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There are three major stages in KITAS renewal for kids. The official fee is Rp 400,000. The child always follows the KITAS of his/her father. The sponsor is the employer of the father, or if the mother or father is Indonesian then the sponsor must be the Indonesian parent.

At least 1 month before the father's KITAS expires, you must renew the child's KITAS. There is a fine for being late, eg, my KITAS expires on November 6th so I had to renew my children's KITAS before October 6th.

Step 1. Immigration Office. Go to the immigration office for the wilayah that you live in and go to the foreigner's counter and tell them you'd like to extend your child's KITAS (perpanjangan KITAS anak saya) and ask for their help.

Buy a formulir (form) and folder (map) from the section that sells them (in West Jakarta it's upstairs where they sell sweets and stationary). The cost of the form and folder is Rp 5,000. Also buy a meterai (tax stamp) for Rp 6,000 to stick on the completed form. (You can get the form beforehand and fill it out at home if you wish.)

Make sure you have all necessary documents and at least 2 photocopies of each document, including the completed form. There is a photocopier nearby. (I went back and forth numerous times). Documents needed include:

• your blue book (buku biru - Buku Mutasi)
• passports of all family members,
• photocopies of all stamped pages in buku biru,
• photocopy of inside information page of passport,
• birth certificate for each child,
• marriage certificate,
• Kartu Keluarga (for those children with an Indonesian parent),
• KTP of indonesian parent)
• at least 3 photos of KITAS size.

Once given the ok for everything, you are ready for the next stage. (There is no official
fee requested yet but you will be told to pay Rp 10,000 and Rp 20,000 here and there for "tips".

2. Hakiman at Cawang (for those in Jakarta). Just get your letter stamped and you are on your way. It took my wife 3 days to get this stamp. They are always "in meetings" or otherwise occupied. I was told that Rp 200,000 is the normal "tip" to speed things up. We didn't pay and were treated very rudely and had to wait 3 days. Don't lose your cool. They kept telling my wife to go back to immigration because things were incomplete. (Check after step 1 that in your brown envelope you have all the letters for all your children, not just 1.)

3. Back to immigration. This may take most of the day as well. You need to go from one desk to the next. The official fee payment is Rp 400,000.

4. After 3 working days you can pick up the KITAS.

Your children don't have to accompany you. It creates more sympathy, however, if they do come. I sopke entirely in Indonesian, and I don't know how you'd do if you only spoke a foreign language.

Our thanks to Mark Ogilvie for sharing his experiences with us all!