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View all search resultsDiaspora skeptical of new lifetime visa
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Stock illustration of an Indonesian visa. (Shutterstock/Paolo Gallo)
T
he diaspora community is skeptical of the newly launched policy granting former Indonesian citizens and their families stay permits for an unlimited period, calling it an investment-driven scheme that does not address the country’s brain drain phenomenon.
Immigration and Corrections Minister Agus Andrianto announced the Global Citizenship of Indonesia (GCI) program in an event in Jakarta last Wednesday, promoting it as the government’s much-awaited substitute for the dual citizenship long demanded by Indonesians abroad.
The policy offers former Indonesian citizens, foreign nationals of Indonesian descent up to the second degree, foreigners married to Indonesian nationals and children from mixed marriages either lifetime visas and stay permits or the so-called multiple-entry diaspora visas valid for one, five or 10 years.
Agus said the initiative granted “broad residency rights to foreign nationals with strong ties to Indonesia without changing their foreign citizenship status”, and that it demonstrated “Indonesia’s ability to adapt to global dynamics without sacrificing the principle of sovereignty over citizenship”.
The lifetime visa, laid out in a ministerial regulation Agus signed earlier this year, is modeled after the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) scheme, which grants a lifelong, multiple-entry visa to foreigners of Indian ancestry and their spouses holding foreign passports.
Those seeking the unlimited visa can apply through the ministry’s visa portal evisa.imigrasi.go.id.
No one has applied since the program started a week ago, Immigration Directorate General spokesperson Ajeng Rahma told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
