Status of my child in Bali

Nick,

I don’t see why your child shouldn’t have an Indonesian Citizen status (WNI). Your wife (the mother) is an Indonesian Citizen and your child is going to be born in Indonesian soil so he/she will have a birth certificate (akta kelahiran) from local county (kabupaten) thus entitle him/her for WNI status.

As far as passport goes, I think a minor does not need to have a state ID card (KTP) in order to make a passport. I remember I had my first Indonesian passport when I was 12 years old. Although sometimes when a child is to young, the Immigration department may include the child’s information & photo in the child’s mother’s passport.

I’d suggest that your child get the Indonesian Citizan status as early as convinient since you and Ika are going to be in Bali for the near future. Of course this will all change if you guys decide to live in UK instead of Bali

Bob

Nick,

I have had four children here and unless you want to tell the authorities that your wife is not married and the child has no known father, he/she by law has to become a British citizen. That’s the law - the child becomes whatever the father is. Additionally, you need to register the child immediately or risk deportation (immigration threatened to do this to me nine years ago when I had my third child). Once you register the child with the civil authorities in Bali, you need to apply for a British passport for him/her.

When your child becomes 17, they can apply for Indonesian citizenship if they choose to do so, but they need to take a test and other things - my eldest daughter is coming up to that stage. Unless the immigration people have developed a much better sense of humor since my last child was born, they don’t find foreign children without papers very humorous. I noticed that you have used a company to process your visas and such. You should check with them. I happen to use Bali Ide who have dealt with these issues for me for years. Good luck on the birth of your child.

Regards,

Bruce

Sorry Nick,

Missed that update there. Take care with screwing around with immigration. Best of luck.

Regards,

Bruce

Hi Guys,

Now you’ve got me wondering. My son married Dayu in a Hindu ceremony in Bali 6 years ago and they have a 4 year old son, Michael. [Why Michael, I don't know, no family or religious tradition for that name in my family, but a sure give-away that the father is not Balinese.]

Dayu is very involved with family and religion in Bali and would not want to live anywhere else. Ron is English born, but naturalised Australian. He is very happy living in Bali and would not want to return to live in Australia.

Their intention is to stay in Bali and for Michael to have a university education. Without knowing, I have always assumed that Michael would be regarded as Indonesian. Now you’ve got me thinking.

I would like to think that Ron has got it all sorted out, but who knows? Ron was welcomed into Dayu’s family, some of whom are well educated professional people, so I’d like to think that they would make sure that everything was sorted out correctly, but again who knows?

Hi: Seems like one of the cultural anomalies of Indonesia is to treat the expat like a second class citizen even if he has been there 20 years, is married to an Indonesian and has children there. Perhaps this is something to do with the colonial past. This time THEY want to call the tune, track you, register you, control you.. and then tell you no way are they going to afford you basic human rights like proper residency arrangements if you are married to one of their nationals. Good luck.

Rex,

Michael may be considered to be an Indonesian by the people, but certainly won’t by the government. My wife once wanted to use one of the tricky gambits that foreigners sometimes use in Indonesia, but I was not about to fool around with the kids’ futures just to save a few bucks.

You’d be surprised by how many Indonesians know nothing of immigration law, but then how many Americans know their immigration law?

Dear Nick,

I have worked in a UK & Oz companies when i was in Jakarta. Based on my Expat friends experiences who got married to Indonesian (Male & Female), These were the clues:

1. Your baby will have a UK citizen (so once Ika has delivery and got paper from Hospital, then you need to go to UK Embassy/High Commisioner in Bali to get the paper/his passport done and your baby will have hiw own passport or will be put together in your passport/ Then once your baby has a passport you need to get a visa for his stays in Indonesia).

2. Dealing with Immigrations only one way to make it hassle free that is use the agent to organize everything for you. This is not just for foreigner, even locals also use agent to get their things done. (Too bad, even when i organized my son’s passport (he was 10 years old), i ended up paying 5x from normal price and I AM LOCAL!!)

3. Is it only Arjuna the immigration agent in Bali??? One agent would charge differently from the other agent, you may want to check it???

Good luck for you, because admin matters in Indonesia are really hassle (for foreigner and local).

Cheers

Coni

Dear Nick,
Sorry Nick, you’ve 2 options:
- pay pay pay to the Jakarta maffia.
- leave the country.
Just something everybody should know:
Bali is so nice, but all people on the island who are allowed to put a stamp or signature on a piece of paper come from Jawa and are NO GOOD.
THEY WILL CHEAT YOU AND EAT ALL YOUR MONEY!

Peter

Your son, your grandson, and your grand-grandson will always be ‘Non pri’ as long as they don’t look like local event if they have Indonesian citizenship. That is the fact of living in Indonesia, perhaps after ten generations your decendants will be considered ‘pribumi’. So, on behalf of some 10 millions ‘Non Pri’ we would like to welcome your son to the party. Our advice to him: 1. Son, perpare to work very hard because whenever you are to deal with the government you will have to pay double. 2. Son, in case anything bad happens to the local, you will be the scapegoat. 3. Son, you will always be second class citizen, so don’t expect to go to local University they have quota on you, but never mind, that’s why the local unis are so poor in quality. 4. Son, hide your opinion, utter it wrong, they will burn your house. 5.Son, watch out for any transition period, that will be the time the genocide taking center stage. 6. Son, just remember the word ‘Amok’ has it root in this region.

Your son, your grandson, and your grand-grandson will always be ‘Non pri’ as long as they don’t look like local even if they have Indonesian citizenship. That is the fact of living in Indonesia, perhaps after ten generations your decendants will be considered ‘pribumi’. So, on behalf of some 10 millions ‘Non Pri’ we would like to welcome your son to the party. Our advice to him: 1. Son, perpare to work very hard because whenever you are to deal with the government you will have to pay double. 2. Son, in case anything bad happens to the local, you will be the scapegoat. 3. Son, you will always be second class citizen, so don’t expect to go to local University they have quota on you, but never mind, that’s why the local unis are so poor in quality. 4. Son, hide your opinion, utter it wrong, they will burn your house. 5.Son, watch out for any transition period, that will be the time the genocide taking center stage. 6. Son, just remember the word ‘Amok’ has it root in this region.

Wow, are people pessimists round here!
I have good news for you Nick, unlike everyone else it seems – if you look it from the bright side, the English nationality of your son is not all bad. Sure you have to pay, but if things get real nasty round there (and it wouldn’t be the first time), you can always flee for England with no problems at the border. You are a Brit, your son is a Brit, and they wouldn’t deny residence for the wife and mother of two Brits. Hey, they wouldn’t even deny her nationality!
So look it up from the bright side, its no time for concerns… your son is born! CONGRATULATIONS!

Don’t worry Nick, as long as your son looks like a European his future will be best since he can easily become an actor there..
But it will be terrible if he looks like a chinese… since a chinese is a god damned son of a bitch every where in the world…no wonder the dutch killed thousands of them in batavia long time ago…thanks to the dutch…

Dick,
That’s probably the most disgusting Post I have ever read!
You are scum of the earth, Racism is repulsive!

Is this guy for real?! You lost a good opportunity to keep your mouth shut, or in this case, your fingers off the keyboard!!!
But a good choice on the nickname though… it suits you well!

I am married to a Javanese/Chinese lady and I find your comments not only disgusting but contemptable. your attitude obviously reflects the way your parents brought you up. That is, if you were a legitimate child.

You are indeed a foul-mouthed bigot racist. Burn in hell you motherfucker.

Barrie,

Take it easy, nobody else agrees with him round here, but we all know that unfortunately there are still a lot Stone Age guys around, and we must be above it.
Just one more comment I can’t resist on making… Dick is in fact a dick! (hehehe)

Hi Godhino,

You left uot the ‘head’ on the end of ‘dick’!

seriously, Nick, i think u should have checked out the immigration laws before marrying Ika.

Hi all..I just wanted to post my first ever comment & JOIN IN instead of always being the reader.At the moment I am a father of a 9month old baby boy,born to an Indonesian national..since we were not married at the time of the child’s birth..my partner made *single parent* on the birth certiticate..which allowed the child to obtain an Indonesian Passport!now he has that..all we have to do now is get MARRIED!Hope this helps answer some questions..

In my opinion, i think you, your son and your wife should go back to Britain as your son will have a better future in Britain… There will be a better life and more opportunities for your children… Please think of your children… Being a British citizen means that you dont have the hassle to most countries by applying visas and all those stuff but not being an Indonesian citizen… Unless you want your son to stay in Bali for the rest of your life… I will make no further comments!!!

Thank good ness for your last line Stef!

You seriously have no idea, life in Bali is PERFECT for children…

But by reading your post clearly you have NFI!!!!

Hi Nick and Ika
Congratulation for your beautiful baby son. Hope baby and mum doing very well now.

I just opened this blog, and quite amazed how people replied you. This is little bit information for you to know. If you are non Indonesian,married and have children with Indonesian woman, your children are automatically follow your nationality, until she/he 17 years old. However, if you to just live together without married, your children will follow mother’s nationality.
To apply Indonesian passport for under 17yo, you need, birth certificate, parents marriage certificate and Kartu Keluarga (Family Card) not ID card (KTP).

For everyone, please think in positive way; every country in the world, have their own regulation/law for their people, so, if you are in love and being married to other nationality man/woman, just adapt yourself and follow that country regulation and work around it, easy.

I, myself an Indonesian born married with Irish/Australian man. I love my country, but I love my husband and my beautiful children too. So, I think try do the best you can to bring up your children in the best environment. For me, it is does not matter, what nationality they are, but the important things for me and my husband are to teach them become a good person that cares with their surrounding without any judgement from nationality,race, colour and religion.

For Nick, Ika and others, if you would like more information, you can go to expatriate website: http://www.indoindians.com/living/marriages.htm

Well good luck and all the best for Nick and Ika. Hope your child’s life will be full of love from both of you, regardless what nationality will be for your child.

Aida, Thank you for your thoughts and the great information. Yes it is a privelage to live in Indonesia, and the moment I don’t like it I will leave. My glass is half full.

I do think however that when a 50 year old law hurts the country, the locals, their kids and foreigners, its time to change the law. No one benefits from the law that says a child of an Indonesian mother and a foreign father, born in Indonesia, is a foreinger.

There is talk of changing this law in Jakarta.

Sometimes I wonder if all of us live in the same country: I explain. I married an indonesian woman three years ago and we have a lovely little son (2 and a half years old now). I managed myself all the papers from the akte kelahiran to his KITAS. I would not say that it was easy but I followed the procedure. Before he borned I had enough time (9 months) to check all the regulations concerning the problem… I’ve paid his KITAS 400000 rupiah (+100000 rp “uang administrasi”) for the first year (including POA-Buku Biru) and the renewal that we had to do at the end of each year where paid the same price (+50000 rp “uang administrasi”). I would not say that it was outrageously expensive. One part of the problem is for sure corrupted civil servant… but one other part of the problem is foreigners who don’t really try to get the informations about laws and quickly hand over the cash ! How come imigrasi officer can not be tempted to extort cash when they know that the foreigners are so ready to pay whatever they ask !? Nowadays all the immigration laws (ex: undang undang 9 tahun 1992) or citizenship law can be found through the web. If anyone is in the situation of Nick, feel free to contact me on my email address. I kept a record of all the steps of the “do it yourself” procedure (from the Akte to the SKLD via the KITAS).