Don't Let Golden Visa Collaborate With People Who Don't Benefit

President Joko Widodo gave Golden Visa to the Indonesian Football National Team Coach Shin Tae-yong at the Golden Visa launch event in Jakarta, Thursday (25/7/2024). (ANTARA/Erlangga Bregas Prakoso/rwa/aa)

JAKARTA The launch of Golden Visa for foreign nationals (foreigners) is predicted to make Indonesia even sexier in the eyes of investors. Tourism experts say this is a strategic step that can have a positive impact on the tourism and economic sectors.

President Joko Widodo officially launched Golden Visa in Jakarta on Thursday (25/7/2024). Jokowi hopes that Golden Visa facilities will soon be disseminated and socialized massively in order to reach quality global investors and talents. At the launch event, the former Governor of DKI Jakarta symbolically gave Golden Visa to the coach of the Indonesian football national team, Shin Tae-yong.

"By saying Bismillairrahmanirrahim, today I launched the Golden Visa and I invite the world's citizens to come to invest and work in Indonesia," said the president in his remarks.

The Golden Visa service aims to make it easier for foreign nationals (WNA) to invest and work in Indonesia. Jokowi also hopes that this facility can attract more quality global investment and talent actors.

However, this facility was originally intended to be implemented with great care, so that only foreigners who are truly qualified can get this Golden Visa.

After being discussed in the last few days, many people have been wondering about Golden Visa. The reason is, this type of visa is not something that is commonly discussed, even though the plan to give it has been discussed since last year.

In general, Golden Visa is a rule used by a country to grant residence permits or citizenship permits to foreign nationals who invest or pay certain fees.

In Indonesia itself, Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights (Permenkumham) Number 22 of 2023 concerning Visa and Residence Permits and Regulation of the Minister of Finance Number 82 of 2023 which was promulgated on August 30, 2023, became the basis for the implementation of the Golden Visa policy.

Chapter V Article 184 of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Number 22 of 2023 concerning Visa and Stay Permits explains, Golden Visa is a grouping of limited stay visas, permanent residence permits, and re-entry permits for a certain period of time, which is a maximum of 5 or 10 years. Golden Visa is given to carry out investment activities, family union, repatriation, and the second house.

Based on information on the Directorate General of Immigration's website, this visa classification is intended for quality foreigners who will benefit from the development of the country's economy, one of which is investors, both corporations and individuals.

Indonesia is not the first country to offer Golden Visa to foreigners. The United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Germany, New Zealand, Italy, and Spain have already implemented similar visas. Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, neighboring Malaysia and Singapore already had a Golden Visa similar scheme.

The practice of Golden Visa policy has become an instrument in several countries in order to attract foreign investors. Director General of Immigration of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Silmy Karim gave an example of several positive impacts on a similar policy of Golden Visa, including making Denmark one of the leading countries in innovation. Meanwhile, the UAE became a favorite destination country for foreign investors thanks to this special visa policy.

Golden Visa Indonesia allows individual investors to have a five-year stay as long as they invest at least 2.5 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 38 billion. Their stay period will be doubled if their investment reaches 5 million US dollars or Rp. 76 billion.

Tourism observer Taufan Rahmadi responded to the Golden Visa policy which was just inaugurated by President Jokowi. According to him, this policy shows that when the tourism sector progresses, investment will grow following these developments.

"This is a strategic step that can have a positive impact on Indonesia's tourism and economic sectors as a whole," said Taufan through his statement.

Taufan added that this policy could be a solution to strengthen the tourism sector after being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism sector is one of the most affected when Indonesia, and other countries in the world, are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022.

However, the Golden Visa policy must also be implemented with strict supervision. Recently, the tourism sector in Indonesia has been twisted by the problems of foreign tourists who often cause trouble, as is often reported in Bali, one of the favorite tourist destinations for foreign tourists.

President Jokowi has also warned that the provision of Golden Visa facilities to foreigners must be carried out selectively by paying attention to the contributions made. Jokowi emphasized that anyone who does not contribute to the state must not get the Golden Visa.

"Remember (Golden Visa) only for good quality travelers, so it must be really selective and really seen for its contribution. Do not let people who endanger the security of the country pass people who do not benefit nationally," Jokowi emphasized.

The problem is, corrupt behavior in Indonesia is still very high. Without a complete eradication of corruption, Golden Visa many doubt that the public will be effective in inviting foreign investors.