20th September 2022 – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has requested Immigration to ease the making of visas for the investment program. As it turns out, the issue lies not on Immigration but rather, on the regulations that give documents required for visas to agencies outside of it.
Visa service to foreigners is ruled in PP Number 48 of 2021 concerning the Third Amendment to Government Regulation Number 31 of 2013 Implementing Regulations of Law Number 6 of 2011 concerning immigration.
In that regulation, foreigners must include a recommendation letter when applying for visas. This recommendation letter comes from an institution or relevant government agencies outside of Immigration or the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham).
Additionally, PP 34/2021 concerning the Use of Foreign Workers (TKA) also mentions the requirement for obtaining a visa is that it should be served by other agencies outside of the Immigration and Kemenkumham too.
There’s also a handbill of the Covid-19 Handling Task Force for the Year during the Covid-19 Pandemic. It is stated that a visa could be handed out to the foreigner if the Immigration has a handwritten letter of consideration or special permit from an institution or the Ministry.
When all the documents needed are completed and handed out to Immigration, it will take up to 3 to 5 days for foreigners to receive the visa.
A couple of weeks ago, Jokowi demanded a change in the director general and the people of Immigration if they are unable to make changes in the Indonesian Immigration system.
Responding to the criticism, the Director of Immigration Traffic, Amran Aris, said that Immigration currently provides Visa on Arrival (VoA) services with payment schemes according to the Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) No. 225 Article 28 which said collecting agents are prohibited from charging fees for deposit transaction of State Revenue to taxpayers, payers and sector payers.
In the span of March to September 2022, there are 216,353 Tourism Visa on Arrival (VoA) recorded that have been published by Immigration. VoA users are dominated by people from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, China, and India.
