Director General of Immigration Requests Evaluation of Free Visa for Visit

JAKARTA - Director General (Dirjen) of Immigration Hendarsam Marantoko asked for the granting of visa-free visit (BVK) for a number of countries proposed by the Ministry of Tourism (Kemenpar) to the DPR RI in early June 2026 to be evaluated to prevent the entry of unqualified tourists.

He said that the policy had already been carried out from 2015 to 2024 for 165 countries, but it did not have a significant impact on the increase in foreign exchange for the country.

"We ask that this (proposal) be reconsidered, evaluated, because it is related to the problem of visa-free visits, which has already been done before," said Hendarsam as reported by ANTARA, Monday, June 22.

He explained that since the number of countries receiving visa-free services has been limited to 16 countries in 2025, there has been an increase in foreign tourist visits, which exceeds the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, namely 14.3 million visits.

In addition, he said, Immigration has the main task of maintaining the sovereignty of security and the economic sovereignty of the nation and ensuring that foreign nationals who enter are qualified to have an impact on the community's economy and do not interfere with public order and security.

"We don't want to say that I think all of our people don't want tourists to enter, foreigners who enter are not qualified. We don't want it, we give a visa entry fee to foreign nationals, it uses costs. When we free it, what does it mean? We are trading our country. Where is the dignity of our nation," said Hendarsam.

Another issue that is feared is related to security problems. Previously, Immigration and the National Police had secured a number of foreign nationals who were suspected of committing online fraud in a number of areas.

He said that many of the modes used by foreign nationals who were not qualified to enter Indonesia, such as traveling as a backpacker, coming in claiming to be security officers, and others.

Hendarsam said there are many ways to improve the quality of Indonesian tourism so that it can bring in foreign tourists without having to increase the number of visa-free countries.

He emphasized that the number of visa-free countries for visiting tourists was not proportional to the country's foreign exchange income from foreign tourist visits. The data proved that when the number of visa-free countries for visiting tourists was reduced to 16 countries, the number of foreign tourist visits increased.

"What does it mean? There have been studies, there are many things that must be improved, infrastructure problems, problems of international flight access to Indonesia, flight access from one region to another. So, many progressive steps must be taken," he said.

Regarding this policy, Hendarsam emphasized that his party focused on security problems. His party does not want foreign nationals who enter to interfere with security, order, and the sovereignty of security and the sovereignty of the Indonesian economy.

"You can imagine that at this time there are many foreign nationals who acquire local people's jobs that they should not do. Imagine if (BVK) is opened, we are ready or not to face it, so that we are not like other countries," he said.

It is known that the Ministry of Tourism in a working meeting with Commission VII of the DPR in early June 2026 proposed a visa-free visit for a number of countries to strengthen the flow of foreign tourists (wisman) as a result of flight connectivity disruptions through the Middle East region.

The proposal for a visa-free visit includes 8+1 countries between East and South Asia such as South Korea, Japan, and India. Then, countries in Australia, New Zealand, and an expansion for Singapore's permanent residents.