Immigration Revokes Saving Requirement for Passport Application
20 March 2017 17:18 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Law and Human Rights Ministry's Directorate General of Immigration has revoked the Rp 25 million saving deposit requirement for new passport applicants as a result of public protests.
"We accept aspirations expressed by the public and media, who cannot yet accept the policy," Directorate General of Immigration spokesman Agung Sampurno said on Monday, March 20, 2017.
Agung explained that the requirement was previously set forth in a technical guideline for passport interviewers of immigration offices across Indonesia. The guideline was issued on February 24, 2017, under Immigration Directorate General's Circular Letter No. IMI-0277 GR.02.06/2017 on the prevention of non-procedural Indonesian migrant workers.
In the technical guideline, immigration offices were required to tighten the requirements for new passport issuances, particularly those for haj and umrah pilgrims, overseas interns, non-procedural migrant workers, and tourists.
The Immigration Directorate General decided to revoke the saving account checking due to protests from the public. The revocation has taken effect starting on Monday, March 20, 2017, so that interviewers will not conduct saving account checking for tourists.
Despite the revocation, Agung revealed that the policy has been effective in preventing human trafficking crimes. Immigration officers at 73 immigration offices rejected 1,593 new passport applications due to human trafficking indications.
"[The applications] were rejected due to strong indications of human trafficking," Agung said.
The Directorate General of Immigration works with a number of ministries and institutions to tighten passport issuances by adding new requirements for passport applicants. For hajj and umrah pilgrims, the Directorate General of Immigration requires them to include additional recommendation related to the legitimacy of the hajj and umrah travel bureaus from regional branches of the Religious Affairs Ministry.
"This is important because, until today, as many as 416 hajj and umrah pilgrims are stranded in Saudi Arabia because their travel agents refused to take care of them," Agung said.
INDRI MAULIDAR