Acquiring Indonesian Citizenship through Marriage to an Indonesian Spouse

The Citizenship of Indonesia may be acquired through marriage with an Indonesian citizens. This is a new method provided by the new Indonesia's 2006 Citizenship Law in acquiring a Citizenship of Indonesia. The Indonesian spouse can be the sponsor for his/her spouse to turn status to Indonesian citizen.

This article will hopefully useful for foreigners married to Indonesian spouse who are considering to relinquish his/her current citizenship  and wish to seek the possibility of becoming an Indonesian.

Acquiring Indonesian Citizenship through Marriage to an Indonesian Spouse

1. General Eligibility

Application for Indonesian citizenship may be forwarded by  the applicant upon meeting the following general eligibility :

• Applicant must legally married to an Indonesian citizen.
• At the time of forwarding the application, the applicant has resided in Indonesian territory for at least 5 (five) consecutive years or at least 10 (ten) years non-continuously. This is prerequisite to the citizenship application.
• The Indonesian citizenship will not caused double citizenship.

2. Citizenship Proceeding

Application for citizenship should be forwarded in Indonesia in writing by the applicant using Bahasa Indonesia, on paper affixed with sufficient duty stamp and addressed to the local district office of Ministry of Law and Human Rights having jurisdiction over the applicant's residence.