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Indonesia settles passport trouble with Germany
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An illustration of Indonesian passports. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he German Embassy in Jakarta will now recognize the use of Indonesian passports with add-on signatures for visa applications, as the two governments have agreed to settle the problem with a certain type of Indonesian passport that had resulted in the rejection of visa applicants.
The passports in question lack a place for the signature of the holder, an omission to which German immigration officials had objected.
“Passports with add-on signatures [of holders] which have been validated by Indonesian immigration authorities can be used to apply for a visa, effective immediately,” the German Embassy said on Instagram on Wednesday.
Achmad Nur Saleh, spokesperson for the Immigration Directorate General at the Law and Human Rights Ministry, urged holders of this type of passport wanting to apply for a German visa to immediately file a request for the signature section addition on the endorsement pages of their passports.
Endorsement pages are on the fourth and fifth pages of Indonesian passports and typically are used to display a name change through marriage or divorce.
“The process to add a signature section can be done either in immigration offices in Indonesia or Indonesian diplomatic missions abroad,” Achmad said on Thursday.
Passport holders must provide ID cards for verification, according to director for immigration traffic Amran Aris.
