T

he lack of transparency at immigration offices regarding the time length and procedures of passport applications and renewal opens the door to illegal fee collection and bribery.

It has been claimed it is no longer a public secret that some citizens choose to use middlemen, some with official name tags issued by the immigration offices, who can be found around immigration offices in Jakarta, or directly bribe officers.

The reason this happens has been said to be because it enables people to queue jump and receive a new passport within two days, or even on the same day of application.

An officer at the Kemayoran Immigration Office in Central Jakarta, for instance, offered a fast track, one-day servicing process that costs Rp 1 million (US$111).

"I tell other officers that your application is one from my family. It can then be done by that afternoon," the officer said Wednesday.

The official passport process fee is Rp 270,000.

A middleman who spoke to The Jakarta Post on condition of anonymity said that he charged his clients around Rp 800,000 for a two-day process.

"I give the immigration office Rp 600,000, and the rest goes into my pocket," he said.

The middleman also explained that fast-track charges could be as high as Rp 1.5 million.

It means, if there were 100 applicants per day arriving at the immigration office, and 50 of them paid Rp 800,000 to fast track their applications, the circulation of illegal money could reach up to more than Rp 500 million ($55,500) per month at Kemayoran alone.

Many applicants have fallen victim to such illegal practice as they reportedly become confused with the procedures by which they have to undertake.

"Procedures to apply for a new passport is complicated," said passport applicant Adi from Mangga Besar area.

Although the mechanism is written on announcement boards at immigration offices, many applicants experience difficulties in following it due to the lack of detail.

For example, applicants have to purchase application forms, but many say they are not told the cost or where to get them.

They are also not informed that the official time length to process a passport is four working days.

In practice, applicants have to wait up to three weeks to obtain a passport.

Dani, not his real name, visited the Beos Kota Immigration Office in West Jakarta to renew his soon-to-expire passport. He had been waiting for more than two hours and complained about the time-length and procedures it took to submit his passport renewal application.

"I don't understand why the department requires my personal data again. I think once they have my old passport, they can access the data needed for renewal," he said.

"The bureaucracy at the immigration office was a joke," said Dani, who then used the service offered by a middleman.

Commenting on the prevalence of bribery and issues with middlemen at immigration offices in Jakarta, Maroloan Barimbing, spokesman of the Directorate General of Immigration at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, said: "Instructions and procedures on passport applications have been set in stone. We recommend citizens report such illegal practice so that we can act upon them."

Illian Deta Arta Sari, a legal researcher of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), said prolonged and complicated passport application procedures had essentially perpetuated the vicious cycle of illegal fee collection practice and bribery at immigration offices.

"The mechanism of passport applications at the immigration offices seems to have been established in a way that will ensure the practice exists and continues," she said.

Immigration offices require applicants to visit three times. First, they need to buy application forms, including official stamps, costing them Rp 15,000.

After filling out the forms, they need to present both original and copied documents of their identification and family cards, along with birth certificates, and other supporting documents such as educational diplomas and sponsor letters from institutions or employers.

The original documents are returned to applicants after the verification process.

If approved, applicants need to return to the office, usually a week after the first application submission, to pay Rp 270,000 ($30) for the process fee, fingerprint scanning, photographs and an interview.