The 2006 Citizenship Law has enabled transnational couples to apply for dual citizenship for their children. Before the law was introduced, children of Indonesian mothers and foreign fathers were automatically registered as citizens of their father’s country. As a result, parents were forced to extend temporary residence permits for their children, a time-consuming and problematic process.

According to the 2006 Citizenship Law, children of transnational marriages born after 2006 automatically receive dual citizenship. For children of mixed marriages born before 2006, parents need to apply for dual citizenship for their children.

Children from mixed marriages may only hold dual citizenship up until the age of 18. When they turn 18, they must then choose to either remain Indonesian citizens or take up their foreign citizenship. The window of opportunity for children to make this decision closes three years after their 18th birthday.

The law orders transnational couples to apply for dual citizenship for children born before 2006 within four years of its enactment. The upcoming application deadline is Aug. 1, 2010.

“Many couples are still unaware there is a deadline,” says Rulita Anggraini, chairwoman of PerCa Indonesia, an organization for transnational couples.

“Some couples also just don’t know how to apply or what they need to do.”

According to the latest official data from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, up to 8,000 transnational couples had completed the application process for their children’s dual citizenship up until the middle of last year.

“We feel there are still couples that haven’t applied yet, mostly because they don’t know about the deadline,” Rulita says. “If you miss the deadline, your family will lose the benefit of dual citizenship [for the children].”

If a couple misses the deadline, their children will keep their foreign citizenship.

“If the child later wants the Indonesian citizenship, they will be required to go through the naturalization process like all other foreigners who want to become Indonesian,” Rulita says.
The child will thus be required to reside in Indonesia for five consecutive years or ten years if the period of residence was not continuous.

Juliani W. Luthan, head of the PerCa Indonesia development program, outlines what documents are needed to apply for the dual citizenship.

First of all, you need the child’s birth certificate.

“If they were born in Indonesia, the certificate needs to be legalized. If the child was born abroad, the certificate needs to be translated into Indonesian and handed in with the original document to a district office of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry to be checked and legalized,” Juliani says.

Parents also need to provide the child’s passport, as well as the family card of the Indonesian mother, a copy of the father’s passport and the parent’s marriage certificate that has been legalized by a civil office.

“[If] the couple was married abroad, the marriage needs to be registered through a civil office in Indonesia,” Juliani says.

The completed application form must then be submitted to the Justice and Human Rights Ministry. If the paperwork is complete, the family will receive a letter from the ministry confirming the child has been granted dual citizenship.

“You need to go to some offices to get the registration done,” Juliani says.

“But all in all, the application process is easy.”

The ministry says the process takes a maximum of 90 days. However, Juliani warns that it may take longer if documents are missing. PerCa Indonesia urges transnational couples that have not yet applied for dual citizenship for their child to get the ball rolling now.

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