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More than 1,000 foreigners nabbed for immigration violations

The Immigration Directorate General nabbed more than 1,000 foreigners for immigration violations during nationwide, three-day sting to enforce immigration law that lasted from Tuesday to Thursday

The Jakarta Post
Sat, May 9, 2015

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More than 1,000 foreigners nabbed for immigration violations

T

he Immigration Directorate General nabbed more than 1,000 foreigners for immigration violations during nationwide, three-day sting to enforce immigration law that lasted from Tuesday to Thursday.

Foreigners were arrested for visa and work permit violations, illegal entry and using fictitious sponsors, head of the investigation subdirectorate, Bambang Catur, announced on Friday.

He added that Chinese nationals made up the bulk of those arrested, which also included British, German, South Korean and Bangladeshi nationals.

The Manokwari Immigration Office nabbed the most foreigners, at 342, followed by the Tual Immigration Agency, which arrested 130 people, and the Depok Immigration Office, which nabbed 80 people.

Catur said the operation, which would be held quarterly, involved 120 immigration offices across the country to monitor foreigners entering and those who were already in the country.

The monitoring involves border control management, enabling immigration offices to track foreigners' movement across Indonesia, as well as monitoring the foreigners monitoring information system (PORA), which allows the public to file reports to immigration offices on the presence of suspicious foreigners.

The security measure was considered urgent, especially with the government's plan to waive visas for more than 30 countries.

"Our intention is not to spy on foreigners, but to make sure they abide by the law," Catur said.

Indonesia plans to extend a visa-free policy to a host of countries, including China, Japan, South Korea and Russia in the first stage, before adding 30 more countries, including Canada, Mexico and the US, in a second stage.

The plan is still being discussed, as the Immigration Law stipulates that such visa-waiver practice must be done on a reciprocal basis.

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