Foreign marriage in Indonesia is a marriage between two foreign nationals. It must be conducted under the laws of the Republic of Indonesia. Their marriage must be performed according to their religions and belief. They must have the same religion before they can perform the marriage. After that, they can register their marriage with the marriage registry in Indonesia. We have Civil Registry in the event the couple is non Moslem. We have Office of Religious Affairs in the event they are a Moslem couple.
In order to register your marriage in Indonesia, you need to supply the following supporting documents:
- Certificate of Non Impediment Letter from your embassies in Jakarta;
- Birth certificates from both partners. This document is a civil certificate. So, it is required in order to deal with civil matters in Indonesia.
- Copy of your passports;
- Certificate of domicile, in the event you are a Kitas holder.
Basically, marriage in Indonesia is under monogamous principle. A husband can only have one wife, and a wife can only have one husband. In the event that you wish to take a second wife, you need to have a court order and the court may impose that your first wife to appear at the court for giving the consent.
Legal Age
In 2019, the legal age to get married both for man and woman is 19 (nineteen) years old. In the event both the bride and groom are younger than 21, they need to have the consent from their parents.
The stipulation of the legal age is according to the law number 16 of 2019 regarding the Amendment of the Marriage Law number 1 of 1974. The basis for this amendment is the Constitutional Court decision in 2017 number 22/PUU-XV/2017. The court ruled that the amendment to the relevant law must be issued within 3 (three) years since they issued the decision in 2017.
This legal age also applicable to foreigners that perform their marriage here in Indonesia.
Marriage Guardian
If you are a Moslem couple, you need to make sure your bride has her own marriage guardian. The guardianship is imposed under the Article 14 of Islamic Compilation Law. This is the law for marriage in Indonesia especially for Moslem couples. The marriage guardian is one of the legal requirements to perform a marriage in Indonesia:
- A groom;
- A bride;
- Marriage guardian;
- Two witnesses. They must be men and grown-ups. If you’re getting married in Moslem, you can’t have a female witness;
- Ijab dab Kabul (Consent by the groom and the guardian).
Your guardian for the marriage is strictly limited to these person only: your biological father, your biological grand father, and your brother from patrilineal line. If none of them does not exist, you’re in need of a help from the judge.
Residency Permit
As foreigners, you may or may not have a resident permit in Indonesia.
If you do, this determine the jurisdiction of your marriage registry. If you did not have one, you may register your marriage according to the place where your marriage takes place.
Marital Property
Since you’re married under the laws in Indonesia, your property is subject to our laws too. Any property acquired during the marriage is subject to joint property. Anything acquired before the marriage date belongs to each spouse. They have their power to manage the property according to their will.
Prenuptial Agreement
I suggest you sign the prenup. Even if both of you are foreigners and the assets are located outside of Indonesia. The prenuptial agreement signed under the laws in Indonesia shall be mirrored by the court where your assets are located. If you did not sign any prenup, anything acquired during the course of your marriage shall be join.
I advised American-Russian spouse married in Bali couple of years. Having a prenup under Indonesian laws sound simple. You might think it is not necessary as well. But this is important. This is going to test smartest move you will ever done in your assets protection.
What else you need to know about the marriage in Indonesia? Oh ya, the Children!
Children
If you have a child born before your legal marriage registered in Indonesia, you need to have it legalized. This is simply building a relationship between the child and the father. You guys shall establish paternity privilege between those two persons. This is very important for claiming citizenship for your child. I did this for Australia, Swedish, American, and British couples before. Great people!
The proceeding called legalization of child born out of wedlock. Certain things you need to do before the child legally recognized. Give me a call or drop me an email and we’ll take it from there!
We have prenuptial agreement questionnaire, biographic information form, and notice for marriage intention. All the forms you need to start your new journey legally recognized in Indonesia.
My name is Asep Wijaya. Thank you for reading my posts!
