Kumham Imipas Sepakat Pemberian Bebas Visa bagi Kazakhstan dan Makau

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Ministry for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections has agreed to provide visa-free visit (BVK) facilities for Kazakhstan and Macau.

Acting Deputy for Coordination of Immigration Services Strategy of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Imipas Herdaus, said that the policy of providing BVK facilities must still consider the principle of prudence and the principle of reciprocity.

"This is important considering that there are still countries that have not provided similar facilities to Indonesian citizens," said Herdaus in the meeting, as reported by ANTARA from a written statement, Wednesday, May 13.

Meanwhile, the BVK proposal for Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand still requires further study before being designated as a BVK subject country.

According to him, the discussion of the BVK policy must be carried out carefully by considering various strategic aspects of the country, such as paying attention to the balance between ease of service, the improvement of the tourism sector, and the security aspects of the country.

Therefore, he said, cross-ministerial and inter-agency coordination is important so that the policies taken remain in line with national interests.

The coordination meeting was held as an effort to strengthen cross-ministerial and inter-agency coordination in formulating immigration policies that support the national tourism sector while maintaining aspects of immigration security and supervision.

The activity was also attended by representatives from the Ministry of Tourism (Kemenpar), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections (Imipas), the Ministry of Law, and other related ministries/institutions.

The discussion focused on the proposal to add BVK facilities for Macau, Kazakhstan, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand, as well as the proposal to grant a Visa on Arrival (VoA) for Australian permanent residents.

The Ministry of Tourism conveyed that the BVK policy was an important instrument to increase foreign tourist visits and support the growth of the national tourism sector. The government targets the number of foreign tourist visits to reach 16 million, as before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Immigration of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights also emphasized the importance of implementing selective policies and strengthening screening of foreign nationals to prevent potential misuse of the BVK facility.

Even so, the forum assessed that the increase in foreign tourist visits was not solely influenced by the BVK policy. The implementation of VoA and e-VoA is also considered to have contributed significantly to the increase in foreign tourist mobility to Indonesia.

Therefore, every proposal needs to be comprehensively studied by considering economic benefits, aspects of immigration supervision, and its impact on bilateral relations between countries.

Through cross-ministerial and inter-agency coordination, the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration continues to encourage immigration policies that are adaptive, selective, and support national interests.