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Govt to review free-visa policy amid violations
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Two surfers on Kuta Beach, Bali carry their boards while Indonesian Military members
fly Indonesian flags from jet skis in the background, on Aug 16. JP/Zul Trio Anggono (The Jakarta Post/Zul Trio Anggono)
T
he Directorate General of Immigration at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry is planning to review the free-visa policy given to citizens from 169 countries following violations by a number of foreigners since the implementation.
The directorate general recorded more than 100 misuses of visas so far this year, spokesman Heru Santoso said on Friday.
"It is hoped that these violations by foreign citizens of the free-visa policy can be used as material for evaluation and studies by the government on evaluating the visa-free policy," Heru told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Chinese, Bangladeshi and Thai citizens top the list of visa violators in Indonesia with 57 cases, 24 and 12 respectively. Moreover, Nigeria and South Korea round up the top five with 10 and nine cases respectively, he added.
For example, Bali Immigration Office arrested 41 foreigners in a crackdown in July when officials netted Chinese nationals posing as Buddhist monks begging at Bali's tourism sites. Foreigners were also netted in crackdowns on people working or operating businesses while here on tourist visas.
First introduced in June last year, the government added more countries to the policy in March in a bid to boost foreign visitors to the country. The policy is part of the government's efforts to attract 20 million tourists by 2019. (rin)
