Denpasar Immigration Returns Venezuela's Asal Restaurant Searcher

DENPASAR - Denpasar Immigration Office, Bali, has sent asylum seekers from Venezuela back to their country at their own expense because there is no clarity regarding the destination country.

"The voluntary return of Venezuelan foreigners is a form of protection for asylum seekers and refugees," said Head of the Bali Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) Romi Yudianto in Denpasar, Tuesday, January 16.

According to him, voluntary repatriation is one of the options given to asylum seekers who do not get placement in destination countries or third (resettlement).

The Bali Ministry of Law and Human Rights noted that the destination countries or countries for the three recipients of refugees were countries that ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Refugee Protocol, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada.

The effort was made to reduce the number of asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia, as well as to give them the opportunity to return to their home country.

There is also a foreigner from Venezuela with the initials SEBM who has been in Bali for more than two years, who entered Indonesia via Soekarno Hatta Airport, Jakarta in August 2019, using a student visa.

Initially, the 26-year-old man received education at Udayana University (Unud) after attending a scholarship program to learn Indonesian language, arts and culture.

He explained that some of the SebM's living expenses were supported by one of the companies based in the United States.

Based on records from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights in Bali, on November 6, 2020, SEBM applied for an extension of the visa or visaonshore which allowed him to stay longer in Indonesia until February 28, 2021.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis situation in Venezuela, he could not return to his homeland.

Meanwhile, Denpasar Immigration Detention Center Head Gede Dudy Duwita added that SEBM had tried to contact the Venezuelan embassy, but had not found a solution.

As a result, over time the SEBM passport could not be updated, causing a loss of validity.

Given the emergency situation in his country, he continued, then SEBM contacted the UN Agency for refugee affairs or UNHCR and was registered as an asylum seeker on November 28, 2022.

At the end of 2023, SEBM then reported itself to the Denpasar Rudenim as an independent asylum seeker who wanted to return voluntarily to Venezuela because his mother was seriously ill.

After further examination of SEBM and intensive coordination efforts with the Directorate General of Immigration and UNHCR, Immigration then approved the process of repatriating the young man.

"With the passport that has finally been issued, SEBM then went home and continued his studies in his country," he said.

SEBM was then flown through I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, to Caracas, Venezuela.

Based on UNHCR data as of November 2023, there are around 12 thousand asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia, including around 5,000 asylum seekers and independent refugees whose living expenses are not borne by international organizations under the United Nations, one of which is the International Migration Organization (IOM).