Mark

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Apr 19, 2004
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Under the last updates to the immigration law (UU6-2011), a foreigner married to an Indonesian citizen for at least two years is entitled to apply directly for a KITAP (five year residency permit). Previously, under the 2005 law, I understand that one first had to obtain a one year KITAS sponsored by the spouse, renew it a couple of times, and then apply for a KITAP. There seems to be tons of information and experiences on converting from KITAS to KITAP, but I can't find any on obtaining a KITAP directly from, say, a Sosbud visa. Does anyone have experience obtaining a spouse sponsored KITAP in Bali from a Sosbud, and if so, what was the process?
 

spicyayam

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Jan 12, 2009
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I don't know the answer to your question, but I do know immigration don't like doing anything they haven't done before. Since most people that I know of go the KITAS -> KITAP route, you might have trouble. I just renewed my KITAS and a few immigration staff said I can now get a KITAP; it wasn't so long ago some people on this forum were saying that the new laws hadn't been implemented in Bali.

Sorry, I can't answer your question, but good luck with it!
 

davita

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Mar 13, 2012
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The UU6/2011 permits foreigners to apply, assuming min 2 years of marriage, for a Kitap from a Kitas. Many Immigrasi are still ignorant to recent changes so expect reluctance.
It does not apply to a conversion from Sosbud to Kitap.

I'm interested in the application for pre-WNI to achieve a direct Kitap according to UU6/2011....anyone else have info?
 

spicyayam

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Jan 12, 2009
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Do you need an agent to go from the Social Visa to the Kitas and does it help to have an Indonesian wife which I do. I have a US passport.

No, you don't need an agent. There is a list of steps here: KITAS sponsored by an Indonesian wife of a foreign husband.

Note that whenever you need to send documents to a different agency, it is better to take them personally. And on the first application, this means going to Jakarta. You can read an explanation of why this is important here: http://balipod.com/bali-visa-questions-answers-f42/kitas-kitap-t8549.html#post78188

Agents charge about 6 million and if you have the money, I can suggest using an agent for the first one and then you can do the renewals yourself. Cost to renew yourself is IDR750,000 and a fairly straight forward process (no need to go to Jakarta.)
 
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Mark

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Apr 19, 2004
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The UU6/2011 permits foreigners to apply, assuming min 2 years of marriage, for a Kitap from a Kitas. Many Immigrasi are still ignorant to recent changes so expect reluctance.
It does not apply to a conversion from Sosbud to Kitap.

Hi davita, I'm not sure I agree with you. The relevant part of the English translation of the law is as follows: "Article 54....(1) Permanent stay may be granted to ...(b) family because of mixed marriage." And, "Article 60 (2) To obtain a permanent stay permit for the applicant referred to in Article 54 paragraph (1) letter b is given after the marriage reaches two (2) years and a signed Statement of Integration to the Republic of Indonesia".

This means Kitap after two years of marriage, not 'get a Kitas first and then apply for Kitap', which would be contrary to a plain reading of the law. What seems to be going on is that instead of the previous requirement of three years residency under a spouse sponsored Kitas to convert to permanent residency, the law has changed to allow permanent residency provided a couple has been married at least two years.

I do agree with you that many immigrasi would likely be ignorant of the new law though and I would also be interested to hear anyone's experiences and views, including Atlantis from the other forum, who interestingly has not addressed this particular issue as far as I can make out from the thousands of posts there.
 

rickerw

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Nov 15, 2011
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I think that information from both of you above is very good and important. Next is where do I go in Bali, what office, to find out about it and get the process started. It certainly would be good if I could go directly to the Kitap from the Social Visa. We have been married for more than two years and our marriage document legalized by the Indonesian government so that should help. I don't mind "jumping in" to this process but please tell me where I would be doing that. We have had to do so much paperwork over these last years both for Indonesia and for the USA that my wife is burnt out about any more and encourages me to use an agent... Not sure I want to do that unless it is someone I can really trust. Thanks, Ricker
 

Natasha

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Dec 1, 2010
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Kerobokan
I used an agent for my spouse-sponsored KITAS. We also went to immigration as well to see the price difference, and what it would entail doing it ourselves. At the time a lot of the rules seemed to be constantly changing so in the end we decided to do it through our agent. It was fast, easy, and less stress. If you would like my agent's number, let me know, she is in Kerobokan.
 

Mark

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Apr 19, 2004
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I used an agent for my spouse-sponsored KITAS. We also went to immigration as well to see the price difference, and what it would entail doing it ourselves. At the time a lot of the rules seemed to be constantly changing so in the end we decided to do it through our agent. It was fast, easy, and less stress. If you would like my agent's number, let me know, she is in Kerobokan.

Hi Natasha, out of curiosity, why did you not apply for a spouse sponsored KITAP instead?
 

spicyayam

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Jan 12, 2009
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I used an agent for my spouse-sponsored KITAS. We also went to immigration as well to see the price difference, and what it would entail doing it ourselves. At the time a lot of the rules seemed to be constantly changing so in the end we decided to do it through our agent. It was fast, easy, and less stress. If you would like my agent's number, let me know, she is in Kerobokan.

Immigration charges IDR750,000 and if you use an agent anywhere from 5 million. Actually not that difficult to do yourself. It can also be done quite quickly if you deliver the documents yourself.
 

rickerw

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Thanks. Those are the prices we have seen also so it is good to get that confirmation. I think if they could do it all in Bali I would try myself but I understand the problem is in long delays because they have to send all the paperwork to Jakarta and it stalls out in that part of the process. We have done so much paperwork these last few years that I think we will spend the money on an agent. We know someone in Jakarta we trust..
 

Natasha

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Dec 1, 2010
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Kerobokan
Hi Natasha, out of curiosity, why did you not apply for a spouse sponsored KITAP instead?
We were married last year, so I didn't qualify for KITAP (I believe you have to have spouse-sponsored KITAS 2 years, or married 2 years before qualifying for KITAP).

With the KITAS, we initially went to immigration to get the process started last year but we were told we had to wait until after 3 extensions of SOSBUD visa to apply to convert it to KITAS (which means you can't come in on SOSBUD visa and immediately convert it to KITAS, you have to come in on SOSBUD visa, stay the 60 days, then extend it 2-3 times, and then at the very last month or two of the visa you can then apply to convert it to KITAS). We then spoke to a trusted agent that confirmed that this is the process of converting the SOSBUD to KITAS, but you can also get the KITAS another way by applying for it while in Indonesia, and once it has been approved, you leave the country, go to an Indonesian embassy in another country with the approval letter, pick up a spouse-sponsored visa, come back to Indonesia, send passport to Indonesian immigration and get your KITAS. We were going to go that route, but for some reason at the time when we applied for the KITAS, Indonesian Immigration changed the rules and said you had to submit an exit stamp with your KITAS application and wait outside Indonesia for 10-14 days while your KITAS application gets processed. This was a new rule they implemented last year, and it would be costly to have to sit in another country for 2 weeks waiting for the KITAS to be approved. So we decided to just do the conversion of SOSBUD visa to KITAS, and wait the few months until the end of the SOSBUD visa to convert it. Then... I got pregnant:icon_biggrin:, and every few months I had to go to Singapore to see a doctor, so therefore I was never in Bali long enough to be able to convert the SOSBUD visa to KITAS, and after doing the calculations as to when I'd be eligible to finally convert the SOSBUD visa to KITAS, would actually be the time when I'd be giving birth! No good! So we decided to go with the other option of using the agent and applying for KITAS outside the country, even if i had to sit in another country for 2 weeks waiting for the visa to be approved. As it turned out, seems like the Indonesian gov. went back to the old rules and my KITAS application was approved here and I only had to go to Singapore for the day to pick up new visa for KITAS. The whole process took 2-3 weeks. A huge relief!!!

It is way more costly to use an agent, and with some agents it's more expensive for the western husband to get a spouse-sponsored KITAS than a western wife! As long as you have all the proper documents, it's pretty straight forward to apply for the KITAS directly at an immigration office, but being pregnant, I'm happy we had an agent take care of all that for us, and since we now know the procedure, when we have to re-new the KITAS, we'll probably do it ourselves.

Also make sure you or the agent report you to the police and get that ID card as well!
 

BKT

Member
Apr 2, 2010
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Auckland/Singaraja
With the KITAS, we initially went to immigration to get the process started last year but we were told we had to wait until after 3 extensions of SOSBUD visa to apply to convert it to KITAS (which means you can't come in on SOSBUD visa and immediately convert it to KITAS, you have to come in on SOSBUD visa, stay the 60 days, then extend it 2-3 times, and then at the very last month or two of the visa you can then apply to convert it to KITAS).

I applied for a my Kitas the day after I arrived in Bali so unless the rules have changed recently both immigration and your agent lied to you. There are a few articles around on the net that say to apply for it as soon as you get here.
 

Natasha

Member
Dec 1, 2010
151
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Kerobokan
I applied for a my Kitas the day after I arrived in Bali so unless the rules have changed recently both immigration and your agent lied to you. There are a few articles around on the net that say to apply for it as soon as you get here.

I did all the research before going to immigration and I was under the impression that one can apply for KITAS right at the beginning of the SOSBUD visa (like you did), and my husband and I went to immigration with all the needed original documents and application form right when I arrived on a new SOSBUD visa, but immigration said we had everything we needed but we had to wait 4-5 months until the end of the SOSBUD visa (the last extension) to submit the application for KITAS conversion. I was told this also by an agent at a separate time and place (that is what prompted us to go to immigration ourselves so we wouldn't have to wait so long and waste more money on extending SOSBUD every month). Whether both were lying to us, or rules are constantly changing, I don't know, what is done is done! :)