Immigration Issues Diaspora Visa Valid 5 Or 10 Years

Director General of Immigration, Silmy Karim. (ANTARA/HO-Ditjen Immigration)

The Directorate General of Immigration of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights has issued a Visa Diaspora service for Indonesian diaspora, namely those who have been Indonesian citizens, were born in Indonesia, or have Indonesian lineages but are currently foreign nationals and live abroad. The Visa Diaspora service is valid for 5 years or 10 years. “Diaspora Indonesia yang ingin memberikan kontribusi kepada Tanah Air terbang dengan belum adanya kebijakan yang memfasilitasi. Diaspora adalah aset sehingga kami hadirkan Visa Diaspora sebagai respons untuk kesulitan mereka,” kata Direktur Jenderal Imigrasi Silmy Karim dalam siaran resmi yang diterima di Jakarta, Antara, Jumat, 17 November. He continued that the diaspora could take advantage of Visa Diaspora to stay longer in the country and contribute to Indonesia. “ They can feel that our country is their home too, where they can work. So, there is a sense of belonging (rasa owns, ed.) to Indonesia,” said Silmy. He explained that Visa Diaspora also includes residence permits for its applicants, and those who apply for visas do not need a guarantor as a condition for residence permits that generally apply for foreigners who want to settle in Indonesia. For Visa Diaspora's application, Silmy conveyed that the diaspora only needed to prepare passports (a minimum validity period of 12 months), proof of living expenses, when the photo is colored, a statement containing a commitment to buy Indonesian Government Bonds worth public company shares / mutual funds in Indonesia, or store money in the form of deposits worth US $ 35,000 (approximately IDR 542 million). The statement letter was submitted to Immigration within 90 days of arrival in Indonesia. Another requirement is documents that prove that the applicant has been an Indonesian citizen (WNI), for example such as a identity card (KTP), birth certificate, family card, passport of the Republic of Indonesia, diploma, or house certificate. Silmy said the Visa Diaspora facility is currently also implemented by India, Ireland, and Portugal. India, for example, implemented the “ Overseas Citizen of India ” (OCI) program which grants longer stay permits in India for its diaspora abroad. Not only that, India also allows its diaspora to own property in India. “Policies in other countries that are good and useful need us to imitate. Don't waste the potential of Indonesian diaspora so that they can contribute to Indonesia, ” said the Director General of Immigration of the Republic of Indonesia.

Immigration noted that at least 6 million Indonesian diaspora were spread across 18 countries, including in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, China, Suriname, Madagascar, the United States, the Netherlands, Timor Leste, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Germany, South Korea, South Africa, New Caledonia, Hong Kong and Taiwan (China).