Immigration to review visa free travel policy due to rise in crime committed by foreigners

Currently, citizens from 169 countries can travel to Indonesia without having to pay for a visa. However, that number may soon drop thanks to a few rotten apples.

Heru Santoso, spokesman for the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Immigration Directorate General, said the government is considering limiting visa free travel as there have been several criminal cases involving foreigners in Indonesia in recent times.

“In terms of percentage, the violations are small, but they’re still violations,” he said, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.

Heru added that the Immigration Directorate General is currently evaluating whether the visa free privilege brings more harm than good to Indonesia in the long run. If the disadvantages outweigh the benefits, then they would recommend that the presidential decree on visa free privileges be annulled, reducing the number of countries whose citizens would get visa free travel to Indonesia.

Heru used the example of two fake Buddhist monks from China as an example of foreigners who entered Indonesia without a visa and went on to commit criminal activities in the country. The two fake monks were arrested by immigration officials after they were caught begging for money from ethnic Chinese citizens in West Jakarta.

Furthermore, even though this case wasn’t specifically mentioned by Heru, one might guess that the recent killing of a policeman by tourists in Bali might factor in the government’s decision regarding the future of visa free travel into Indonesia.



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