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riginally developed by the Directorate General of Immigration to ease the passport application process, the online ticketing system (through antrian.imigrasi.go.id on the website and the Antrian Paspor app) disappointed applicants, who faced difficulties obtaining ticket numbers through the system.

Naura Nabila, a 22-year-old from Cawang, South Jakarta, complained on Wednesday about how difficult it was for her to obtain a ticket number through the immigration office’s website.

“I cannot even register myself on the website, let alone get an e-passport,” she said.

Naura, who is planning to go to Japan next April for vacation, said she tried to register for an e-passport at the South Jakarta immigration office, but failed because there were no available dates left.

“If I cannot get a ticket number by January, I will go directly to the immigration office,” she said.

Vedarini Saraswati, a 27-year-old private company employee living in Kuningan, South Jakarta, said she had to wait for an unspecified time to renew her passport.

Veda said she failed to secure a spot at any of the immigration offices across Jakarta. “I am disappointed and panicking because I want to go to Thailand next year, but my passport is only valid for another eight months before it expires,” she said.

Data from the Law and Human Rights Ministry showed that over the last two months, 22 complaints have been made about the lack of available dates for issuing a passport.

Immigration director general Ronny F. Sompie explained on Wednesday that immigration offices limited the number of applications for certain dates because they were understaffed. “We need to adjust the number of applicants to the number of available immigration officials,” he said.

However, those who urgently needed passports for educational, health or work purposes could go directly to nearby immigration offices and bring official letters from the supporting institutions.

The spokesman for the Directorate General of Immigration, Agung Sampurno, said immigration offices were overwhelmed because the number of passport applicants had been increasing over the last two years.

According to the Directorate of Immigration Communication and Technology Information, the number of passports issued by immigration offices during the first 10 months of this year alone reached 2.56 million as compared to 3.68 million for all of 2016. Moreover, the number of overseas travelers reached 8.25 million in 2016 and 6.89 million for the first 10 months of this year.

Agung said the surge in the number of passport applicants, particularly those in big cities, was probably due to several factors, such as the offering of cheap travel packages and the increase in citizens’ purchasing power.

Therefore, Agung said, immigration offices, particularly those in big cities with large numbers of passport applicants, like Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya in East Java, and Semarang in Central Java, would provide mobile passport services in December and January.

Executive chairman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) Tulus Abadi said the directorate general’s claim of being overwhelmed was nonsense. “It shouldn’t use such an excuse to avoid public services because its offices are equipped with online facilities,” he said.

Ombudsman commissioner Adrianus Meliala echoed Tulus’s comment, saying immigration offices should make walk-in services accessible for people who were unable to use the online system. (dpk/roi)