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Govt promises to fix Indonesian passport trouble
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The Law and Human Rights Ministry and Foreign Ministry are working to solve a problem with certain Indonesian passports that has resulted in the German Embassy’s rejection of visa applicants. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he Law and Human Rights Ministry and Foreign Ministry are working to solve a problem with certain Indonesian passports that has resulted in the German Embassy’s rejection of visa applicants.
The passports in question lack a place for the signature of the holder, an omission that German immigration officials have objected to. Authorities are still discussing the issue with the German Embassy in Jakarta, according to a press release sent on Sunday by the Immigration Directorate General, which is under the law ministry.
Seeking an interim fix, director for immigration traffic Amran Aris has instructed immigration offices to accommodate requests from passport holders to add signatures to the endorsement pages of their passports.
Endorsement pages are sometimes used to display a name change through marriage or divorce.
"Holders wanting to have their signatures displayed on the endorsement page of the passport can file a request either with immigration [officials] or Indonesian embassies abroad free of charge," Amran said, citing “efficiency” as the reason for the 2019 launch of a passport without a section for the holder’s signature.
The German Embassy website, when accessed on Sunday, said Indonesian “passports without a signature section” could not be used to apply for a visa until further notice and that the two governments were still seeking a solution to the matter.
The website also noted that add-on signatures on the endorsement pages of the passports were “not recognized as a substitute for the required signature section”.
