The Constitutional Court of Indonesia just announced new regulations on the rights for international couples related to prenuptial agreements and property ownership.
On October 27, the nation’s Constitutional Court agreed to allow international couples to make prenuptial agreements in the middle of the marriage process, or even after they are married. This means that local-foreign couples who did not have prenuptial agreements before they were wed will now have the chance to claim rights to their property and assets after the fact.
Perca Indonesia, an activist group for Indonesia’s international marriage community, says this comes as good news for international couples in the archipelago who are often discriminated against. The community claims that it has long tried to address the issue of property ownership for international couples, and is glad that justice has finally been served.
Not only in Indonesia, but international couples all across the globe have also been facing similar challenges of staying in a certain country. In 2010, Eurostat conducted research in 30 countries on international marriages.
See: Indonesian Government Considering Dual Citizenships
The results suggested that one out of 12 marriages in Europe involved someone with foreign status. In Australia, almost one in three marriages in 2014 involved international couples; while the US Census Bureau of Statistics suggested in 2011 that at least 21 percent of the country’s population can be called an international couple.
In Indonesia, there have been more cases of dual citizenship, and stakeholders have been calling on the government to conduct a judicial review on the matter.
Nia K. Schumacher, a member of local international marriage group Aliansi Pelangi Antar Bangsa said in October that the rapid growth of mobility around the world will certainly give rise to mixed marriages in the near future.
Image credits: Indoindians, Indoindians
