and will register the child as a dual citizen.
It was from about 2015 they started doing this by default ...

I think you are mistaken .

As you see from the Regulation in my post no.7 , there is no automatic default dual citizenship . Although the Regulation requiring dual citizenship registration (Article 59 of PP no.2 Year 2007) is old , its 2022's revision (PP no.21 Year 2022) didn't change Article 59 , meaning that it was still valid in 2022 (and probably still valid today) .

 

[Helpful Herbert]

I didn't mean there is automatic default dual citizenship. I mean that if you go and ask for Indonesian documents for your child then you will only get the documents if you let them register the child in the system as a dual citizen. They wouldn't let you register as a fully Indonesian citizen. If for some reason you refused to register the child as a dual citizen then I guess the child would be considered a foreigner.

 

[wildisthewind]

I didn't mean there is automatic default dual citizenship. I mean that if you go and ask for Indonesian documents for your child then you will only get the documents if you let them register the child in the system as a dual citizen. They wouldn't let you register as a fully Indonesian citizen. If for some reason you refused to register the child as a dual citizen then I guess the child would be considered a foreigner.

Yes that is true. Children of mixed couples born before 2006 may not have been registered as dual citizen and only considered as foreigners holding kitas or kitap.

 

[centurion]

He has been registered as a dual citizen in 2007. He is already 20 months and a half old and the immigration will not issue an Indonesian passport to him because the minimum validity is 1 year and there is only half a year left before he turns 21. To get a normal length Indonesian passport he has to renounce to his foreign citizenship, something that needs around 10 months processing, and he doesn't want this solution as he wants to keep his foreign nationality and travel out of Indonesia using his foreign passport.

Than he has to renounce the Indonesian citizenship and get a stay permit. After that he can get out with the foreign passport.

 

[wildisthewind]

Than he has to renounce the Indonesian citizenship and get a stay permit. After that he can get out with the foreign passport.

How long will this road be ? Counted in days ? Weeks ? Months ? Maybe someone here has used that road. I worry it might be a really long one which means being stuck in Indonesia with no way of going out whatever the reason, which may by some be considered as a frustrating and (relatively) scary situation.

 

[jstar]

Although I’ve never seen it, it seems you can do this online.

Direktorat Jenderal Imigrasi

www.imigrasi.go.id

Formal Statement of Choosing Foreign Nationality​

As previously mentioned, a child with dual citizenship status must choose their nationality at the latest 3 years after turning 18 years old or being married. The MOLHR Reg 10/2023 specifically regulates regarding the formal procedure in the case which the concerned child choose a foreign nationality. Based on Article 15 (2) MOLHR Reg 10/2023, the child with dual citizenship which states to choose foreign nationality includes:

1. Children born before 1 August 2006 holding a Ministerial Decree regarding Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia;
2. Children born after 1 August 2006 holding an Affidavit, certificate or proof of child with dual citizenship registration, and/or immigration facilities for child with dual citizenship status; and
3. Children holding a certificate of citizenship from the Director General of General Law.

The procedure itself is the same as the child’s registration, that is through electronic system. As for the required documents are as follows:

1. Passport of the Republic of Indonesia (if available);
2. Owned national passport;
3. Affidavit;
4. Excerpt of the minister decision stipulating the Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia for children with dual citizenship born before 1 August 2006; and/or
5. Certificate of citizenship from the Director General of General Law Administration.

The output of such formal statement is an electronic letter of receipt of statement of choosing foreign citizenship which contains revocation of immigration documents. Consequently, the relevant immigration officer will revoke the affidavit as well as the passport of the Republic of Indonesia of the concerned child.