Free Visa Visit Of 159 Countries Revoked, Jokowi Affirms Evaluation Of Benefits To Indonesia

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that the revocation of free visit visas for 159 countries to enter Indonesia was carried out based on evaluation and consideration of receiving benefits.

"There must be an evaluation. In the past, we opened the total, did the evaluation provide benefits to the state or not? Oh, this is not. This country needs to be opened or closed? It must be evaluated," said Jokowi after reviewing the prices of basic commodities in Bogor Regency, West Java, reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, June 21.

According to Jokowi, other countries also have similar evaluations in implementing visa-free entry policies. Each country has the right to continue or revoke the visa-free status, as Indonesia is currently doing.

"All countries like that must have an evaluation. There is an evaluation of the benefits and whether or not," said Jokowi.

Before being revoked, as many as 159 countries were included in 169 countries as free recipients of visit visas with 10 ASEAN countries.

Currently, there are only 10 countries that are subject to free visit visas, namely ASEAN member countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam.

Free of visit visas is valid for 30 days and cannot be extended. The requirements that must be shown to immigration officers at TPI are passports that are still valid for at least 6 months, as well as tickets to leave Indonesian territory.

The temporary suspension of the visit visa-free policy (BVK) for 159 countries was stipulated through the Decree of the Minister of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia Number M.HH-GR.01.07 of 2023, which was passed on June 7, 2023.

According to information on the official website of the Directorate General of Immigration, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, granting free visit visas has an impact on aspects of state life.

The aspects of state life in question include disturbances in public order and the spread of disease from countries that have not been declared clean or free of certain diseases from the World Health Organization.