16 Passport Applicants In Batam Allegedly Strong Will Illegal Migrant Workers Be Rejected By Immigration

Illustration of passports issued by Indonesian Immigration. (Between)

KEPRI - Immigration Office for Immigration Checkpoints (TPI) Batam, Riau Islands (Kepri) rejected the issuance of 16 passport applications suspected of being illegal or non-procedural Indonesian migrant workers.

Head of the Immigration Information and Communication Section of the Batam Immigration Office, Kharisma Rukmana, said the rejection was in the period January-February 2025.

"A total of eight applications have been rejected for passport applications in January 2025, as well as in February, eight applications were rejected. Usually, because they provide incorrect information or are indicated to be non-procedural PMIs," said Kharisma in Batam, Tuesday, March 25, quoted by Antara.

According to Kharisma, his party continues to strive to tighten the issuance of passports, as a precautionary measure for illegal PMI travel to criminal acts of trafficking in persons (TPPO) which are increasingly rife overseas.

He added that Batam Immigration has also formed fostered villages as an effort to strengthen surveillance of foreigners and prevent criminal acts of trafficking in persons in the area.

Kharisma added, in each of the Immigration-instructed villages there are Village Guidance Officers (Pimasa), who will provide counseling to the public so as not to become victims of criminal acts of trafficking in persons (TPPO).

"This is an innovation from Immigration. It has been formed in two urban villages. Later it will continue to increase and be formed in other urban villages. The reason for these two locations is because they see several prominent cases related to TIP," he said.

In a day, Batam Immigration opens services through M-passor as many as 200 applicants.

"There is also a quota for 50 priority applicants and an acceleration quota of 20 applicants who come directly and 10 applicants through the M-passor application," he said.

Separately, the Minister for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI) Abdul Kadir Karding suggested that Indonesian migrant workers who wish to work abroad comply with the regulations and prepare the predetermined documents.

Minister Karding reminded people who want to become migrant workers not to be easily tempted by the lure of large salaries of work abroad so they are desperate to go illegally. According to him, leaving officially will make it easier for the government to protect Indonesian migrant workers abroad.

"The message to the public, that if you want to work abroad, it must be according to procedures, so that the government can protect and be present in this context," said Minister Karding recently.