Ministry of Law and Human Rights: Demand to Become Indonesian Citizens Remains High
The Ministry of Law and Human Rights: Demand to Become Indonesian Citizens Remains High
- ANTARA/Fath Putra Mulya
Jakarta, VIVA – The Director General of General Legal Administration (Dirjen AHU), Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Widodo, stated that the demand from foreign nationals to become Indonesian citizens has been quite high in the last five years.
This statement was made by Widodo during a press conference at the Directorate General (Ditjen) AHU office, Jakarta, on Thursday, February 26, 2026. On this occasion, he also responded to the polemic regarding the citizenship status of the child of an LPDP scholarship alumni, Dwi Sasetyaningtyas (DS).
“Based on the data at Ditjen AHU, specifically at the Directorate of State Affairs which handles citizenship matters, in recent years, including 2026, 2025, and the past few years, the demand and interest in becoming Indonesian citizens has been quite high,” said Widodo.
However, Widodo stated that it is not easy to become an Indonesian citizen, and conversely, it is also not easy to relinquish that status. He affirmed that the Indonesian government is very selective and strict in granting citizenship status.
He explained that to become an Indonesian citizen, a person must reside in Indonesia for five consecutive years. However, if there is an interruption, the person must reside for at least 10 years.
In addition, applicants for Indonesian citizenship must also obtain clear permission from relevant institutions in their country of origin.
The requirements for becoming an Indonesian citizen will be further tightened in the revision of Law Number 12 of 2006 concerning Citizenship. “Because it is possible that a foreign national becoming an Indonesian citizen is also a consideration that may not necessarily be positive; it could be because they may want to escape and so on,” he said.
He further detailed that in 2020, there were 37 applications to become Indonesian citizens, but only 29 were accepted. Then, in 2021, there were 63 applications, with 61 of them being accepted.
Meanwhile, in 2022, all 63 applications to become Indonesian citizens were accepted. The number of applications increased again in 2023, to 69 applications, three of which were not accepted.
“Interestingly, in 2024, out of 165 applications, only 20 were accepted; and in 2025, out of 147 applications, only two have been fully processed and accepted as Indonesian citizens,” Widodo said.
In addition, Widodo said that currently there are 714 children from mixed-marriage families who are in the process of applying to become Indonesian citizens.