Dual citizenship offered to attract overseas workers in Indonesia

Indonesia may give dual citizenship to people of Indonesian descent to attract more skilled workers to come into the country, a senior cabinet minister announced on Tuesday (April 30).

Luhut Pandjaitan, the coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment, said that inviting Indonesian diaspora and giving them dual citizenship will encourage "very skilful Indonesians back to Indonesia."

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Currently, Indonesia does not recognise dual citizenship for adults. Indonesian law states that a child with two passports must choose one and renounce the other when they turn 18.

Nearly 4,000 Indonesians became Singaporean citizens between 2019 and 2022, according to data from the Directorate General of Immigration.

The immigration agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the plans to allow for dual citizenship.

The issue of dual citizenship caused some controversy in 2016 when Indonesia's President Joko Widodo removed Arcandra Tahar as energy and mining minister after less than a month on the job following reports he held US and Indonesian passports.

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