Bekasi Immigration Office uncovers illegal foreign worker sponsorship network
Bekasi Regency (ANTARA) - The Bekasi Class I Non-TPI Immigration Office has uncovered a sponsorship network behind the illegal use of foreign national (WNA) residence permits during the apprehension of 78 foreign workers involved in a data centre construction project in Bekasi Regency, West Java.
Head of the Bekasi Class I Non-TPI Immigration Office, Anggi Wicaksono, stated that during immigration violation enforcement, officers always involve sponsors or fictitious companies to take responsibility, but not all foreign nationals’ guarantors cooperate.
‘This presents a challenge on the ground; some sponsors attend, others do not. Some are uncooperative when called to account,’ Anggi said in a phone interview from Cikarang on Sunday.
He stressed that any absent foreign guarantor is immediately subject to administrative sanctions via the immigration system. Their visa application system access is deactivated, preventing them from sponsoring new foreign nationals.
‘We have a system in place at the Immigration Office. We deactivate the visa application process for these sponsors. Their accounts are blocked, and shell companies permanently lose the right to sponsor or bring in new foreign nationals,’ he said.
Anggi revealed indications of an organised network in illegal WNA sponsorship practices in Bekasi, using ‘China State’ as a front for a data centre construction project in the GIIC Deltamas Industrial Estate, Cikarang.
‘This network involves China State using it. The company exploits illegal foreign workers, but they are deployed not by the company itself, but by another. This is another tactic,’ he explained.
The company splits administrative documents, deliberately dividing workers’ papers among different sponsors to avoid suspicion. For example, out of 10 foreign nationals, eight are sponsored by Company A and two by Company B.
‘The sponsoring companies are deliberately registered at locations that do not match their actual addresses,’ he said.
When officers verified the registered locations of the sponsors, the companies’ offices were found empty with no operational activity or employees, suspected to be used solely for administrative purposes.
‘When checked on-site, the offices were empty. These companies exist only on paper, established purely as administrative formalities for visa compliance,’ he added.
Bekasi Immigration Office has deported several foreign nationals proven to have violated administrative and immigration documents this year as part of its monitoring and enforcement duties.
Anggi noted 23 foreign nationals were deported in the first quarter of 2026, with nine actions in January and seven each in February and March. April 2026 enforcement followed the discovery of 78 foreign nationals in Cikarang, Bekasi Regency.
The office also handled 21 overstaying cases and 139 immigration violations in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, it issued 5,031 immigration residence permits during the same period.