What do I need to know? - Moving to Indonesia

STCCC

New Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2018
Messages
7
I have always been keen to move to Indonesia (from Australia) with my Indonesian wife (and now 3 young kids)... but never quite taken that step.

What do I need to know or look out for as an Australian citizen moving to Indonesia?

I don't have a uni degree, but I have a diploma level qualification and years of work experience running a vocational college.
 
Without a uni degree it will be hard for you to get any independent employment because there are strict rules about levels of education and prior experience needed to justify hiring foreigners.

But if your wife sponsors your visa, you can be employed by her (or her family's) company. Other members can speak more about those legal ins and outs. Maybe you (or rather your wife, with your help) could start a small vocational school of some sort. It would be a challenge though. With three kids to support, I would not try it unless I had a good, multi-year plan in place that included being able to support my family on savings/my wife's earnings for several years.

Another thing to think about is schooling. Be sure you are either happy with enrolling your children in public schools in Indonesia or can afford private schools, which vary in cost and quality.

Health care is another issue you should consider. If everyone in your family is healthy you will probably do just fine in Indonesia. If anyone has a special health issue, though, you might want to think about how their needs for treatment and medication will be met.

I probably sound rather discouraging, but I am not trying to suggest that you don't make a life in Indonesia. Far from it - this is a great place to live and I wish you luck. (My son was mostly raised in Indonesia and I think the Indonesian attitude toward children is wonderful. He is a very loving and secure individual, and I am sure all the affection he got from everyone in our household made him that way.)
 
You will really struggle financially with 3 kids to have the same level of lifestyle that you are used to in Oz if you are working here as a teacher, unless you really honestly genuinely don't plan to go out, travel, eat properly etc

And I am not sure Expat packages these days cover accomodation or schooling for 3 kids also?

I don't have kids but sadly I think apart from for the kids benefit, it really wouldn't make sense financially

You would be better off just trying to vist for long weekends every few months or let the grandparents visit you there, IMHO
 
I don't know your circumstances but living in Australia would put a person fairly close to Indonesia, for trips. I imagine life in some places in Australia can be an expensive rat race, so it is not like Indonesia has nothing to offer but it depends on one's circumstances, including finances.
 
Hey brother welcome...What part of Indonesia are you thinking of ? Might I ask what kind of lifestyle are you looking for and how old are the kids ? There are really at least 3 totally different worlds here between Bali, Jakarta and the rest if Indonesia. All have different good and bad points.
I' sure it' not a easy decision and good luck in it. Ask any and all question . Good luck mate
 
Welcome to the forum. I think from an Australian perspective there are a lot of things you need to consider in making your decision.

Firstly the social security system is virtually non existent when compared to Australia. The health system is also relatively poor when compared to Australia. There is national contribution based health system but it is far from what you currently get under Medicare in Australia. In some medical specialities it is hard to even get basic medical treatment and if a condition is serious you can expect to pay a substantial amount for the treatment or for private health cover.

Any social security benefits you may be receiving will stop after a period if you move overseas.

From a Australian taxation perspective, you will be treated as a non-resident for tax purposes in Australia. That means you will pay 32.5 % of all Australian income without any tax free threshold. You do not pay the medicare and do not qualify for treatment.

I assume you are not at retirement age given the young family and desire to work. But if you were near retirement age, you would lose the ability to get the aged pension you left Australia before you reached the retirement age and did not lodged the application in Australia while an Australian resident.

I also assume your wife is an Australian resident or citizen. In Australia as a permanent resident, your wife is treated like all other Australians and has access to all the benefits like any other Australian including the ability to work. In Indonesia you will always be a foreigner even when you are granted permanent resident status.The Indonesian system is inward looking and designed to for the benefit of indonesian citizens.

There are also legal problems with home ownership, ability to work and so on but others on the forum are more qualified than me to make comment.

Support networks for Australians are virtually non existent everywhere except Bali and the Australian Embassy is limited it what assistance they can provided.

Saying all that Indonesia is a wonderful place to live particularly in places other than Jakarta. The people are very friendly and it is easy to assimilate into the community. Family support is generally much stronger than Australia. The cost of living is much lower than Australia and rent/homeownership is a fraction of the Australian costs.

I am certainly glad I made the decision to relocate but there was a lot I was unaware of when i made my decision.

My comments are meant purely to inform and hopefully assist with a decision. .
 
I agree with everything brian@bekasi says in post #6
I would add that it can be done as cost of living is cheaper.....but I wouldn't burn all bridges. Maybe try for a while or even leave the wife and kids and you commute to work in OZ.
It would be good for your wife and kids to indulge in their heritage and maybe build experience and contacts, as others suggested, to enable a longer or permanent stay.
 
In Indonesia you will always be a foreigner even when you are granted permanent resident status.The Indonesian system is inward looking and designed to for the benefit of indonesian citizens.

I am not sure what great benefits Indonesian government provides to Indonesians. They appear to be equal in their desire to screw them as well.
 
Damn after reading these post I'm leaving Indonesia.....

I remember back when you first posted inquiries about moving to Indonesia, back on the old forum. After you've been living in Indonesia a while, and reading message board queries for a while, you get a pretty good sense of who is a good candidate to move to Indonesia (because they are flexible, realistic, and don't have any huge red flags) and who should just forget it (usually the people who think the movie Eat Pray Love accurately depicts life in Indonesia).

Anyway, as soon as I read your first posts I knew you and your wife were a good fit and that you could successfully build a life in Indonesia. So far you have proved me right!
 
I remember back when you first posted inquiries about moving to Indonesia, back on the old forum. After you've been living in Indonesia a while, and reading message board queries for a while, you get a pretty good sense of who is a good candidate to move to Indonesia (because they are flexible, realistic, and don't have any huge red flags) and who should just forget it (usually the people who think the movie Eat Pray Love accurately depicts life in Indonesia).

Anyway, as soon as I read your first posts I knew you and your wife were a good fit and that you could successfully build a life in Indonesia. So far you have proved me right!
Too late ...we are Indonesian now so we have to stay ! I get grumpy when we travel and everyone looks at us strange for smiling at them and saying hello. I' sure some will call the cops on us in the states for doing that. Here when i see a bule i want to run up to them and welcome them , im sure ive scared some of them. I'e
20171210_120615.jpg
made kids cry with a simple ho ho ho
 
Without a uni degree it will be hard for you to get any independent employment because there are strict rules about levels of education and prior experience needed to justify hiring foreigners.

But if your wife sponsors your visa, you can be employed by her (or her family's) company. Other members can speak more about those legal ins and outs. Maybe you (or rather your wife, with your help) could start a small vocational school of some sort. It would be a challenge though. With three kids to support, I would not try it unless I had a good, multi-year plan in place that included being able to support my family on savings/my wife's earnings for several years.

Another thing to think about is schooling. Be sure you are either happy with enrolling your children in public schools in Indonesia or can afford private schools, which vary in cost and quality.

Health care is another issue you should consider. If everyone in your family is healthy you will probably do just fine in Indonesia. If anyone has a special health issue, though, you might want to think about how their needs for treatment and medication will be met.

I probably sound rather discouraging, but I am not trying to suggest that you don't make a life in Indonesia. Far from it - this is a great place to live and I wish you luck. (My son was mostly raised in Indonesia and I think the Indonesian attitude toward children is wonderful. He is a very loving and secure individual, and I am sure all the affection he got from everyone in our household made him that way.)

Thank you for the advice. We are looking at our options first, so the input of experienced expats is so valuable.

My wife gets incredibly homesick and we always talked about living in Indonesia while the kids are young... currently 3,5 &7.

We are relatively healthy, however i need to take regular medication which may prove to be costly in Indonesia.
 
Hey brother welcome...What part of Indonesia are you thinking of ? Might I ask what kind of lifestyle are you looking for and how old are the kids ? There are really at least 3 totally different worlds here between Bali, Jakarta and the rest if Indonesia. All have different good and bad points.
I' sure it' not a easy decision and good luck in it. Ask any and all question . Good luck mate

Thanks for your input. My wife's family is in Jakarta, so either there or in Bali. I have been to both many times over the years so I have a fair idea of what life would be like.
 
Welcome to the forum. I think from an Australian perspective there are a lot of things you need to consider in making your decision.

Firstly the social security system is virtually non existent when compared to Australia. The health system is also relatively poor when compared to Australia. There is national contribution based health system but it is far from what you currently get under Medicare in Australia. In some medical specialities it is hard to even get basic medical treatment and if a condition is serious you can expect to pay a substantial amount for the treatment or for private health cover.

Any social security benefits you may be receiving will stop after a period if you move overseas.

From a Australian taxation perspective, you will be treated as a non-resident for tax purposes in Australia. That means you will pay 32.5 % of all Australian income without any tax free threshold. You do not pay the medicare and do not qualify for treatment.

I assume you are not at retirement age given the young family and desire to work. But if you were near retirement age, you would lose the ability to get the aged pension you left Australia before you reached the retirement age and did not lodged the application in Australia while an Australian resident.

I also assume your wife is an Australian resident or citizen. In Australia as a permanent resident, your wife is treated like all other Australians and has access to all the benefits like any other Australian including the ability to work. In Indonesia you will always be a foreigner even when you are granted permanent resident status.The Indonesian system is inward looking and designed to for the benefit of indonesian citizens.

There are also legal problems with home ownership, ability to work and so on but others on the forum are more qualified than me to make comment.

Support networks for Australians are virtually non existent everywhere except Bali and the Australian Embassy is limited it what assistance they can provided.

Saying all that Indonesia is a wonderful place to live particularly in places other than Jakarta. The people are very friendly and it is easy to assimilate into the community. Family support is generally much stronger than Australia. The cost of living is much lower than Australia and rent/homeownership is a fraction of the Australian costs.

I am certainly glad I made the decision to relocate but there was a lot I was unaware of when i made my decision.

My comments are meant purely to inform and hopefully assist with a decision. .

Wow! Thanks for all the info. I know there will be difficulties with welfare, medical and work, they are the major issues we need to solve to make it work. As our kids are half Indo we would love to spend some time living there to give them the benefit of understanding the culture. I have spoken to people before about running my own business, but in most cases they found it very difficult as foreigners, as the local authorities would continually hit them up for inventive new fees and charges. I wonder if anyone else has had experience with this?
 
sorry if i am out of topic, but generally Indonesian people or Asian in general is family oriented people, they do anything to help families member, they come with benefit and some cost of privacy.
ask your wife family about the idea you moved here, so you have an idea, what kind of support you get here, especially your in-law i am sure they wanted to spoiled rotten their grandchild's.

my point is your family will not be alone here, you still have an extended family and they mostly will be happy to help you in anything, as long you maintain good relation with them.
 
sorry if i am out of topic, but generally Indonesian people or Asian in general is family oriented people, they do anything to help families member, they come with benefit and some cost of privacy.
ask your wife family about the idea you moved here, so you have an idea, what kind of support you get here, especially your in-law i am sure they wanted to spoiled rotten their grandchild's.

my point is your family will not be alone here, you still have an extended family and they mostly will be happy to help you in anything, as long you maintain good relation with them.

This is a very good point. Most westerners will be quite shocked how involved the family, even extended family is. Personally I like it, but totally get it if it not everyone's cup of tea.
 
"We are relatively healthy, however i need to take regular medication which may prove to be costly in Indonesia."

Most prescription medicines in Australia are covered by Medicare but there are still many which are not. I was prescribed a medication for which I had to pay the full price in Australia. I had thought I would probably find it cheaper here as many medicines are just sold over the counter without a prescription. In fact I found that the cheapest for the same medicine here was 50% higher. I tried to get around this by ordering online from the US at a lower price than the Australian price but it was not allowed through by Indonesian Customs as they checked and found it is available here and should be bought here.

I have no idea how significant a factor it is for you with regard to your "regular medication" but I guess you could find out on line what your medication would cost in Indonesia.
 
I don't have a uni degree, but I have a diploma level qualification and years of work experience running a vocational college.

Please be warned you cannot work as a teacher here without the degree. (And I know you didn't say you would, but making it clear).

What sort of Vocational college? The market is very competitive here...
 
Please be warned you cannot work as a teacher here without the degree. (And I know you didn't say you would, but making it clear).

What sort of Vocational college? The market is very competitive here...

Hospitality College - I look after International Students and Assessment and Training compliance.
 
"We are relatively healthy, however i need to take regular medication which may prove to be costly in Indonesia."

Most prescription medicines in Australia are covered by Medicare but there are still many which are not. I was prescribed a medication for which I had to pay the full price in Australia. I had thought I would probably find it cheaper here as many medicines are just sold over the counter without a prescription. In fact I found that the cheapest for the same medicine here was 50% higher. I tried to get around this by ordering online from the US at a lower price than the Australian price but it was not allowed through by Indonesian Customs as they checked and found it is available here and should be bought here.

I have no idea how significant a factor it is for you with regard to your "regular medication" but I guess you could find out on line what your medication would cost in Indonesia.

Thanks harryopal. My medication will probably be about $275 every 2 months, but reduced to $39 by the PBS here.
 

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
5,966
Messages
97,385
Members
3,035
Latest member
Les 819
Back
Top Bottom