Foreign entertainers warned for visa misuse

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/16/2008 12:50 PM  |  National

Foreign entertainers presumed to have misused their visas have been granted leniency by the directorate general of immigration, who vowed to deport permit violators in the future.

"Good looking, multi-talented and vibrant foreign national artists find it easy to get jobs here because several production houses will hire them. It sometimes causes them to forget to follow procedures as foreigners," Syaiful Rahman, the director for investigation and immigration violation affairs, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He said the entertainers were doing jobs other than those listed on their work permits.

Many people of foreign descent who speak Indonesian work in films, television soap operas and in modeling. Some have recently faced questioning by the immigration office for alleged visa violations.

Among them were prominent actress and British national Rianti Cartwright, whose film Ayat-ayat cinta (Verses of Love) drew a record three millions viewers, Dutch singer Rebecca and Australian actor Andrew White.

"Andrew is fine because he has all the permits that we require. With Rebecca, we used to have a problem with her visa when she had no sponsor while she appeared in an advertisement. Now she has a sponsor," Syaiful said, rebutting the suggestion that the foreign nationals had been targeted deliberately.

"This is a routine procedure. We don't just check on the artists, but also on foreigners from other professions."

He said like other foreigners, entertainers had to follow the correct procedure to obtain work permits. They are also required to have official sponsors.

"The companies they work for usually arrange or renew their work permits. However, sometimes artists become victims when companies ignore their responsibility to renew permits."

One of these entertainers was Wahyu Suparno Putro, an Australian who was sent home by the Indonesian immigration office this month after he was found to have overstayed.

"His visa had expired last year. However, it's not entirely Wahyu's fault because we investigated and found out that his sponsor had been irresponsible about renewing his permit," Syaiful said.

Wahyu has foster parents in Yogyakarta, but no relatives in Australia.

"The Australian government confirmed his background. We later decided not to deport Wahyu. We just sent him to Australia and he can return here when he secures a legal work permit," Syaiful said.

He added the government had not punished Rianti, the daughter of an English father and an Indonesia mother either.just reprimanded her," he said.

Rianti's manager, Ade, said Rianti had always followed procedure.

"She has been sponsored by PT Global TV where she works as an MTV video jockey. Besides, her mother is also an Indonesian. So she has no problem with the immigration office," Ade said.

Syaiful said the immigration office would work with the Ministry of Manpower to prevent the misuse of visas.realize that we should better inform foreigners, especially those who work in the entertainment business, about the regulation," he said. (trw)

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