New Immigration Law - Foreign husbands of locals - Work
(I know this general thread exists Update on changes to Indonesian law regarding mixed marriages and other issues but it is rather long). This thread is specifically for work related issues.
My Indonesian wife is applying for a Social-Business to Kitas visa conversion.
My wife was told a few days ago that "yes he can work, but he will have to pay tax" I will clarify this when we go back in a few days - does this mean general income tax or the special 1200 USD tax that applied under the old immigration law? If the latter, it effectively means "no change" under the new law, in that it is still very difficult for foreign husbands to work. Remember, not all foreign husbands are well off westerners. Finding a job where the employer is prepared to pay 1200 USD will mean a severely limited job market in general.
Other comments:
We tried to start this process about 2 months ago, but were told because my wife's ID card is not registered in the locality where we are applying, we could not submit a KITAs application.
She is moving her government job to the locality where her children, family and house are. She has half the 8 signatures required to transfer her job. FYI the signatures are: 1.The Department in the destination city (DC). 2.Mayor of DC. 3.The Department in the origin city (OC). 4. OC Inspectorate (an audit type function). 5.OC Mayor. 6. Province governor (origin). 7. Province governor (target) . 8. Regional Departmental body
All this for a low income low level job. Imagine the "administration" fees we have to pay!
Recently, my Social-Business visa needed renewing, so we went back (target city) to renew it. However, this time we were told we would be allowed to submit the KITAS, but first we needed to extend my current Social-Business visa, that still had 10 days left on it. I was surprised about this requirement but not about the 100K Rp "administration fee"
Best wishes to all.
Maybe others can help answering some of your questions.
But as far as the $1200 per year fee...I think the government should make it more clear that it's not an 'income tax'...but more about foreign workers fee paid to the Depnaker (if I am not mistaken) this is outside the whatever income you're earning (say 10 million rups a month) then you'll get taxed also on that.
At least that's how I've always understood it
(1) The new Immigration Law (UU6 - year 2011) related to work of foreigners married with Indonesian cannot be applied before a new work regulation , so up to now , this subject didn't change yet . But it is expected to change soon .Originally Posted by spacegoat
And remember that the present work regulation does not mean a foreigner will get a work permit just paying the 1200 USD/year fee . The work permit depend on the kind of job too . Jobs that Indonesians can do , foreigners will not be allowed to do .
(2) Any immigration process , dependent on a sponsor , must be applied at the immigration office tied to the sponsor address stated in the sponsor's KTP , except in special situations when the sponsor have another proved address .
(3) I would not be surprised because the first ITAS/KITAS process takes around one month to finish , so with only 10 days remaining would leave you without any legal permit during some days .
(4) Instead , this is a surprise as there is no Rp100k legal immigration fee in the Sosbud Visa extension , neither in the conversion to ITAS/KITAS .
Don't sweat it, if your wife is DINAS she will get a new KTP and KK in no time, they have a special track for government employees.
For example, in Pekanbaru newcomers have a mandated waiting period of one year before they get a proper KTP, government employees are fast-tracked and get it in a couple days.
As for work issues, you should be aware that this is not immigration's area of jurisdiction. Any information they give you in this regard should be taken with a grain of salt. Ultimately, it comes down to Manpower Dep (Depnaker) to regulate and inspect this.
In the last few weeks I've been given several different interpretations of the new law by several officials. For example, Immigration official told me that in his view I can do some 'non-formal' work, such as "open a warung or teach private classes in [my] house". He also said that it's not their concern to check that and that I should ask Depnaker. When I went to local Depnaker to see their take on the situation, they were not even aware of the new Immigration law.
Basically, wait and see.... Government regs should come out eventually.
Just a point of clarification for possible future readers looking to get information from this thread - the law doesn't specify "foreign husbands", does it? I think the same provisions that apply to men apply to women, so foreign wives are treated the same way. Or is there in fact a distinction in the law based on gender? If not, it would be more accurate to talk about "foreign spouses."
You are right Puspa, it's foreign spouses, no distinction about men or women.
Yes , there is no gender discrimination (see below) . The words used in the Law are : "Orang Asing" = Foreigner(s) and "keluarga" = family .
UNDANG-UNDANG REPUBLIK INDONESIA NOMOR 6 TAHUN 2011 TENTANG KEIMIGRASIAN
Pasal 52
Izin Tinggal terbatas diberikan kepada:
..........................
..........................
e. Orang Asing yang kawin secara sah dengan warga
negara Indonesia; atau
..........................
Pasal 54
(1) Izin Tinggal Tetap dapat diberikan kepada:
..........................
b. keluarga karena perkawinan campuran;
..........................
Pasal 61
Pemegang Izin Tinggal terbatas sebagaimana dimaksud
dalam Pasal 52 huruf e dan huruf f dan pemegang Izin
Tinggal Tetap sebagaimana dimaksud dalam Pasal 54 ayat
(1) huruf b dan huruf d dapat melakukan pekerjaan
dan/atau usaha untuk memenuhi kebutuhan hidup
dan/atau keluarganya.
Note : You may get a reasonable translation of the above with Google Translate
Last edited by marcus; 15-12-11 at 10:16.
Thanks to all for the posts. (I am the original poster. I had to change my login to "nobicycle" because the password recovery did not work for me)
After over 1 week of delay, the local Immig. Office changed their mind again and decided not to process the Kitas. In fairness they did offer to forward it to but advised us it would be rejected. So with this time lost, I am obliged to pay for another Social visa to cover the 1 month (min) Kitas processing. The Kitas was finally submitted after my wife got new identity papers.
I was aware about the actual state of the law regarding married foreigners, but I thought it was interesting the local Immig. would enthusiastically tell my wife that "Yes he can work!". We will ask the guy concerned about his reference to tax later.
Throughout my experience so far I get the impression that when a law has changed the ministries are loathe to change their procedures. Under the old law, the KITAS process was 99.9% in the context of processing a foreign worker, and did not distinguish foreign spouses. But the new law does distinguish. Surely checking the marriage documents is all that is required? Why all this complicated processing, involving three government entities (Immig. kantor Wil. Jakarta Immig.) and months of delay? The new law says foreign spouse=right to work. But I fear Manpower will maintain the foreign worker tax, which effectively totally undermines the new law.
Regarding the "Administration" fees, when we were at Immig. renewing the social visa I asked my wife to get a receipt, but all she was issued with was a receipt for my passport.
We were also asked by Immig. officers if we would like to use an agent, more than once. This is despite the "no corruption" posters outside the offices. This is in contrast to the Kuala Lumpur Indonesian Embassy who on a previous occasion vociferously informed me that "we do not want to see agents, we prefer to see the applicant in person". Credit to the KL embassy!
(a) By the way , HW-90 also posted that 2 immigration officers told about working , in post no.104 at this thread : http://www.livinginindonesiaforum.or...627#post221627(a) ...I was aware about the actual state of the law regarding married foreigners, but I thought it was interesting the local Immig. would enthusiastically tell my wife that "Yes he can work!". We will ask the guy concerned about his reference to tax later.
(b) ...Under the old law, the KITAS process was 99.9% in the context of processing a foreign worker, and did not distinguish foreign spouses. But the new law does distinguish. Surely checking the marriage documents is all that is required? Why all this complicated processing, involving three government entities (Immig. kantor Wil. Jakarta Immig.) and months of delay? ...
(c)Regarding the "Administration" fees, when we were at Immig. renewing the social visa I asked my wife to get a receipt, but all she was issued with was a receipt for my passport.
We were also asked by Immig. officers if we would like to use an agent, more than once...
(b) The process of all types of KITAS (sponsored by Indonesian spouse , sponsored by company , sponsored by school ,...) is probably the same , except for the documents related to the sponsors ; and I believe the new Law (UU6 - year 2011) is not supposed to change it .
(c) It is important to know that , at least in my city , there are many officers doing almost nothing and few officers working hard . From those not working much , some may try to make some extra money .
I always only pay when the officer at the correct counter (Izin Kunjungan for Social Cultural extensions , or ITAS for KITAS , ..) gives me the paper (specifying name , process ,..) to pay at the cashier counter , which will issue a computer printed receipt (again , specifying name , process , how much Rupiah I paid ,..) .
And payment occur at the end of each process , just before the boss stamp and sign the passport to be released to the owner .
Last edited by marcus; 09-01-12 at 22:30.
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