TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsGovt raises chance to review visa waiver policy
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Foreign nationals, who police said were mainly from Vietnam, suspected of running an online gambling operation for two months at an office building, are led to transportation after being arrested on May 10 in Jakarta.. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
T
he government is mulling a review of its visa waiver scheme after multiple raids exposed hundreds of foreign nationals allegedly abusing the facility to enter Indonesia and run online gambling and scam operations from Jakarta and two other cities.
Authorities last week raided an online gambling den in West Jakarta and scamming syndicates in Batam, Riau Islands, and Surabaya, East Java, and arrested more than 500 foreigners allegedly involved in the cybercrimes.
Immigration Director General Hendarsam Marantoko said that over the past few weeks, there have been a total of five separate crackdowns on cybercrime syndicates involving foreigners, mostly from Vietnam and Cambodia, two Southeast Asian countries whose citizens are eligible for a 30-day visa-free entry to Indonesia.
All citizens of ASEAN member states are eligible for the visa-free facility, as well as those coming from Suriname, Hong Kong, Colombia, Turkey, Brazil and Peru, according to the ministry’s database.
"Cases of foreigners involved in illegal activities, including those coming from countries granted visa-free entry facilities, bring about [the need] for us to evaluate [the scheme],” Hendarsam said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We emphasize that only foreigners who bring benefits and do not endanger public security can enter Indonesian territory,” he added.
Hendarsam went on to say that the latest raid in West Jakarta showed the majority of the 320 arrested foreigners were either holding a visitor stay permit or entered Indonesia on visa-free travel or visa-on-arrival. Immigration authorities have also identified 15 guarantors sponsoring the visas of some of these individuals.
