As with almost every part of anyone’s life, you’re subject to certain rules, regulations, and administration which means lots of paperwork. This is true not just for getting a driver’s license, processing your ID, or getting your passport ready. You might already know where this is going but, yes, living means a lot of paperwork. Something that people might have overlooked is that dying also needs a lot of paperwork. Yes, it will be a difficult process, especially getting through the possible grief, but we hope that this article will help you a bit. So here’s a step-by-step guide in administering death of foreigners in indonesia
1. Reporting
Now, in reporting the death, any kind of death, it should be directed to the local police. We should notify the police within three days of any case of death. If the foreign citizen traveled alone then the owner of his or her place of accommodation should be the one who’s reporting. Whether it is in a hotel, homestay, or maybe Airbnb. Afterward, it will be the police’s job to secure any belongings of the deceased. You probably would need to also contact a local doctor, but you should always prioritize contacting the police station.
It’s a different case when the foreign citizen dies not at the residence. In this case, the person who finds the body, or is a witness to their death, should be reporting. With the deceased carried with him or her a passport, the police will be the ones in charge of getting their belongings. If the deceased dies without identification documents, with no witnesses present, the police will investigate. Here we can see how vital identification documents are.
2. Registering
While it will be quite similar to reporting a death, the process will be different if the deceased was a holder of a temporary living permit. The Populations and Civil Registration Administration should also be contacted within three days to file proper official papers. The police will also make an arrangement to transport the body to the nearest hospital more for a postmortem. If the investigation founds that there are foul play or other circumstance behind death, the police would then ask for an autopsy.
Afterward, when a postmortem examination report (Surat Keterangan Pemeriksaan Mayat) is finished and the death certificate (Surat Kematian) is ready, make a copy of them. Then take those copies to the Populations and Civil Registration Administration. If the deceased is an Indonesian resident, the populations and civil Registration administration should be notified. And will then issue a letter of notification of death. The body would remain in the more until the registration process is done and there have been arrangements in place by the next of kin.
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3. Contacting the consulate
Only after reporting and registering the death, the deceased home country consulate should be contacted. You may also want to contact the consulate as soon as possible since they might have their own guidelines or device for you as a citizen. Some cases may make consulates a responsible entity in the collection of bodies and its repatriation. Countries vary in handling the bodies of the dead. Unless stated otherwise, the local authorities are the ones responsible to contact the consulate. On the other hand, if the deceased is a tourist, local authorities might have to be contacted first.
4. Required documents
In accordance with the forms that will be filled throughout the process, you need to be in possession of several comments. Though the forms will be likely in Indonesian, you do not need to worry if you are not proficient in the language. Officers at the Populations and Civil Registration Administration will be helping you fill them. If in the different regions might need different documents, it will usually encompass:
- The passport of the deceased
- The visa of the deceased
- Report on the verification of death from the police
For issuing a Letter of Notification of Death, you may need to have the following documents for the purposes of identity verification:
- The Certificate of Registration of Permanent Resident (Surat Keterangan Pendaftaran Penduduk Tetap or SKPPT) for a permanent resident or Certificate of Registration of Temporary Resident (Surat Keterangan Pendaftaran Penduduk Sementara or SKPPS)
- A Certificate of Domicile (Surat Keterangan Tempat Tinggal or SKTT)
- A Certificate of Registration after Arrival from Abroad (Surat Keterangan Datang dari Luar Negeri or SKDLN)
Registration of Death document will be in Indonesian, if the spouse of the deceased or consulate officer is present at the registration, site copies can be given as a foreign death certificate. The documents needed for such purposes are:
- Letter of Notification of Death
- Postmortem Examination And Letter of Notification of Death
- Photocopy of the deceased’s passport
- The deceased residency card: in the form of a working permit (KITAS) or permanent residence visa (KITAP), and also a photocopy of it
- Official police report
- To witnesses for signing purposes, age at the bare minimum 21 years of age
- Possibly a photocopy of the Report of Death from the foreign embassy
- Certificate of Registration of Permanent Resident (SKPPT) or Certificate of Registration of Temporary Resident (SKPPS)
- A form will be filled for information that will be contained within the Registration of Death
The Registration of Death (Akta Kematian)
- Date and place of registration