Indonesian Police Certificate before residency approval

[Auckland13]

Hi everyone,

First time posting here, my partner and I heard back from our case officer today. Our residency application went through to the second person check and has just come back to say it cannot be approved because he couldn't get a Police Certificate from the time he spent in Indonesia. He was there for 18 months in total over the last 10 years (over two stints) in 2009 and 2010.

His time spent there was leisure time interspersed with various training internships for a dive centre (he completed a professional dive internship, as well as a later date where he spent 6 months on a technical diving internship.

We were aware that we would need to try and obtain a Police Certificate, but without him having a KITAS (work visa) and a Police Card (which I think you need to register for when you become a resident - which he never was) it seems like an impossible task. We provided immigration with call records where we had tried to call local authorities, as well as the embassy, e-mails to the local police as well as a string of e-mails between him and one of the directors of the company that sponsored him to be there for the training internships. These e-mails state that it's impossible for him to get without a KITAS, it's not a service that they offer. They also say that although it might be possible to get one, the authenticity of it would be questionable as it's not a service that they offer "officially" because he doesn't have the necessary paperwork.

We had hoped that this might be enough in proving that we could not supply a police certificate, but they have come back to say that although all of our other paperwork is fine and would otherwise be approved they won't approve it without that police certificate.

We're at a bit of a loss and it's very frustrating. Does anyone have any similar experience with obtaining and Indonesian Police Certificate? It looks as if we might need to fly too Bali, which is an expense that neither of us can really afford, especially with no guarantees once we land there.

Any advice on where to go from here would be much appreciated,

Many thanks.

[jeremylee99]

Hi,

The basic requirements in obtaining a Police Certificate in Indonesia are KITAS and a Police card which I dont have any problem when I have applied for it because before I left Jakarta, my empoyer provided me a copy of those documents. And also in order to process it, there's a form that you need to be fill up and your finger prints are needed as well. You dont have a choice but to come in Indonesia. Or another option is, you may try to inquire at the Indonesian Embassy in your country.

Regards,

[Kiwilad]

Have you tried responding to your CO explaining that this was simply a holiday and didn't actually live there?
It seems odd they can't accept that, how can they expect you to get a police from a country you have visited but have never lived.

[Sun777]

These e-mails state that it's impossible for him to get without a KITAS, it's not a service that they offer. They also say that although it might be possible to get one, the authenticity of it would be questionable as it's not a service that they offer "officially" because he doesn't have the necessary paperwork.

Just reading it out of curiosity, you say its impossible and then there is also an alternative. Did you say the same thing to INZ? In which case I'd see its contradictory and that might be matter of concern for them (**guessing)

[Auckland13]

Thanks Sun,

Basically we sent them a series of e-mails and evidence to prove that we couldn't get one, and in one of those e-mails was the director of the company that my Partner was interning with and he said that he had heard from locals that it "could be arranged" but that it would not be a legitimate one, it would be a case of bribing authorities (as so many things are in Indo) and we didn't want to have anything like that associated with our residency application. We want to go by the correct route, which we can't.

Will speak to the case officer today, also compiling more evidence to show that we can't get one and will present it to immigration who will hopefully see!

Thank you for your reply, I will definitely clarify with them and see if that makes a difference.

[Auckland13]

He was there for 18 months so basically he did live there (he did 10 months in 2009 and then 8 months in 2010 off the top of my head), but the time was always self funded and spent interning, hence not needing any sort of residency permit or police book. It was always sponsored by the company. This is one of the requirements to get the police cert, we will try to clarify this with immigration again and see what they say...

[Auckland13]

Thanks Jeremy,

As his time was spent always interning he never had those documents, we've tried to speak to the Indonesian Embassy in Wellington, but they say the same thing, you must have those docs and you must travel to Denpasar. Going to try and provide more evidence to immigration that we can't obtain one and hope that they see it's impossible.

Thanks for the reply

[Sun777]

I see.

Actually I still dont get why you are required to provide Police Clearance certificate. As I read information at this link:

If you have lived for periods of 12 months or more in any other countries during the last ten years, you must also provide police certificates from these countries, and also your country (or countries) of citizenship.

It states Police Clearance is required for period of 12 months and in both the trips your partner has lived less than 12 months (in each trip). Maybe I'm reading it wrong perhaps Karen Philips/JandM would be able to shed some light.

I haven't read any similar experiences and it sounds like very unusual situation so expert advise will probably help.


Above link also states:

If police certificates are unavailable
If you cannot get a police certificate, provide detailed information of your attempts to get one. If we are satisfied that police certificates are not available or it would be unduly difficult for you to get them (for example where the authorities of any such country will not generally provide such certificates), we may instead ask you to make and provide a separate statutory declaration in both English and your own language.

If a statutory declaration is required, it must detail your attempts to obtain a police certificate and state whether or not you, or any accompanying family members, have been found guilty or convicted of, or charged with offences against the law in that country. The statutory declaration should also be corroborated by other information attesting to your character.

[laxgr]

"police certificates from any country they have lived in for 12 months or more (whether in one visit or intermittently) in the last 10 years"

Above is mentioned in residence guide INZ1105

So, essentially, there is varying level of detail between web links-best is to check with INZ?

[Sun777]

I think OP has already gone through one cycle of to & fro with INZ. Probably they can rely on below statement and get statutory declaration but its always best to check with Case Officer if that's what they expected on the first place.

If police certificates are unavailable

If you cannot get a police certificate, provide detailed information of your attempts to get one. If we are satisfied that police certificates are not available or it would be unduly difficult for you to get them (for example where the authorities of any such country will not generally provide such certificates), we may instead ask you to make and provide a separate statutory declaration in both English and your own language.

If a statutory declaration is required, it must detail your attempts to obtain a police certificate and state whether or not you, or any accompanying family members, have been found guilty or convicted of, or charged with offences against the law in that country. The statutory declaration should also be corroborated by other information attesting to your character.