New Indonesia visa rules may require foreigners to join the queue

The government has disallowed immigration agencies from utilizing their fast-track privileges in the processing of visa permits, a move that the immigration office claims is part of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s agenda to crack down on illegal levies.

As a result of the new policy, which has been in effect since Nov. 14, foreigners working in Indonesia, as well as representatives of their employers, may be required to be present in person at immigration offices and join the queue just like regular applicants.

Heru Santoso, spokesperson for the Immigration Directorate General at the Law and Human Rights Ministry, however, denied circulating information saying that licenses issued to migration agents and other third parties would be revoked.

“If [expatriates] want to submit through migration agents, it’s their right [to do so]. But the point is, our service to the agents is the same as other applicants. They need to queue up like everyone else,” Heru told The Jakarta Post.

He asserted that all applications, be they through third parties or not, would receive equal treatment.

When asked if all applicants would be required to attend in person, Heru only said, “It’s the right of an immigration officer to request the presence of the concerned party.” He repeated this when asked for further details.

Heru said the new policy would also help improve transparency and accountability in the country’s immigration services.

The efforts were especially aimed at tackling collection of illicit fees by immigration officers from agents that wanted to “speed things up”,
he said.

“Another important thing is that [under the new policy] foreigners will be encouraged to find out the official cost [of visa applications]. All this time, they have been paying much more to migration agents for their services while very few of them actually know the official costs we charge,” he added.

Heru said the ministry had notified all immigration offices in the country via an internal circular.

Combating illegal levies is Jokowi’s current priority in his first legal reform package, which aims to end the years-long practice of bureaucrats collecting illicit fees from members of the public in return for their public services.

Meanwhile, the new policy has triggered mixed responses from migration agents and expatriates.

The Permit House, a Jakarta-based agency, published an article on its website www.thepermithouse.com expressing concerns that under the new policy, expatriates and their sponsoring companies might have to be present at every step of the visa permit process.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/11/28/new-visa-rules-may-require-foreigners–to-join-the-queue.html