Will it ever?Encouraging noises are emanating from the government for we expats and our local spouses, a year to the day since
I first commented on this issue.
First up is the news that children of mixed parentage, by which I mean different nationalities rather than the biological gender-bases, can have dual citizenship until they are 18, at which point they must decide which side of the border suits them best.
An article in the bill's latest draft stipulates that dual citizenship is allowed for children of transnational marriages, as well as for children of Indonesian couples born in countries that apply the principle of ius soli (right of soil).
Countries with ius soli principles, such as the United States, automatically give citizenship to anyone born in the country.
Indonesia currently uses the ius sanguinis (right of the blood) principle, which means that children born here receive the citizenship of their father.
Other beneficiaries of the proposed bill, which has taken TOO long to (yet) be passed into law, are the Chinese Indonesians who are treated as second-class citizens. (see this
forum) and the children of Indonesian parents born abroad (see
a different forum).
The other news is
that procedures for permanent residence will be eased for foreign investors and top executives in an effort to boost investment.
No decision has been made on the minimum amount of investment required to qualify. "The Justice and Human Rights Ministry is still discussing the matter with the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM)," Justice and Human Rights Ministry spokesman Taswem Tarib said yesterday.
"This regulation actually took effect in March 2006. But since we had to coordinate with the BKPM and the Transportation Ministry, we decided to delay the announcement for this regulation."
The government also would determine the employment opportunities for locals in their enterprises, especially in the transfer of technology.
A question a colleague asked this morning related to the minimum investment to qualify. Given that we expats are not allowed to own property, except by proxy (generally the spouse), does house or land 'ownership' count towards our notional value? I'd also like to know if we are allowed to compute the expenditure of supporting an Indonesian family and would wish it to be known that my financial investment in this country in 18+ years far outweighs any repatriation of funds.
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