This article was originally written in early 2021 to document the steps I took to renounce Indonesian citizenship. However, in April 2022 AHU made a major revision to their requirements, so this article is updated to reflect the latest requirements as of April 2022.
In case you’re currently banging your head on the wall, I just want to tell you that you’re not alone, and you’ll get through this.
This post is solely focused on renouncing Indonesian Citizen and becoming a Singapore Citizen. Because that’s what I did. If you’re living in other countries, I’m sorry I don’t know whether the procedure is similar or not, because I heard that KBRI in other countries may/may not provide the same service as KBRI in Singapore.
Introduction
I still vividly remember how frantic I was when I got the Approval-in-Principle from ICA in February 2020. I literally knew no one in my social circle that has completed the renunciation through the new SAKE system.
Long story short, after calling and asking so many people and visiting so many different institutions, I finally found someone who taught me how to renounce Indonesian citizenship. To pay it forward, I decided to write this post, to help Indonesian who are converting to Singaporean, who are not familiar with Bahasa Indonesia.
Fast forward to 2022, AHU changed their requirement. They no longer accepted legalization by public notary in Indonesia. Instead, they now require legalization by Indonesia’s representatives (KBRI) or the issuing institution.
In this post, I’ll do my best to walk you through the renunciation process from the day you get your AIP, until you take the oath at ICA.
TABLE OF CONTENT
A. What to do when you get AIP
i) Complete Singapore Citizenship Journey
ii) Prepare documents
iii) Look for sworn translators
iv) Understand legalization requirement (New)
v) Legalize documents at dukcapil (New)
vi) Look for materai
B. What to do when you get the final approval letter from ICA
1. Translate the documents from English to Bahasa Indonesia
2. Legalize documents at KBRI (New)
3. Scan these documents in JPG/JPEG/PNG format in color
4. Register SAKE account
5. Choose the correct option
6. Fill up the form
7. Download Surat Permohonan
8. Upload the documents
9. Choose Payment Method
10. Make Payment
11. Send the hardcopy documents to AHU Office in Jakarta
12. Keep praying and checking the SAKE system
13. If there is error in your application
14. If you get all green, congratulations!
15. Download the approval document and translate it
16. Make appointment with KBRI to surrender your Indonesian passport
17. Make appointment with KBRI Consular to legalize the approved AHU Letter
18. Surrender your Indonesian passport
19. Legalize your AHU approval letter
20. Go to ICA for Oath taking and submission of necessary documents
FAQ
Please Note
A. What to do when you get AIP
If you’re reading this article, I’m 99% sure that you are either waiting for your Approval-in-Principle from ICA, or you’ve already received the AIP.
When you receive the AIP, you CAN’T renounce your citizenship YET. You’re supposed to complete the citizenship journey first, then ICA will send you a final approval letter, then you’ll be able to renounce your citizenship.
Here are the things you need to do when you got AIP.
i) Complete Singapore Citizenship Journey
I received my AIP hardcopy letter in February 2020 before the world came to a standstill.
I immediately logged in to SC Journey website to start my journey. I was that eager!
The first thing I did was to complete the e-journey. Basically there were several videos that you have to watch and questions you must answer. It took me less than half a day to complete.
The second thing we have to complete in SC Journey is attending a Singapore Experiential Tour. During my time, the tour was a physical tour held in various museum and historical landmarks. But I heard that they changed the tour to be a virtual tour after ‘rona turned the world upside down.
Lastly, we have to attend a Community Sharing Session. There were only one session a month so I was quite lucky to get a slot for the next month in March 2020.
The deadline to complete all 3 activities in the SC Journey is 2 months from the issue date of AIP. If you’re having difficulties to meet the deadline, you may contact SC Journey team for assistance.
ii) Prepare documents
While waiting for the tour or sharing session, you can try to prepare some documents so that when you receive the final approval letter, you’re ready to get into action.
Here are the documents that you need to prepare in this stage:
- Original Passport
- Original Birth Certificate
- Original KK (Kartu Keluarga) – optional, if you don’t have KTP
- Original KTP (Kartu Tanda Penduduk)
- Original ROM Certificate, if any
- Original Indonesian Marriage Certificate, if any
- 6pcs of Photo (size 4×6) with red background
Reader’s feedback:
- AHU accepts expired KTP and Passport. (This is not an advice, just a feedback. AHU may change their rules anytime. Proceed with own risk)
- If you don’t have KTP, but you have KK, it’s not a problem because AHU just need your NIK number actually. So, just write a statement that you don’t have a KTP, paste a materai and sign on it.
- If you only have a photo with white background, you can use Photoshop to change the background color to red.
iii) Look for sworn translators
At this stage, you don’t need to translate documents yet. You’ll need to translate certain documents later in this journey, so it’s better to start looking for a sworn translator that you are comfortable with.
For me, I use Anwar from Tan, Lee & Choo. He can be contacted through Whatsapp (+65 9650 5794) and email (of********@ya***.sg). He charged me SGD 30 per document. He is really fast, he could get it done in the same day (mainly because he has already setup a template that he can reuse), but could make mistakes sometimes, so you need to ask him to send you the draft before you proceed to collect the document from him.
A reader (Evelyn) used Pak Daniel Budiyono (+62 812-9983-125). He is able to provide softcopy of the translated documents. His fees are around IDR 125k per page (processing time 4 days) or IDR 200k per page (faster processing time, 1 day).
Anyway, you can use ANY sworn translators. But other translators may need more time because they may not be familiar with the content of the documents to be translated.
iv) Understand legalization requirement
SAKE team only accepts documents that are legalized by Indonesia’s representatives (KBRI) or the issuing institutions.
KBRI in Singapore can only legalize documents that they issued, eg: passports issued by KBRI
For documents issued by other institutions in Singapore (such as ICA letter and ROM Certificate), KRBI used to be able to legalize but they announce they stop legalizing these documents from July 2022 onwards. According to members in Telegram group, some members decided not to legalize these 2 documents and managed to pass SAKE successfully.
For other documents (like birth cert, KTP, KK, surat nikah, etc), you need to legalize them at dukcapil of the city that the documents are issued. If all of your documents are issued in one city, then you can just go to the dukcapil in that city. Otherwise, if your docs are issued in different cities, you need to make multiple trips to each dukcapil.
v) Legalize documents at dukcapil
At this stage, you can start legalization at dukcapil if you already have all the required documents as follow:
- Birth cert
- Passport (if issued in Indonesia, you need to legalize it in Indo; for passport issued in KBRI Singapore, you can choose either to legalize at KBRI SG or in Indo)
- KTP
- KK (optional, only required if you don’t have KTP)
- Marriage certificate issued in Indonesia (you can also legalize akta nikah at KUA)
Each dukcapil has different regulations, there’s no one size fits all. Some dukcapil requires in-person submission, others strictly allows online submission. Some dukcapil requires original documents, others accept photocopy. Most dukcapil provide legalization service free of charge.
Some dukcapil doesn’t want to legalize KTP and asks you to legalize at kelurahan. Some dukcapil can legalize e-ktp, others don’t want to because the current law states that e-ktp no longer requires legalization.
To look for information/contact of your local dukcapil, simple google dukcapil <your city>. Some dukcapil can also be contacted via whatsapp.
vi) Look for materai
You’ll need 1 materai to be used on the application form. But I suggest you prepare 2, just in case your application gets rejected and you need to resubmit.
Do note that from 2022 onwards, it’s compulsory to use the new materai that costs IDR 10,000.
For me, I asked my family to buy it in Indonesia and send it to me.
If you are in Singapore and you are wondering if you can buy materai in Singapore, the good news is you can buy it online from here or here.
B. What to do when you get the final approval letter from ICA
Within 1 or 2 weeks upon the completion of SC Journey, you can expect the final approval letter from ICA. Once you receive this golden letter, it’s time to go into full action.
ICA’s letter will state the date you’re supposed to report at ICA Citizenship Unit for oath taking. And, there’s 99% probability that you can’t meet the date set by ICA. So, you need to reschedule your oath taking appointment.
You can just email ICA to explain about your situation and ask for extension. Most of the time, they’re quite understanding and will extend your deadline for you. Don’t inform them too late! Otherwise you’ll be counted as having missed your appointment once.
1. Translate the documents from English to Bahasa Indonesia
Here are the documents that you need to translate from English to Bahasa Indonesia:
- ICA’s final approval letter. Not the Approval-in-Principle letter, but the final one that you receive after you complete SC Journey.
- ROM Certificate, if any. If you’re married in Singapore and you only have a ROM Cert, then just translate the ROM Cert. However, if you got married in Indonesia, you don’t need to translate your Indonesian Marriage Cert because it’s already in Indonesian language.
If you’re wondering how to get your documents translated to Bahasa, scroll to the top and read the section about “Look for sworn translators.”
2. Legalize documents at KBRI
Next, you need to legalize the following documents at KBRI:
- Passport (if issued in KBRI)
ICA final approval letter which is translated to IndonesiaROM Certificate which is translated to Indonesia
Reader’s feedback: KBRI SG can legalize passport issued by other countries’ KBRI as well.
For reference, here are the details about legalization service at KBRI: https://kemlu.go.id/singapore/en/pages/legalisasi_dokumen/670/about-service
To legalize documents at KBRI, here are the steps:
- Make appointment online at https://services.indonesianembassy.sg/. Click “Lihat Persyaratan” button, download formulir lembar bantuan Konsuler (in pdf). Fill it up and save in your computer in pdf/jpg/png format.
- Choose Date.
- Type your name, email and phone number.
- – For naskah asli, upload your passport.
– For formulir, upload the formulir you’ve filled up in the above step.
– State the number of documents you want to legalize
– Upload ALL the documents you want to legalize (including the passport you’ve already uploaded in naskah asli). - Wait for KBRI to reply you in email and confirm for your date of choosing
- On the day of your appointment, bring all the documents that you want to legalise and the formulir lembar bantuan konsuler. Go to Level 2 to submit your documents. After submission, you will be given QR codes to make payment via paynow. If you submitted 3 documents, you will have 3 QR codes. Now, make payment of S$35 to EACH of the QR code. Don’t pay everything using 1 code.
- Come back the next day to collect according to the time stated in the collection slip. KBRI will give you around 3-4 copies for each document. Only one of the copies has the real KBRI sticker, the others are just photocopies.
Submission is usually done in the morning, and collection is done in the afternoon the next day. So, be prepared to apply for half-day leave 2 times, once to submit, once to collect.
3. Scan these documents in JPG/JPEG/PNG format in color
After you get your legalized documents from KBRI and dukcapil, it’s time to get them scanned into JPG/JPEG/PNG format. The maximum size per file is 500kb. Here are the documents to be scanned in color (not black and white),:
- Original Passport & the legalized copy
- Original Birth Certificate & the legalized copy
- Original ROM Certificate, if any (both in English and Indonesian) & the legalized translated ROM cert (in Indonesian) – If you are not married, prepare a page that says not married, then scan it
- Original Indonesian Marriage Certificate, if any
& the legalized copy - ICA’s final approval letter (both in English and Indonesian)
& the legalized translated ICA letter (in Indonesian) - Photo of 4×6. Do crop the photo into the correct size (4cm by 6cm).
4. Register SAKE account
Now, go to AHU SAKE website and register for a new account. After you register, you have to wait for a while (like 10 to 30 mins) for the confirmation email from AHU.
When you receive the AHU confirmation email, click “Aktivasi Akun Anda” in the email. Only after doing that, you’ll be able to log in to SAKE system.
5. Choose the correct option
Once you log in, you’ll be able to enter the homepage (aka beranda), where you’ll see 8 options. Choose: PERMOHONAN SURAT KETERANGAN KEHILANGAN KEWARGANEGARAAN RI ATAS KEMAUAN SENDIRI BAGI ORANG YANG BELUM MEMPEROLEH KEWARGANEGARAAN ASING.
Do not choose the option that says “kepada Presiden” because this option will take you a longer time to complete.
If you’re applying for kids under 18 years old, choose the one that says PERMOHONAN SURAT KETERANGAN KEHILANGAN KEWARGANEGARAAN RI ATAS KEMAUAN SENDIRI BAGI ORANG YANG TELAH MEMPEROLEH KEWARGANEGARAAN ASING.
6. Fill up the form
Next, it’s time to fill up the form! Do note that you need to fill up the form in 1 day. It’s not possible to save it and continue later.
The first form that you need to fill is about yourself.
- Nama: Your full name
- NIK: Your NIK number which can be found in your KK or KTP
- Jenis Kelamin: Your gender
- Status Perkawinan: Your marital status
- Tempat Lahir: Your birthplace
- Tanggal Lahir: Your birthday
- Alamat Email: Your email
- No Handphone: Your handphone number without country code
- No Telp: Your house phone number, if any
- Pekerjaan: Your occupation
- Surat Keterangan Naturalisasi: Your application number that can be found in ICA’s approval letter
- Alamat Indonesia: Your address in Indonesia
- Alamat Luar Negeri: Your overseas address
- Negara: Your country of residence
- Akta Lahir Nomor: Your birth cert reference number
- Akta Lahir Tanggal: Your birth cert date of issue (not your birthday)
- Akta Perkawinan Nomor: Your marriage cert reference number
- Akta Perkawinan Tanggal: Your marriage cert date of issue
- Nomor Passpor Republik Indonesia: Your Indonesian Passport’s number
- Wilayah Terbit Passpor Republik Indonesia: Your Indonesian Passport’s place of issue
- Tanggal Habis Berlaku Passpor Republik Indonesia: Your Indonesian Passport’s expiry date
Then, click “Selanjutnya.” You’ll be asked to confirm that you’ve filled up the correct information. Click “OK”
The second form that you need to fill up is about your parent or your guardian.
- Nama: Your parent/guardian’s name
- Tempat Lahir: Your parent/guardian’s birthplace
- Tanggal Lahir: Your parent/guardian’s birthday
- Status Perkawinan: Your parent/guardian’s marital status
- Kewarganegaraan: Your parent/guardian’s nationality
- Alamat Email: Your parent/guardian’s email
- No Hp: Your parent/guardian’s phone number
- Alamat Tinggal: Your parent/guardian’s address
Then, click “Selanjutnya.” You’ll be asked to confirm that you’ve filled up the correct information. Click “OK”
7. Download Surat Permohonan
Then, the Surat Permohonan will be generated for you. Click “Download” to save the file in your computer. This is a very important document.
Then, tick the box below the Download button, and click “Selanjutnya.”
8. Upload the documents
Next, you need to upload the documents that you have scanned previously in Step No 3 above. Remember, these documents must be in JPG, JPEG or PNG. Do not submit PDF documents.
- Fotokopi kutipan akta lahir / bukti kelahiran dari orang yang mengajukan permohonan: upload the color scanned copy of your original birth cert and legalized copy
- Fotokopi kutipan akta perkawinan/buku nikah/laporan perkawinan/ surat keterangan perkawinan dari orang yang mengajukan permohonan: upload the color scanned copy of your original ROM Cert (both English & Indonesian),
and the legalized translated ROM. If you’re not married, just upload a blank document. - Fotokopi paspor Republik Indonesia, surat yang bersifat paspor, atau surat lain yang dapat membuktikan bahwa orang yang mengajukan permohonan adalah warga negara Indonesia: upload the color scanned copy of your original passport & KTP and the legalized copies.
- Nomor Paspor Asing/Sertifikat Warga Negara Asing: upload the color scanned copy of your original ICA’s final approval letter (in English and Indonesian), a
nd the legalized translated ICA’s final approval letter (in Indonesian). - Pasfoto berwarna terbaru dari orang yang mengajukan pernyataan dengan ukuran 4×6 cm (empat kali enam sentimeter) sebanyak 2 (dua) lembar: upload your photo of 4×6 with red background. Do crop the photo into the correct size (4cm by 6cm).
Then, click “Selanjutnya.”
9. Choose Payment Method
Now, you’ve arrived at a page called “Pembayaran PNBP.” You need to choose whether you want to pay in Indonesia or Overseas.
- Lokasi Pembayaran: Choose Dalam Negeri if you intend to pay in Indonesia, otherwise choose Luar Negeri.
- Wilayah/Negara: If you chose Dalam Negeri in the previous option, now you need to choose the province from where you’ll make payment. If you chose Luar Negeri in the previous option, now you need to choose the country from where you’ll make payment.
For me, in 2020, I chose Luar Negeri (Singapura). However, in 2023, I DO NOT recommend Luar Negeri anymore because there are some issues with their Luar Negeri payment system and your application will disappear if you pay with BNI Singapore or DBS Remit.
The recommended payment method as of 2023 is BNI Dalam Negeri. Other alternatives are other banks that offer “Penerimaan Negara” services, such as BCA, Mandiri.
To make payment in Indonesia, you need to ask your family member or friend to go to the bank to make the payment at the counter, or do it via online banking.
To make payment in Singapore, there are 2 ways: through BNI at Cecil Street, or through DBS Remit. For me, I chose BNI at Cecil Street. My next step will be based on payment via BNI SG, which is not recommended anymore, so you can skip to Step 11.
Then, click “Simpan”
10. Make Payment
I do not recommend Luar Negeri method in 2023. This section is based on Luar Negeri, I keep it here for illustration purpose.
You’ll now see the page titled “SURAT PERINTAH BAYAR (PERMOHONAN DI LUAR NEGERI)”
Here are the steps to make payment at BNI Cecil Street:
- Click the blue button to download Surat Perintah Bayar
- Print out Surat Perintah Bayar and bring it to BNI at Cecil Street
- Make payment at the counter. SAKE application costs IDR 500,000. They accept SGD and they’ll convert to Rupiah.
- Go back to BNI the next day to collect the payment receipt
- Scan the payment receipt in color JPG/JPEG/PNG format and upload to SAKE system. The link to upload can be seen on beranda. After your upload, the link will disappear.
The following is how to make payment with DBS Remit, as shared by reader (Evelyn). BUT, I DON’T RECOMMEND paying with DBS Remit because many people have experienced their SAKE application missing from the system because they used DBS Remit. If you still want to use DBS Remit, proceed with your own risk.
- Login to your DBS online digibank
- Go to Transfer > DBS Remit and Overseas Transfer
- Key in the amount and click “Start New Transfer”
- In the recipient details:
- Recipient’s Full Name: Applicant Name (which is the ‘beneficiary account name’ in Surat Perintah Bayar)
- Recipient’s Address: put “-“
- Recipient Bank: follow Surat Perintah Bayar
- Account Number: follow Surat Perintah Bayar
- Purpose of Remittance: up to you
- Resident’s Account Type: non-resident
- After making the payment, take a screenshot of the confirmation page and upload it to SAKE. The link to upload can be seen on beranda. See photo above. After your upload, the link will disappear.
- Print the screenshot of DBS Remit confirmation page, you need it for Step 11 below.
Why does my application disappear? Several people have reported that their application disappeared. What you need to do is to email AHU and explain your situation and attach you payment receipt in the email. AHU will verify your payment and your application will be shown again.
11. Send the hardcopy documents to AHU Office in Jakarta
You’re almost there! Now, compile all of the documents listed below, put in an envelope (but don’t seal it yet because the courier will need to see the content of your envelope) and arrange for delivery with DHL/Fedex.
- Color Photocopy of your birth certificate & the legalized copy
- Color Photocopy of your passport & the legalized copy
- Color Photocopy of your ROM (English & Indonesian)
& the legalized copy of the translated ROM, if any. Or photocopy of your Indonesian marriage cert & the legalized copy. - Photocopy of ICA’s final approval letter, the translated copy
& the legalized copy of the translated letter. - 6pcs photo of size 4×6 with red background
- Color Photocopy of your KTP & the legalized copy
- Surat permohonan (which you have downloaded in Step 7). You need to paste a materai at the signature field, and sign half on the materai and half on the paper. If unsure, google “tanda tangan materai” to see some samples.
- Payment receipt from BNI or DBS Remit (which you received in Step 10)
PS: Some people may be confused whether to send the original legalized copy or the copy of the legalized copy. The answer is: you should send the original legalized copy. Here’s the logic: You own your original documents, so you can’t send your original documents to SAKE, but you need to prove to SAKE that you own the original document. To prove your ownership, you’re required to legalized the photocopy of your original document. So, the legalized document is the legal proof of your original documents. That’s why you need to send the original legalized copy.
PPS: Even though SAKE website requested the documents in F4-sized concorde paper or folio, I used A4 paper and there was no problem.
The address where you should send the document to is listed in your SAKE mailbox. The below image is what I can see in my mailbox.
By the way, I DO NOT recommend sending your document via Singpost because it takes too long to arrive at AHU. I’d rather pay more but have a peace of mind.
12. Keep praying and checking the SAKE system
It’ll take about 3-5 days for your document to arrive at AHU, you can track its journey through your courier’s website.
After the document arrives at AHU, it’ll take another 3-10 days for AHU to start processing your application. During this time, you can login to SAKE everyday (remember to clear your cache!) and check if any of the status turns green. Don’t get discourage if you don’t see any green status in the first 10 days, this thing takes time.
When you see the first green color in the status, it usually means that AHU has started to process your application. The most important status is the second status.
Between each status, there might be a gap of several days. During this stage, you must practice patience.
13. If there is error in your application
If your second status is yellow, it probably means you lack some documents. What you need to do is to wait until the fifth status turns yellow, then click “View” and scroll down to see the comments.
Below is example of the comments given by AHU. Sometimes, AHU’s comments are hard to understand. In the below example, there were 2 comments, but the first comment has been complied with, so it can be ignored. The real comment is in No 4, it says that ICA’s English letter has to be legalized.
If you don’t understand their comments, try to contact them through Whatsapp, call enter or email. Here’s AHU contact details.
After you figure out what’s missing here’s what you need to do:
- Go ahead and prepare that missing document
- Scan that missing document in JPG/JPEG/PNG
- Go to SAKE system, click “Ubah” and upload that missing document (PS: the button “Ubah” will only come out when number 5 turns yellow, so don’t be panic if you can’t find it yet)
- Send the hardcopy of that missing document to AHU office via DHL/Fedex
- Wait patiently (repeat step 12)
14. If you get all green, congratulations!
If the second status is green, usually it means your application is good. You’ll just have to wait until all status turn green in order to download the approval letter.
Again, practice patience because it’ll take weeks.
15. Download the approval document & translate it
Now that you have gotten 5 greens, download the approval document.
Send the approval letter to your sworn translator and get it translated to English. Again, I get Anwar to translate for me. He gave me 2 copies of translation, 1 with photo and 1 without photo.
16. Make appointment with KBRI to surrender your Indonesian passport
To make appointment with KBRI to surrender your Indonesian passport, you can email to im******@in***************.sg. Do attach the SAKE approval letter in the email.
In this step, you’re dealing with Immigration section which is located at Level 1 of KBRI building.
17. Make appointment with KBRI Consular to legalize the approved AHU Letter
At the same time as Step 16, make appointment with KBRI Consular to legalize AHU approval letter via https://services.indonesianembassy.sg/ and choose Kekonsuleran. I’m not able to advise you the detailed steps because I did not use this online appointment service. During my time, I made appointment via email.
In this step, you’re dealing with Consular section which is located at Level 2 of KBRI building.
Do note that you’re dealing with 2 different department of KBRI Step 16 and Step 17, so you can’t combine both of them in a single email or a single appointment.
Update June 2021: Some people reported that it’s no longer necessary to legalize the approved AHU Letter.
18. Surrender your Indonesian passport
On your appointment date to surrender passport, make your way to KBRI early because there’ll always be queue at KBRI. Wear appropriately (covered shoes, formal wear, covered shoulder, etc).
Remember to bring the hardcopy of your appointment email from KBRI, your passport, and the print out of AHU approval letter.
During my time, no queue number was issued to me, so I had to approach counter 1 to explain about my situation. They then gave me a form to fill up. After that, they’ll ask you to come back the next day to collect the acknowledgment letter. You don’t need to translate this acknowledgment letter.
19. Legalize your AHU approval letter
On your appointment date to legalize AHU approval letter, make your way to KBRI early because there’ll always be queue at KBRI. Wear appropriately (covered shoes, formal wear, etc).
Remember to bring the hardcopy of your appointment email from KBRI, the color print-out of AHU approval letter, the translated version of AHU approval letter (KBRI will take the one without photo), exact amount of SGD 35 cash.
After you take the queue number from security, go up to Level 2 and wait for your name to be called. Submit your documents to Consular, then go down to Level 1 Cashier to make payment.
You’ll be given a date to come back to KBRI to collect the legalized letter.
Update June 2021: Some people reported that it’s no longer necessary to legalize the approved AHU Letter.
20. Go to ICA for Oath taking and submission of necessary documents
When you requested for extension in the earlier steps, ICA would’ve given you revised appointment date. On your appointment date with ICA, wear appropriately and bring the following documents.
- Original ICA’s final approval letter
- Original color printout of SAKE approval letter in Bahasa Indonesia and English
- Acknowledgment letter of your passport surrender from KBRI
- Your blue IC
- 3pcs passport-sized photographs taken not more than 3 months ago
When you arrive at ICA, go to Level 6 and scan your ICA’s final approval letter to get a queue number. When your number is called, submit the above documents and make the necessary payment. During my time, it was SGD 80.
After the completion of registration, wait again for your number to be called for Oath taking.
After the Oath taking, you can go back home and submit your passport application online.
Congratulations, you’re officially a citizen of Singapore! But your pink IC will only be given to you during Citizenship Ceremony a few weeks later, so you’ll still need to practice patience. By this time, I’m pretty sure your patience is perfectly honed and you can withstand any challenges in your life calmly. Again, congratulations!
FAQ
What if I don’t have Indonesian passport? Sorry, I have no answer to this, I guess you need to make a new one. But that’s just my guess.
What if I don’t have KTP? Firstly, do you have KK? If yes, you can use KK to retrieve your NIK number, and then legalize the KK and submit together with other documents to AHU.
If you don’t have KK, sorry, I myself have no experience in this. However, I would highly suggest that you make a new KK or join the KK of your family/relatives in Indonesia, this will smoothen your renunciation journey a lot. Alternatively, I heard that you can consider applying for NIT as a temporary KTP, and use the NIT number to fill the form where it requested for NIK, but I’m not sure how long it takes and whether this could solve your problem.
What if my KTP is expired? Some people used their expired KTP and it was accepted by AHU.
Do the documents need to be legalized by MFA and SLA? Nope, AHU doesn’t require any legalisation from MFA or SLA, they just need legalisation from Indonesian representative and issuing institutions. Keep your money and don’t waste time making a trip to MFA/SLA like I did.
Can I go to KBRI without appointment? Nope, appointment is a must.
Do I HAVE TO follow your guide? Can I do it other way because of bla-bla-bla? You don’t have to. This is not the official guide, I am just sharing my own experience and reader’s experience. My experience is based on what my friend taught me to do. Sure, you can do it your way, but I can’t tell you whether your way is correct or not because I really don’t know; only official SAKE people have the answer and I’m not SAKE people.
Help! I can’t upload my docs, how? Or, my uploaded docs went missing, how? Or, I can’t log in, how? Based on my friends’ and my experience, SAKE website does have glitches from time to time, just be patient, give them time to sort their issues. Most of the time, things went back to normal after a few days.
Please Note
This article is written based on my own experience and what I heard/read from other people. AHU and KBRI change system and procedures ALL. THE. TIME. So, it is possible that some part of my article is no longer valid. Please don’t take my advice as a professional advice. I’m just a blogger that you chance upon on the internet.
I’m not responsible for any changes in procedures and not responsible for any loss/damage you suffer in the course of your application.
I am not related to anyone in AHU, KBRI or ICA. I am not able to act on your behalf.
If you have recently completed the application and you notice some of the things in this article are no longer valid, feel free to let me know in the comment and I’ll do my best to include the new information.
If you have any question related to the procedure, you may ask me in the comment and I’ll do my best to answer if it’s not already stated in the article. I have a full-time job and this blog is just my hobby, so it may take days for me to respond to your comment. Hope for your understanding. And please don’t ask for my handphone number because I’m very shy 🙂
Good luck to your application!
FYI: There is a Google sheet contributed by members of the Telegram group who have successfully passed the renunciation procedure based on the latest changes in April 2022. You can view it here for your reference. Thanks a lot to David who created the group and the spreadsheet, as well as all the members who contributed their experience in the group and made this incredibly useful spreadsheet possible. If you want to have discussion with people who are going through the renunciation, you can join the telegram group.
If you find this post helpful, feel free to buy me a coffee :)
drop you a coffee 😉
Hi David, thanks for the coffee 🙂 and thanks for creating a telegram group for people who are still going through sake journey. hope you guys get it resolved soon.
hi guys, since many of us are in the same boat.
i created a telegram group chat for all of us to share info faster.
https://t.me/+QGCfImqTrK9jMzQ1
thank you to @prudentdreamer for sharing your information!
Dear All,
There seems to be recent announcement from SAKE AHU that now they only receive legalized documents from Perwakilan Indonesia or the office that issued the documents. Has this requirement been there all along or does this mean that SAKE AHU no longer accept legalized documents from Indonesia notary? I just got all of my required documents legalized by Indonesia notary,
Hope anyone that has any experience with this maybe new requirement can share some information. Thank you very much in advance.
May I know if you will receive an email confirmation stating that the payment slip or proof of payment has been uploaded successfully?
I have previously submitted my proof of payment and the link shown after I have uploaded my payment is “Lihat Bukti Bayar”. After 7 days, my application is deleted in the system. Do you experience this too? Thanks
Hi Diana,
Yes it happened to me when I checked it today. I just emailed them :'(
Thanks EL. Please let me know if they have responded to your email
Hi Diana, they’ve responded to my email saying that they will escalate the issue to the IT team and to check the system again after 3 days.
Thanks EL.
AHU responded to my email too and requested to reattach the proof of payment. Hope they will respond on Monday.
hi guys, please join the telegram group to share the info also, thanks!
https://t.me/+QGCfImqTrK9jMzQ1
Hi EL,
May I know if your application has reappeared in the AHU system?
Thanks
Hi, it’s been 2 days, i cannot download SK from Sake and getting this error all the time Undefined offset: 1.
I sent email to **@ah*.id, hu***@ah*.id and even KBRI Singapura, and nothing works. It’s really horrible, these system is so broken 🙁
hello Prudent Dreamer, I cant seem to get a confirmation on the AHU letter getting notarised by KBRI, so my questions are:
a) Do we need to translate the AHU letter in Bahasa Indonesia into English? (for the Singapore ICA)
b) upon AHU letter translated into English, do we need it to be notarised/legalised by KBRI? (for the Singapore ICA)
Thank you
Hello Andrew, from my own experience and information obtained from Mr Anwar (the translator I used ) the AHU letter does not need to be legalzed by KBRI. so I only did translated to English . When I went to ICA for completion and oath taking, I brought 1 original and 1 photo copy of a) AHU letter in Indonesian language (downloaded from SAKE) b) AHU letter translated to English done by Mr Anwar c) Acknowledgement letter given by Embassy. Do to bring other document as per specify in letter as well. Hope it help.
hi Via, what do you mean by the Acknowledgement letter from Embassy ya, do you mean when you got AHU letter you need to go back to KBRI to get the letter?
Hi David, after you getting AHU letter, you need to arrange appointment with KBRI to surrender the passport (refer to above step 16). For me the acknowledgement letter can be only collected after 2 days of appointment date in the afternoon. This letter you need to show ICA ones.
Hi Prudent Dreamer & all.
I’d like to ask if there is any of you have the same experience. I submitted the request via SAKE website 9days ago, made payment+upload the screen shot (via DBS remit) and had sent the document to AHU via DHL.
However this morning, when I login to SAKE website, my request is MISSING from there. I tried to contact AHU via their email (**@ah*.id) but no response yet, and I think their call center (1500105) is only available for calling from Indonesia.
Do you know if there is any other number (Whatsapp) to contact them? or if there is any of you who had same experience who can give advice?
Thank you in advance all.
Do you see your application got green tick or remain red x before the application disappear? As I know it will become green tick when AHU . Also can you check your DBS record whether that transaction go through as afraid you key wrongly the fund being refund back without you realise it. If there is a refund mean, the transaction did not go through to AHU. My suggestion is quickly done the payment again based on surat perintah bayar. I believe the expired date stated in surat perintah bayar not yet pass yet as at now. As once AHU receive payment, your application may appear again. Hope it help.
Thank you Via for your input. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to see the status color. I submitted on Thu 8th, checking on Mon 14th it was still grey as my friend told me it took 10 days, so I checked again only on Thu 17th and it was missing.
I checked my DBS record, there is no refund. I also think about doing another payment again via BNI instead of DBS, but I don’t know where should I upload the transaction evidence as my request/registration is missing from SAKE☹.
Hi Stefani, it is not just you. I believe it is a recent system error. Me and my friend are facing the same problem. Last time when we submit payment proof the application will immediately turn green (we both made a mistake on SAKE before so this is not our first time applying) , now it’s forever red. My friend made her application last week and it disappeared this week. I made my application after her so my application is still there, but my status is also still a red cross. I would like to assure you it’s not your fault but AHU’s, we are all frustrated but in this together! What I did today was to tell my notary that helped me legalised my documents and asked them for advice. They kindly helped me call AHU and they managed to call through since they are in Indonesia. I think they are following up on my case and all I can do is wait for now. We also immediately email AHU like you and waiting for a reply now. I suggest you do the same and ask your notary for help. I am wishing for a good outcome for all of us…. this is very very stressful but you are not alone!
Thank you Brenda, OMG we’re in the same boat! I’m very stressful as I have deadline with ICA (already rescheduled 3x and almost in my 6month deadline since I got the letter).
Do you mean, last time when you have issue, you have to start do the request/registration again from the beginning? How about the legalized documents that you sent them, can they use it or you have to send them new legalized documents again? May I know who is the notary that you engaged? I used notary in my hometown to legalize my document last Jan when I’m back to Indonesia, I think better I engage notary from Jakarta instead.
And hen did you send email to AHU? So till today, there is no reply? I hope we can get positive response from them ASAP #crossingfinger
Hi Stefani, I had exactly the same experience too! I submitted on 8 Mar 2022 as well and it disappeared despite having paid via DBS remit and submitting all the necessary docs. Still waiting for the CS email to reply me. Hoping we won’t have to redo the entire application.
Hi Cynthia,
I’m glad I posted this issue here, apparently I’m not alone, let’s inform each other if any of us get reply from the CS., hopefully soon….
Hi Stefani, mine was immediately green upon reappearing. It takes a few more days for the remaining bullets to become green. I’m now on the 4th green out of 5, so not final yet.
You might want to try checking your spam folder, or type “CS AHU” or their email address on your inbox search function. I discovered that they had been replying me in the past but somehow their replies don’t show up when I check my gmail inbox normally. It appeared when I purposely typed “CS AHU” or their email address. If that works, you can try sending them all the proof that you’ve followed the required procedures (eg document sending, payment, etc). Hope that could expedite the process.
Echoing the rest, thanks Prudent Dreamer for letting us use your blog to share with each other!
Hi all,
I’m probably experiencing the same things that you guys did all over again. I was just wondering if there’s a follow-up on your cases? Did they revert back to you guys? How long did that took? Mine just disappeared yesterday despite sending this the second time. I’ve contacted via email, and whatsapp the number that they’ve given me. The guy assured me that they’re processing my application but I still see it disappearing. Just wanted to know how it went for you guys, it’s really testing my patience.
Thank you so much!
Hi Hui Qi, do you mind sharing the WhatsApp contact they’ve given to you? I’m experiencing the same issue. It’s so frustrating.
Hi EL,
I’ve reached out to Kahfi 081293921996. Let me know how yours goes!
Hi could you share how did you manage to get in touch with AHU ?
Hello! Just to update that my application has finally re-appeared on SAKE. I resent another email to **@ah*.id since they did not reply me previously.
After that, they responded immediately and you’d be asked to provide details of your application (I provided my full name, date of application, bank transfer reference, proof of document arrival). Then they escalated my request for further checks. 3 days later my application reappeared. Just check SAKE regularly as they did not notify via email. All the best!
Hi Cynthia, glad to hear that! Does your application has the green tick icon at the second-left column (not sure what does this icon mean) when it reappears? Or still with the red cross icon? Thanks
Hi Jowy, it is green tick for me .
Hi Cynthia, is it green tick now or has it been green tick when you submitted the application? Thanks
I guess all of us who submitted the application within this year (or maybe since last year Q4 2021) will get the red cross and the application will eventually disappear after 7 days. Somehow the system cannot verify our payment (or maybe they can only verify if we choose ‘Pembayaran Dalam Negri’).
Been emailing AHU for a week now without any reply. Guess they will only entertain our request once the application disappear from system.
PS: Sorry Prudent Dreamer for using your blog as our communication channel 😉
No problem Jowy, hope the issues will be resolved soon!
Hi Cynthia,
this is a good news, happy for you, when your application re-appear, is the status still grey or directly green? how long is it take to be green?
Unfortunately they still didn’t respond to my repetitive emails. So my brother help me to call to their call center (their number can only be contacted in Indonesia) since 22nd March, we did this call everyday. And only today, the application is re-appearing but the status still grey. Really frustrated while I’m already on my 6th month of my deadline with ICA:(
And thx PrudentDreamer to allow us using your blog to connect with each other, it’s really help finding friends on the same boat.
This was a great post and help me alot.
But I do have one question, when we received the final letter from ICA with the appointment date, can we use this letter to legalize or
Need to wait for another ICA letter with new appointment date.
Will ICA send us another one with date changed?
You can use this letter. There won’t be another letter with new appointment date.
Thank you for the great tips! It is very detailed and thorough tips. Appreciate it so much!
I have a question. Appreciate if you know/reply them. Thanks in advance.
If I want to renounce for myself and my kid (less than 5 years old), do I need to create 2 accounts in SAKE system (1 for me and another account for my kid)? Or shall I use 1 account and create 2 “Permohonan” instead?
Hi Jowy, from what I understand, kids can’t renounce yet until they reach 18 years old. So, only parents need to renounce through sake now. When they turn 18 years old, they need to renounce on their own.
Thank you so much for this detailed step by step explanation. May I know whether we need to fill in the SAKE form in 1 day or 1 go OR can we save it and continue later?
Hi stefani, you need to fill it up in 1 day, the system doesn’t allow saving drafts.
Dear Prudentdreamer, thank you for the detailed explanation on the renunciation process. May i check with you, for the ICA final approval letter, are you referring to the letter downloaded from myICA containing the applicant ROC reference number ?
Hi Nini, during my time everything was in hardcopy, so I can’t tell you whether it’s a softcopy or not. Anyway, it is the letter that you receive after completing SC Journey. It contains appointment date at ICA to take the Oath.
Hi, just wanted to share back information to the public after getting my SG citizenship (Dec 2021)
Can confirm that:
-Deny in Jakarta legalises docs without sending physical hard copies to him
-You can use any ibanking service (e.g. UOB) for payment to SAKE, without going to any physical BNI branches or using DBS specifically.
-May also consider local IDN translation services (e.g. going through Deny) – Anwar’s translated copy needs to be legalised by Indonesian embassy in SG which incurs extra time and cost
Hello! Thank you so much Prudent Dreamer for this. Really really helped me during my journey. Would like to share some information from my experience as well:
1. I engaged Pak Daniel Budiyono (+62 812-9983-125) to translate my documents from Indonesia to English. He is able to send softcopy of the documents. His charge is around Rp 125rb per page (processing time 4 days) or Rp 200rb per page (faster processing time 1 day).
2. I used notary services from Deny for legalization. He accepts scanned copies of the documents. I then asked him to send the legalized documents to my parents who live in Jakarta.
3. For the Indonesian passport photo, just use Photoshop to change the white background to red (if you already have a passport photo with white background).
4. I made payment to SAKE using DBS Remit. The recipient would be the ‘beneficiary account name’ (if it’s your own name, then yes, fill in your own name). For the account number, I put the ‘beneficiary account number’. For the recipient address, I put “-“. I put non-resident on the account type.
5. For payment proof, I screenshot the confirmation page (upon completion of payment on DBS Remit) and uploaded it to SAKE. I also printed a hardcopy.
6. I printed the Surat Permohonan, put a materai (Rp 10000) and signed on it, and then shipped it together with the DBS Remit proof of transaction to Jakarta (my parent’s house). I used DHL for this (Paid around $50, shipping took around 2 days iirc).
It was really satisfying to see all the green circles on SAKE! Good luck for those on the journey!
Hi Evelyn, thank you so so so much for your sharing. It’s super helpful and I will include them in my post 🙂
Thanks for the very helpful information, Prudent Dreamer. Your detailed steps and tips are definitely a life saver to many of us who are clueless about the process of renunciation. Thanks to you, my husband manages to get the AHU letter approved in 6 working days. We were lucky that a family member was travelling to Jakarta. I also got my brother to get the documents legalised there and sent it straight to the AHU office. All these saved me shipping time. Translation through Anwar was also a great tip. He does it in lightning speed because he has a template ready. Please ensure to re- check his draft cause I found some typos. Other than that, he was great.
Hi LSS, congrats! You did it real fast!
hi what should i do if i do not have KTP/KK/NIK? heard that AHU does not accept statements now stating that we don’t have it.
Refer to FAQ
Hello,
I am currently in the midst of renouncing my Indonesian citizenship as well. This article has helped to avoid so much headache and uncertainty.
However, I would like to check if you happened to know what do I need to upload for marriage certificate if I am still single? The application doesn’t allow me to proceed further without marriage certificate.
Look forward for some news
Hello, can I ask if how to receive surat perintah bayar? Because I didn’t receive it after submit all the documents
Thanks again to Prudent Dreamer. Without this blog, I don’t think I will be able to complete the renunciation smoothly. I have taking my oath. Just wait for the ceremony to happen. Good luck to everyone else in this journey.
Please share which notary do you legalize the document, did you sent original document ? Feel risky.
im using notary service from Deny who accepts scan copy of the orig doc. you may contact him directly for more details. Prudent Dreamer has Deny’s contact on the step by step guide.
Hi Herman, great to hear that! Congrats!
Hi About the KBRI appoitmen how many you need to wait to get the appoitment?
I wrote to them on 27/12/21 and was given an appointment for 03/01/22.
Can we legalize and notarize the documents in Singapore now? And don’t need to send physical copies to AHU anymore right?
May i know anyone got do payment via DBS remit before?.. What kind of confirmation we need for the proof?