Conversion/Transformation of a sosbud in a KITAS sponsored by Indonesian wife

[Al.Gray]

Hello Atlantis. You seen a fine knowledgable chap, and we have been reading through your posts with great interest.
We only wish we'd known all you'd said earlier.
Why? Because for the last 18 months or so, my then fiancee, and now wife, have let ourselves be taken for a pair of fools by immigration in Yogyakarta.
My last sosbud, sponsored by my wife ran from February to September 2008, and we were paying our Immigration officer 'friend' here a Rp250rb tip every month (and maybe double this before we were legally married,with buku nikah) to do all the paperwork and legwork for us (ya, more easy since we get lazy in the heat). Our 'friend' said every month it is getting harder to extend my sosbud, as his superior officer wanted to know what am I doing here?
I move on....When our 'friend' informed us he would help me to make a KITAS, sponsored by my wife, for the pricely sum of 6 million rupiah, we jumped at it, since it worked out cheaper and less hassle than the sosbud.
However, after handing over payment to him, we waited, waited, and waited some more. We were always in contact with him throughout, but it was always a case of, 'him still waiting to hear from Dirjen Imigrasi in Jakarta'.
And by this time, even though he'd claimed to start the proses to make my KITAS at 4 months into my Sosbud, my 6-month Sosbud was almost at an end (towards the end of July this year).
Our 'friend' had always insisted we wouldn't be required to leave Indonesia for this, and the Sosbud would simply be converted into a KITAS. As you might imagine, because it was taking so long, and we'd had no positive news, we were starting to get a bit anxious, specially as we hadn't made any arrangements, flight or accomodation, to leave Indonesia either.
Now me, if need call for it, I can be a little intimidating. So, I decided to have it out with our 'friend'. It turned out that he had used our money to pay some cock n bull story about hospital treatment for his wife, and not started my KITAS proses at all.
Can you imagine how marah I was with him? Even visited his house with bloodlust, and threatened him with all manner of things, police, KPK, etc, if he didn't sort everything, make the KITAS so we didn't have to leave Indonesia AND pay our 6 million back to us.
This approach had measured success. He made a special application to his boss to extend my Sosbud one more month on top of the usual six, and again assured us we'd still get our KITAS. Three weeks past and still no news for him or us from DirJen Imigrasi, Jakarta. So, to try to find out what exactly was going on, we headed to Jakarta. There, we were informed there'd been no application made for my KITAS, just for the one month extension to my Sosbud. By this time, I was absolutely livid, as would need to leave Indonesia to make a new Sosbud afterall, even after all the running around.
So far, he's paid back 5 of the 6 juta, so that's something.
Atlantis, would you so kind to help us by emailing the law and procedure to make KITAS sponsored by my wife, please? We'd really prefer to do the extensions and make the KITAS the proper way, so disposing of our 'friend's' services. It's been hard to tell them what I'm doing here when it there are so many hoops to jump through to make and run a business (I believe not only immigration is riddled with corruption - brings new meaning to 'paying your way through life).
Neither of us are doing any work, and are living off my savings, so I transfer money every month. We hope to make some business here in the future, but that may be another beaurocratic headache altogether.

Thanks a million before, we really appreciate any help or guidance you can provide us.

Oh,one last thing, if I may.....is it really legally possible to convert my current Sosbud into a KITAS without having to make another visa-run abroad? Even DirJen Jakarta are not clear on this.

[atlantis]

Atlantis, would you so kind to help us by emailing the law and procedure to make KITAS sponsored by my wife, please?

Just PM your email address and I'll do it.

I feel really sad to hear about your story and I am unfortunately not surprised by it. Having developped a special interest in Indonesian laws and procedures I heard from here and there many similar stories.
At least you can feel really happy that you get back 5 out of the 6 millions you gave to your "friend"... In the whole story, this is the only thing which surprised me...
When you deal with immigration, please remenber this four basic rules:
- You will never ever have a "friend" inside. They are crooks for the most part and the rare honest one are forced by the Pejabat to racket you.
- never accept to pay more than the legal fee. It will force the pegawai to send you in the office of the pejabat who will in many case don't be "berani" enough to racket you directly.
- Always do the things yourself, keep with you a copy of all documents you give them, the name of the pegawai who receive it and the date you give the documents. Never use any calo/maklar/agent.
- If they mess, stay cool, step back and go the Kantor Wilayah with your sponsor. Ask to talk to the Kepala Bidang Keimigrasian (he is the boss of the KaKanIm). Keep cool and tell him what's goin' on. He is far from being the most honest in the game, but there is one thing he doesn't like: someone who come to his office to report him an unscrupulous Pejabat. Chances are that he will call the KaKanIm and intimitate him to solve the problem. As long as you do not do anything wrong (illegal working, overstaying, incomplete documents...etc), this works real good. Just remenber one very important thing: you are the victim, but this is your sponsor who has to complain. In short, your wife has rights, you don't.
Report any threats made by any pejabat such as "if you complain we will refuse to extend your visa, or we will deport you"... etc
If you don't do anything wrong, they have no power to do so.

I will let you my email also. Don't hesitate to email me in the future if you do have any doubt about anything concerning the procedure.

[Al.Gray]

Thanks for all that for now Atlantis, I'll PM my email.
I'm not sure what rank this clown is, but he wears 4 stripes on his shoulder. Surprised? I would've been too, but he has some close ties with some members of my wife's family, and failing to 'come good' may have made a few more problems than he needed.
If there's any moral to this tale, just know your opponent's weaknesses before staging an assault - works for us. The remaining million will b accounted for in time,one way or another, but no rush.
Once more, our thanks.

[atlantis]

. Our 'friend' said every month it is getting harder to extend my sosbud, as his superior officer wanted to know what am I doing here?

The only answer to be given to any immigration officer in this case is the following:

You are in Indonesia to take care of your family. As per Marriage law states, you are the head of the family (Article 31) and provide care and food for your family (article 34).
You may have to prove that you do it on your savings, but if you can prove it, discussion is over.
Nothing more. If they want to challenge it, silahkan. Get the surat keterangan penolakan and give 'em a smile... You'll be back very soon with a bigger smile.

. Oh,one last thing, if I may.....is it really legally possible to convert my current Sosbud into a KITAS without having to make another visa-run abroad? Even DirJen Jakarta are not clear on this.

It is definitively possible, you will find the confirmation in the Peraturan Pemerintah nomor 32 tahun 1994 (cf post#23). I will email you a copy of it. Just underline the article 48 and keep it handy when you go to the imigrasi.
You will need to read also the article 67 (huruf g) and 69 of the Peraturan Menteri nomor M.01-IZ.01.10 tahun 2007 which says:

Pasal 67
(1) Alih Status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas dapat diberikan kepada orang asing dalam rangka:

g. menggabungkan diri dengan suami atau istri warga negara Indonesia;

Pasal 69
Alih status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas sebagaimana dimaksud dalam ketentuan Pasal 67 diberikan kepada orang asing yang diajukan oleh Penjaminnya setelah berada di wilayah Negara Republik Indonesia.

By the way... the cost of the KITAS is 700K rupiah (1 year KITAS). Point. Obviously, ask a receipt for it... They won't like it, they won't like your sponsor and they won't like you, but this is the law.
To get a 1 year KITAS you need to make sure that you have a minimum of 18 months validity remaining in your passport.

Keep faith ... and don't forget to send me an email address if you wanna receive the texts of law.

[Al.Gray]

Thanks Atlantis, for all that, and for emailing me all the relevant info - you're a champ, absolutely terrific.
I was going to reply to your emails earlier, but there were some internet connection issues here, so not possible at that time, sorry.

[atlantis]

Thanks Atlantis, for all that, and for emailing me all the relevant info - you're a champ, absolutely terrific.
I was going to reply to your emails earlier, but there were some internet connection issues here, so not possible at that time, sorry.

No problem. Don't hesitate if you need further explanation.

[mbaksolo]

Atlantis,
please you can send me copies of the law for convert sosbud visa to kitas, immigrasis Solo telling us cannot doing this also where is law in internet for extend sosbud and oficial harga i want show them the law and make them follow.
thanks

[atlantis]

Atlantis,
please you can send me copies of the law for convert sosbud visa to kitas, immigrasis Solo telling us cannot doing this also where is law in internet for extend sosbud and oficial harga i want show them the law and make them follow.
thanks

Drop me an email address and I'll do that this week. Describe me by PM or by posting here, your situation (married? Where? registered marriage? Husband working?etc...) I'll try to give you the best advice.

Keep faith...

[Al.Gray]

Firstly, congratulations on your new family addition, Atlantis. Hope she's doing AOK, bless!

Just to update you on the KITAS konversi situation....We paid a visit (usually some truth in that) to kantor Imigrasi in Jogja this afternoon, to make inquiries about converting my SosBud into KITAS, as planned.
This time we didn't bother going through our 'friend', but straight to the official counter.We'd been expecting them to be more on-the-ball, but we're not sure they are telling us straight as-it-is, or just another game?
So anyhow, the immigration officer (this one had shiny buttons on his shoulders rather than stripes) behind the glass told my wife, "You must both personally go to DirJen Jakarta to convert the SosBud to KITAS, 'and' exit Indonesia again as well(!).
Now, going from what you'd told us about 'not' having to leave the country to convert to KITAS, I was fast to dispute what he'd told us, and saying that I knew the rule (when the real truth is, we can't actually see where (OR my wife can't very well translate it) in 'Peraturan nomor 32 tahun 1994 tentang visa....' anything about 'not' having to leave Indonesia, or about the conversion having to be done by us personally in Jakarta), so, today, as much as I wanted to show him the rule, I couldn't, and didn't want to make a pig's ear of it.
Would you be so kind as to copy/paste us the exact rule and English translation, so everyone here is fully clear, please? Sorry, but your earlier post in this thread wasn't quite clear.
We really are sick to the back teeth of wasting time and money with all these excursions to Jakarta and overseas.

On a brighter note, we bumped into our 'friend' at the warung next to kantor imigrasi when we were leaving. Gone was the uniform and any stripes on his shoulder. He was unshaven, wearing the oldest, scruffiest clothes and sweeping the floor in the warung. Ironic how the mighty fall. Hmm,I wonder how that could've happened? Heh heh heh
When I laughed and pointed to him, he said he could make my KITAS and no need to leave the country, for just 6 juta again!
Deja vu?

Trms sekali lagi Atlantis, temanku

AEG

[atlantis]

Here is all the references you need. Get it translated by your wife. If she is unconfortable with translating it, ask to a sworn translator. I am lucky enough to speak fluently bahasa which mean that I never really needed it to be translated to me and I think that unfortunately you won't find any english version of these text.

1.Peraturan Pemerintah nomor 32 tahun 1994

2 articles that you need to read and that you will find here:

BAGIAN KEENAM
ALIH STATUS IZIN KEIMIGRASIAN

Pasal 47

Pasal 48

2. Peraturan Menteri nomor M.01-IZ.01.10 tahun 2007

Here it says, that being married to a WNI, you qualify for the transformation of your sosbud in a KITAS

Pasal 67

(1) Alih Status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas dapat diberikan kepada
orang asing dalam rangka:
g. menggabungkan diri dengan suami atau istri warga negara Indonesia;

3. Peraturan Menteri nomor M.02.IZ.01.10 tahun 1995

About the procedure & documents you need to submit.

Pasal 68

(1) Permintaan alih status Izin Kunjungan sebagaimana dimaksud dalam Pasal 67 ayat (3) menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas diajukan kepada Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi atau Pejabat Imigrasi yang ditunjuk, melalui Kepala Kantor Imigrasi yang wilayah kerjanya meliputi tempat tinggal pemohon dengan mengisi daftar isian yang telah ditentukan dengan melampirkan:
a. surat permintaan dari yang bersangkutan, kuasanya, atau sponsornya;
b. riwayat hidup yang bersangkutan;
c. Surat Perjalanan yang sah dan masih berlaku;
d. pas photo;
e. rekomendasi dari instansi yang berwenang;
f. Akta Perkawinan atau Surat Nikah yang bersangkutan dan Surat Perjalanan, Izin Tinggal Terbatas milik suami yang masih berlaku bagi pemohon yang menggabungkan diri dengan suami pemegang Izin Tinggal Terbatas;
g. Akta Kelahiran yang bersangkutan dan Surat Perjalanan, Izin Tinggal Terbatas milik orang tuanya yang masih berlaku bagi anak yang menggabungkan diri atau mengikuti orang tuanya pemegang Izin Tinggal Terbatas;
h. Akta Kelahiran yang bersangkutan dan identitas orang tuanya bagi anak yang menggabungkan diri dengan orang tuanya seorang warga negara Indonesia;
i. bukti-bukti yang menunjukkan bahwa yang bersangkutan pernah menjadi warga negara Indonesia bagi yang hendak memperoleh kembali warga negara Indonesia.
(2) Kepala Kantor Wilayah Departemen Kehakiman sebagaimana dimaksud dalam ayat (1) meneruskan permintaan tersebut kepada Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi atau Pejabat Imigrasi yang ditunjuk untuk memperoleh keputusan dengan disertai saran dan pertimbangannya.

Bagian Kedua

Pemberian

Pasal 69

(1) Alih status izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas dapat diberikan kepada orang asing apabila yang bersangkutan:
a. pemegang Izin Kunjungan sebagaimana dimaksud dalam Pasal 67 ayat (3);
b. memenuhi persyaratan sebagaimana dimaksud dalam Pasal 68 ayat (1);
c. tidak termasuk dalam daftar pencegahan atau penangkalan.
(2) Pemberian alih status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas ditetapkan dengan Keputusan Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi.

Pasal 70

(1) Kepala Kantor Imigrasi melaksanakan pemberian alih status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas setelah mendapat keputusan alih status tersebut dari Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi melalui Kepala Kantor Wilayah Departemen Kehakiman dalam hal ini Koordinator Urusan Keimigrasian atau Kepala Bidang Keimigrasian.
(2) Permintaan pengalihan status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas dikenakan biaya.
(3) Pelaksanaan Keputusan alih status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas sebagaimana dimaksud dalam ayat (1) dilaporkan kepada Kepala Kantor Wilayah Departemen Kehakiman dalam hal ini Koordinator Urusan Keimigrasian atau Kepala Bidang Keimigrasian dengan tembusan kepada Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi.



4. Petunjuk Pelaksanaan DitJen nomor F-310-IZ. 01.10 tahun 1995 tentang Tata Cara Alih Status Keimigrasian.

Procedure is decribed as follow and state clearly that there is no need to go out of the country.

More about the procedure and the fact that you don't need to go out of the country:


3) Pemberian Alih Status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas.
a) Alih Status Izin Tinggal Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas dapat diberikan apabila :
(1) Termasuk dalam kategori Izin Kunjungan sebagaimana dimaksud angka Romawi III huruf B angka 1 huruf a ;
(2) Memenuhi persyaratan sebagaimana dimaksud dalam angka Romawi III huruf B angka 1 huruf b;
(3) Tidak termasuk dalam Daftar Pencegahan dan Penangkalan.
b) Dalam hal permintaan alih status mendapat persetujuan dari Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi, Direktur Status Keimigrasian atas nama Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi membuat Surat Keputusan Alih Status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas dan meneruskan kepada Kepala Kantor Wilayah Departemen Kehakiman dalam hal ini Koordinator Urusan Keimigrasian atau kepala Bidang Keimigrasian untuk dilaksanakan oleh Kepala Kantor Imigrasi yang ditunjuk ;
c) Bentuk Surat Keputusan Alih Status Izin Kunjungan menjadi Izin Tinggal Terbatas sebagaimana tercantum dalam lampiran petunjuk pelaksanaan ini.


They are normally in charge of transmitting the documents to the KanWil and the DitJen. They won't do it, if you intend to pay just the IDR 700.000 of the KITAS. You will have to go yourself or send the documents with Tiki. I did that a couple of time for my son and it worked well.

I am at the moment in an airport, which is not exactly the best place to be able to hlp you. Sorry. But all the above reference are exactly what you need to understand and to show them.