Use of immigration agents in Indonesia abolished

[Smallworld]

Use of immigration agents in Indonesia is abolished effective from today and all agents licences are cancelled.

http://imigrasibengkulu.com/penertiban-layanan-keimigrasian/


Any comments or opinions? Is this good or bad?

It is good in my opinion. Cutting off all the non necessary cost/third party being involved to get visa will help to bring down the cost of getting visa permits and maybe also some corruption being involved. But the whole procedure to obtain visa should be simplified to the maximum to avoid any misinterpretation of rules and immigration law. All people who will apply for visa will have to get accustomed with some basic law, longevity of the whole procedure and each step ( for spouses) for foreign workers (HR dep. should know all this). No more relaying on agents laziness and the agents will no more neglect their own customers.
The positive difference can be seen with prices 3.5 jt vs 20 jt till 50 jt for kitap.

 

[Davita]

The specialised and authorised tourist agency issues your guarantee letter and biro jasa keimigrasian just handles your application.
Usually biro jasa has cooperation with these tourist agencies if they want to handle retirees.

I think this provision is still valid for retirees:

"Surat Permohonan dan jaminan serta keterangan identitas dariBiro Perjalanan Wisata sebagai sponsor"

I wonder if you've ever been to the offices of Registered/Licensed Agents that acquire visas for foreigners. They employ many expert people and I've never seen anyone buy an airline ticket, hotel room or a snorkeling vacation ...it's all about visas, investments, company registrations, export/import.

They may call them Tourist Agents but that may be a translated misnomer.

BTW I'd be delighted if agents were not required but, without an alternative and reasonable process to get visas, it would be almost impossible to achieve a retirement visa.
I'm 80 and would probably die in the Immigration Office while waiting for my visa.

 

[centurion]

I wonder if you've ever been to the offices of Registered/Licensed Agents that acquire visas for foreigners. They employ many expert people and I've never seen anyone buy an airline ticket, hotel room or a snorkeling vacation ...it's all about visas, investments, company registrations, export/import.

They may call them Tourist Agents but that may be a translated misnomer.

BTW I'd be delighted if agents were not required but, without an alternative and reasonable process to get visas, it would be almost impossible to achieve a retirement visa.
I'm 80 and would probably die in the Immigration Office while waiting for my visa.

You don`t understand what am I saying: there are immigration agent companies and tourist/travel agent companies, these are two different things with two different licenses and it is not translated misnomer. Immigration agent company takes sponsor letter for you in your case from travel agency that is authorised to issue sponsor letter for retirees and probably pays them some fee for that.

 

[centurion]

It is good in my opinion. Cutting off all the non necessary cost/third party being involved to get visa will help to bring down the cost of getting visa permits and maybe also some corruption being involved. But the whole procedure to obtain visa should be simplified to the maximum to avoid any misinterpretation of rules and immigration law. All people who will apply for visa will have to get accustomed with some basic law, longevity of the whole procedure and each step ( for spouses) for foreign workers (HR dep. should know all this). No more relaying on agents laziness and the agents will no more neglect their own customers.
The positive difference can be seen with prices 3.5 jt vs 20 jt till 50 jt for kitap.

All this could be done without agent anyway till now.

I think the problem is with Indonesian employees who don`t understand immigration procedures-maybe they don`t do it very often, or they are busy with other stuff, or the company is far from Jakarta and they must use some kind of agent to submit the documents. Also KanIms are not user friendly, you must know all applicable laws or procedures

My staff in the company where I worked did all permits for me and we did not use any agents, but I had to tech them how to do it.

 

[SekolahVictoryPlus]

We use an agent who liases with our HR staff. I wonder how it will affect us.

 

[kroshka]

i wonder how a foreign company wanting to set up a representative office here will manage that themselves.. kitas is one of the first things you need to get in this process...

 

[nd_eric_77]

We use an agent who liases with our HR staff. I wonder how it will affect us.

Ditto here. I hope the process stays the same; have no desire to try to jump through bureaucratic hoops on my own. The current renewal process only involves me in 2 steps: health check and photo / fingerprint. Then the renewed KITAS arrives 2 weeks later.

 

[jstar]

Spoke with two agents and according to them it's 'business as usual'; they are currently working on some ITAS/P extensions. One made the remark: "Ha, there are not hundreds but thousands, will they provide us all with new jobs?".

 

[Davita]

You don`t understand what am I saying: there are immigration agent companies and tourist/travel agent companies, these are two different things with two different licenses and it is not translated misnomer. Immigration agent company takes sponsor letter for you in your case from travel agency that is authorised to issue sponsor letter for retirees and probably pays them some fee for that.

I asked my Agent what Travel Agent he used to do what you suggest and he laughed. He says his Company is the authorised Company to transact visa applications and sponsor applicants. His Company plaque, with Gov't registration No., is on the wall for everyone to see and his Company IS my sponsor.

He says it's mostly the other way around and travel agents call his office to ascertain visa requirements for their clients

I've been to many Travel Agents to book tickets and never seen they offer visas etc. Can you tell me of any?

I think you are talking about those unregistered agents that, for years, I've been warning newbies about...on this forum and others. I always suggested, before employing them, to ask for their registration number and validate.

Those are likely the ones that Immigration are attempting to cancel.

 

[atlantis]

I have never before seen "IMI" as an identifier before; I'm used to UU, PP, Perpres, Keppres, etc.

They are mainly Operational Guidelines enacted by the Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi or by any of his direktur. The lowest hierarchy of regs.

 

[atlantis]

One made the remark: "Ha, there are not hundreds but thousands, will they provide us all with new jobs?".

This, in my opinion, is the key. As for many attempt at reforming things in Indonesia, sooner or later reality comes back to bite the reformer.

 

[kroshka]

Here is a bit more about this

http://indonesiaexpat.biz/featured/rules-change-for-agents-visa-kitas/

I am interested in knowing how a "bule" working abroad will be able to attend all these up to 7 meetings before he gets his kitas... that i presume will require a lot of holiday, more trips, and high cost in hotels etc... Gila...

 

[fastpitch17]

Everyone is all worried about your visa when the biggest effect may be to those that represent the locals with passports and things.

 

[Smallworld]

All this could be done without agent anyway till now.

I think the problem is with Indonesian employees who don`t understand immigration procedures-maybe they don`t do it very often, or they are busy with other stuff, or the company is far from Jakarta and they must use some kind of agent to submit the documents. Also KanIms are not user friendly, you must know all applicable laws or procedures

My staff in the company where I worked did all permits for me and we did not use any agents, but I had to tech them how to do it.

I know .. you know... but tell that to all immigrants coming here to Indonesia without knowing English and Indonesian language eg. Korean, Japanese, Chinese ect. For most of them using an agent would be the preferred choice to avoid all the problems with Immigration Office. Is it really that hard to give them (Immigrants) some form to fill up (simple one - not 10 double side pages ) in their own language, attach photo (take finger prints - if for the first time) + confirmation of payment for the visa together with valid passport? Why do they have to keep the passport for so long time?

 

[centurion]

Different example how the petty corruption is solved in Jakarta under Ahok.
We deal often with Jakarta local government institutions, kecamatans, kelurahans etc around the city for various documents.
Officials working with clients kelurahan level and up are all under cameras and all cameras are linked to governor`s personal office so he can watch them if he wants. Nobody asked us money in last 2 years.
New young people are employed, they are polite, explain you what you need to solve your problem and they refuse money if you offer some.

When I came to Indonesia five years ago and my wife registered her company, a kelurahan employee asked 2 milion Rp for domicile letter(we didn`t give,we complained to lurah and got the paper for free, but it was a usual practice everywhere).

 

[godmachine12]

Spoke with two agents and according to them it's 'business as usual'; they are currently working on some ITAS/P extensions. One made the remark: "Ha, there are not hundreds but thousands, will they provide us all with new jobs?".

Another well thought out plan indeed. :-D

 

[Davita]

My wife just received a text from our Agent. He has a Gov't Registered license to apply for visas etc. and will continue in his business.

He said there are many who aren't properly registered with the Federal Gov't, but get dubious licenses from municipalities etc., and who have had access to Imigrasi through the back door.
He says those are the ones being eliminated.

 

[centurion]

I think your agent`s licence is not valid any more, at least for immigration services-maybe you can forward the decision to him.

Of course many of them will restructure their business and approach and do it as consultants, do it by private PoA, or bring the sponsors with them when submitting documents. They will not tell you that they are out of work if they have 20 salaries to pay every month.

 

[Davita]

I think your agent`s licence is not valid any more, at least for immigration services-maybe you can forward the decision to him.

Of course many of them will restructure their business and approach and do it as consultants, do it by private PoA, or bring the sponsors with them when submitting documents. They will not tell you that they are out of work if they have 20 salaries to pay every month.

My agent has already advised us of his status...no need for me to forward your unverified thinking that his licence is no longer valid.

He has a major business with two offices in Bali and one in Jakarta and employs many immigration experts and lawyers. His head office is still functioning as normal as we called in there today but he wasn't in....thus the text message.

 

[fastpitch17]

Get in line like everyone else.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/...ay-require-foreigners--to-join-the-queue.html

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.