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City nets 55 expats without appropriate visa, work documents
During its annual inspection in 2008, the City Population and Civil Registration Agency found that 55 of the 241 expatriates inspected at 62 companies across the capital failed to hold the complete necessary immigration and work documents
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During its annual inspection in 2008, the City Population and Civil Registration Agency found that 55 of the 241 expatriates inspected at 62 companies across the capital failed to hold the complete necessary immigration and work documents.
Twenty-nine foreign nationals were found not to have renewed their visitor identity cards, 12 foreigners could not confirm their address, eight failed to renew their temporary stay permits, four had no working license and two had no letter of self-report from the police.
"During the 20-day inspection, conducted in five municipalities across the capital in December, North Jakarta recorded the most violators, followed by South, West, East and Central Jakarta," Edison Sianturi, head of the monitoring and controlling division at the agency, said.
"It's not surprising because the first two areas are indeed home to companies that employ foreign workers.
"Japanese and Koreans topped the list of violators. We also found some Americans and Europeans who did not have complete documents," he said.
He said officers of his agency came to the human resources departments of 62 companies to check the documents of their foreign workers.
"If any documents were missing, we asked them to process them. We did not impose any sanctions because we tend to use persuasive actions instead of harsh ones," Edison said.
"We gave them some time to complete the documents. The great part was, the expatriates were very responsive and immediately arranged the missing papers," he said.
Franky Mangatas Panjaitan, head of the population agency, said his office usually inspected foreign nationals' permits once a year.
According to data held by the population agency, there are 49,000 foreign nationals with extendible visit permits and 5,000 permanent residents who have lived in Jakarta for more than five years in a row.
The aim of the operation is to control the city population and to detect any foreign nationals staying the city illegally, he said.
"Not all foreign nationals have good intentions," Franky added.
In December 2008, the city police arrested 40 Chinese nationals, two Vietnamese nationals, two Thai nationals, three Uzbekistanis and one Mongolian during a 10-day raid, dubbed Operasi Bunga (Flower Operation). The foreign nationals, mostly women, were netted at cafes and bars and are suspected of being victims of human trafficking.
In total the operation recorded 16 trafficking violations and apprehended 321 women, who were mostly involved in prostitution.
Edison said that this year the agency might hold a similar inspection after July.
He said every foreign worker must hold a passport, visitor identity card (KIP) issued by the administration, a temporary stay permit (KITAS) issued by the immigration office, a working license (IKTA) from the manpower agency and a letter of self-report (SMD) from the police.
