In Reply to: As I Said posted by LawarLover on Thursday, 20. December 2012 at 08:15 Bali Time:
In Indonesia, it is called Surat Tanda Melapor, better known as a Certificate of Police Registration which concerns any foreigner (tourist, visitor, resident, guest of resident, etc), though the foreigner himself is not forced to apply in person. This is a report to the police that states where a foreigner is living and for how long.
The regulation Chapter 10, Peraturan Pemerintah nomor 31 tahun 1994 says,
Setiap orang yang memberikan kesempatan orang asing menginap di tempat kediamannya wajib melaporkan kepada Kantor Kepolisian Republik Indonesia atau Pejabat Pemerintah Daerah setempat dalam jangka waktu 24 (dua puluh empat jam) sejak tanggal kedatangan orang asing tersebut.
Anyone who accommodates a foreigner is obligated to report to the local police office within 24 hours of the guest's arrival.
This means that the person who gives the foreigner/s shelter (hotel, wife, friend, etc) has to report your residence within 24 hours after your arrival. Here there is no notion of type or duration of stay. The person who provides you accommodation reports to the police. This is a report about one person, giving shelter to a foreigner, to the police. This is not in any way an authorization asking to shelter someone to a particular date. This just means that you don't have to be reported again as long as you don't change your address. However, if one forgets to report your residence after 24 hours after your arrival, that person will receive the penalties listed in the Capter 60, undang undang nomor 9 tahun 1992:
Setiap orang yang memberi kesempatan menginap kepada orang asing dan tidak melaporkan kepada Pejabat Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia atau Pejabat Pemerintah Daerah setempat yang berwenang dalam 24 (dua puluh empat) jam sejak kedatangan orang asing tersebut, dipidana dengan pidana kurungan paling lama 1 (satu) tahun atau denda paling banyak Rp 5.000.000,- (lima juta rupiah).
Penalty is 1 year imprisonment or penalty fee of Rp.5,000,000.
None of the two laws quoted tie the length of the STM to the length of an Ijin Tinggal or Ijin Kunjungan. It is submitted to the length of stay reported. What some crooked police officials may try is to make you believe that the article 61 UU 9/1992 concerns STM and that you have to report every 30 days. This is totally not true. Article 61 concerns people with an Ijin Tinggal (residence visa), not those on a visit visa (Ijin Kunjungan).
To summarize:
- If you are a KITAS/KITAP holder (resident visa), report to the police for SKLD (30 days maximum after the issuance of your Ijin Tinggal) and report any change in your residency within 7 days of its occurrence. Make sure that the person who provides you accommodation (even if it your wife/son or whoever in the family) reports you within the 24 hours and has an STM remitted. You need to do it again only if you change to a new accommodation.
- If you are holder of an Ijin Kunjungan or VoA (visit visa), you are only concerned by the STM in the conditions defined above.
Basically whomever you are staying with will have to register you, this just requires a copy of your passport immigation card, no big deal and could save you hassles in the future. You are very lucky LawarLover, obviously with the money you give your Banjar and 'looking after' your Polisi "friends" you are exempt from this, no fool you, it ain't costing you a cent.