Home » Practical Information » Visas and Documentation

Our thanks to visitors to the Expat Forum for their advice on how to register the birth of a foreign child in Indonesia:

• Prepare the following documents which you need at various steps in the process:
  • Surat Keterangan (Tanda) Lahir and Akte Lahir for the child (issued by the delivering hospital)
  • Passports of both parents
  • Birth certificates for both parents
  • Parent's marriage certificate (with translation into Indonesian, if needed)
  • Parents' KITAS (for foreigners) / KTP (for Indonesian spouse)
  • Letter from Sponsor (best if from place of employment)
  • Kartu keluarga (for those with an Indonesian spouse)
  • Buku Mutasi (blue immigration book)
  • When you have all these documents, be sure to take ALL the originals and AT LEAST 2 photocopies of each one with you.
  • Prepare six 2x3 cm photos (kitas) and six 3x4 cm photos (kitas)and two 4x5 cm (passport). remember that all photos in Indonesia must have a red background.
• Ask the hospital where the baby was born to provide you with a Surat Tanda Kelahiran. Once you have the Surat Tanda Kelahiran, you can use this to obtain an official Birth Certificate (Akte Lahir), also through the hospital.
• Take the Akte Lahir (and the documents listed above) to register your baby at the local immigration office. You have 14 days after the baby's birth to register the birth, but often it can take longer than that to get the official birth certificate if you don't jump right on it after the baby's birth. The 14 days includes: the day the child was born, weekends, and public holidays "Tanggal Merah"... even if the immigration offices are not open. Apply for a Birth of Foreigner (Kelahiran Orang Asing) document from the immigration office.
• If any documents are missing or not complete, the immigaton office will consider the application as a non registration and you are then classed as "overstay", which is a fine of $25 US for every day after the inital 14 days (still including weekends and public holidays).
• Don't let the officials tell you that you can't have a middle or family name for your baby. I had to fight but finally got the birth certificate with three names.
• According to Indonesian government regulations, you then have 60 days to obtain a passport for your newborn from your foreign embassy and take it back to immigration to get his/her KITAS and other necessary documents.
• Alternately to the above, the hospital's records department should be able to handle a lot of the documentation hassles for you, including the registration with immigration and a certified translation of the birth certificate for the foreign passport application. By using their services you can avoid the government corruption hassles (by paying the hospital department to handle it). It is not cheap but the price is posted and the service as efficient as it gets. A smile and a few words of Indonesian will help move things along!
• Go to your embassy to organise the registration of your baby's birth in your home country, using the local birth certificate and other documents as per your country's regulations.
• At the same time you will need to apply for a passport for your newborn, which will require several pieces of documentation (depending on the embassy). These could include:
• proof of citizenship - i.e., by naturalisation, birth or otherwise, requiring ORIGINAL birth certificates of foreign father/parents, passport or other documents, and
• original, or certified copy, of marriage documents.
• Once you have the baby's passport in hand, then you need to return to the Indonesian immigration office to get the KITAS visa stamped in the baby's passport, get the KITAS card, buku mutasi, etc. Needed to apply for the KITAS:
• Surat Keterangan (work letter)
• Passport of both parents and child
• KTP or KITAS from mother
• Kartu Keluarga ( if spouse is Indonesian)
• Surat Lapor ( the Registration letter that you have to get within 14 days from the immigration office)
• Birth certificates of child and both parents
• Marriage certificate
• Buku Mutasi (blue foreigner's book of father)
• Surat Sponsor (sponsor's letter). If your wife is Indonesian then she can be the sponsor, if not you need a sponsorship letter from your employer. Best to take a sponsorship letter from your employer just in case.
• Bring at least 2 photocopies of all documents, or make them at the photocopier just outside the office.
• Once you've applied you can get the KITAS after 3 days.
• Remember that the child follows the expiration date of the father's KITAS. This is very important. No later than one month before the expiration date of the father's KITAS you need to report your child to the immigration department. There's a US$25 fine for not reporting.
• So if your spouse is Indonesian, the child can be sponsored by the mother but follows the dates of the father's BUKU biru.
• Once you get the baby's passport and he/she is registered with immigration and has been issued a KITAS, don't forget to get an exit visa for the baby as well, just in case you need to take him/her out of Indonesia quickly.

First and foremost, don't forget to report to the Immigration office within 14 days of the birth. As soon as you have the original birth document from the hospital, bring it to the Immigration office. If you delay this notification, you will have to pay penalty fees of US$25/day.

When foreign men marry Indonesian women, according to Indonesian law, the children born to these couples are foreign citizens. For more information see Mixed Marriages: Indonesian and Expatriate.