Local Guide

Documents You Should Prepare To Get Married in Indonesia

Hello FlokqJune 9, 2020

Marrying the love of your life would be a dream for most people. It would be the biggest event in your life that would mark the beginning of a new chapter for you. However, the process of getting married is not an easy task to do. There is a lot of paperwork and documents that both the bride and the groom must prepare before being married. You’d have to make new documents or even update old ones to change your marital status. If you know the general idea of what to prepare, it can be an easy task for you to complete. But for a lot of people, it might be a little confusing. It can also take up a lot of precious time if you didn’t prepare for it in advance. To help you, we have made a list of what documents you should prepare before getting married. 

There are three steps that you need to do to complete all of your pre-marriage documents. Those three steps are: 

1. Getting your cover letter from both bride and groom’s RT and RW
2. Making your certificate of marriage in the district office of both the bride and groom.
3. Preparing the documents you need to legally and religiously register your marriage.

Now we will explain what you need to do to fulfill each of the requirements of each step.

The first step

Both the bride and the groom will have to visit both the RT and RW’s office to get a cover letter. This cover letter would be the letter of introduction and one of the requirements to register your marriage legally and religiously. You should also bring both of your ID cards because they will need to be notarized. 

The Second Step

After receiving your cover letter, you would need to go to your district office to make your marriage certification. These certificates consist of the N1, N2, N3, and N4. All of these certificates will be needed to legally change your marital status. These certificates are:

1. N1 is the certificate of marriage.
2. N2 is the certificate of origin of both the bride and groom.
3. N3 is a letter of approval from both the bride and the groom of their plea to get married.
4. N4 is the certificate from both of their parents that allows their children to get married. 

To make all four of these certificates, you will need to bring some few other documents: 

1. 2 sheets of the photocopy of both the bride and groom’s ID cards.
2. 2 sheets of the photocopy of both the bride and groom’s parent’s ID cards.
3. The cover letter that was given by the RT and RW plus their signatures.
4. 2 sheets of the photocopy of the cover letter from the RT and RW.
5. 2 sheets of the photocopy of both the bride and groom’s birth certificate.
6. 2 sheets of the photocopy of both families’ family cards.
7. 2 sheets of the photocopy of the 2 witnesses’ ID cards. 
8. A certificate of never being married in the form of a cover letter with a stamp(makelar) of IDR 6.000. It also needs to be known by both of the two witnesses and a stamp from the RT and RW.
9. A permit from your superiors if you happen to be a member of the police or military.

After all of these documents have been submitted and the marriage certificate is completed, proceed to the next step. 

Read Also: A Guide to Get Married in Indonesia

The third step 

The third and final step that you need is to prepare the documents to register your marriage religiously. Since Indonesia is a diverse country, it is filled with various people of different religions. That means the documents, letters, and methods may differ from religion to religion. These are requirements of the documents needed for all the religions.

Islam:

1. You will need to prepare the N1, N2, N3, and N4 letters. 
2. Immunization cards for both the bride and groom, proof of TT II immunizations, and proof of TT I immunization for the bride only. 
3. 5 sheets of 3×2 sized photographs with blue backgrounds and 6 sheets of 4×6 color-adjoining photographs of both applicants. 
4. A permit letter from your superiors if you’re a member of the police or military. 
5. A dispensation letter from the district office only if the wedding date has been registered less than 10 days ago. 
6. Photocopy of both applicant’s ID cards. 
7. Photocopy of both applicant’s family cards.
8. Photocopy of both applicant’s birth certificates. 

Christians and Catholics:

1. 3 sheets 4×6 sized colored photographs side by side. 
2. Both applicants’ baptism certificates.
3. A letter of introduction or a pre-marital guidance certificate from your church. 
4. An application for a marriage blessing in the church. 
5. You will need to prepare the N1, N2, N3, and N4 letters from the district office.
6. A permit letter from your superiors if you’re a member of the police or military. 
7. A dispensation letter from the district office only if the wedding date has been registered less than 10 days ago. 
8. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ ID cards. 
9. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ family cards.
10. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ birth certificates. 
11. Both applicants’ parent’s marriage certificates.
12. Death certificate if the applicant’s parents have died.
13. Other documents that are required by the church where the marriage will be carried out.

Hindu:

1. 3 sheets 4×6 sized colored photographs side by side. 
2. Certificate of adherents of Hinduism of both applicants.
3. An application for a marriage blessing in the temple.
4. You will need to prepare the N1, N2, N3, and N4 letters from the district office.
5. A permit letter from your superiors if you’re a member of the police or military. 
6. A dispensation letter from the district office only if the wedding date has been registered less than 10 days ago. 
7. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ ID cards. 
8. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ family cards.
9. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ birth certificates. 
10. Both applicants’ parent’s marriage certificates.
11. Death certificate if the applicant’s parents have died.
12. Other documents that are required by the temple where the marriage will be carried out.

Buddha:

1. 3 sheets 4×6 sized colored photographs side by side. 
2. An application for a marriage blessing in the temple.
3. You will need to prepare the N1, N2, N3, and N4 letters from the district office.
4. A permit letter from your superiors if you’re a member of the police or military. 
5. A dispensation letter from the district office only if the wedding date has been registered less than 10 days ago. 
6. A dispensation letter from the district office only if the wedding date has been registered less than 10 days ago. 
7. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ ID cards. 
8. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ family cards.
9. An original file and photocopy of both applicants’ birth certificates. 
10. Both applicants’ parent’s marriage certificates.
11. Death certificate if the applicant’s parents have died.
12. Other documents that are required by the temple where the marriage will be carried out.

After providing all of these documents, you will need to pay a fee of IDR 30.000 for the marriage registration. 

So these are all of the documents you will need to prepare before getting married. We hope this list can help you with your marriage preparations.