Belgian Vs RI immigration

First of all, allow me to thank you for The Jakarta Post website. It is very helpful in keeping up to date with what is happening in Indonesia.

It is now more than two months since I arrived in Belgium, the country of my husband. So far, we have the normal life of a middle-class family in Belgium which is not that different from life in Australia, the USA or in other European countries.

I have a kind of ID card (KTP) which was delivered by the Belgian authorities to the village where we have established ourselves. And by the beginning of July I will get a Stay Permit, or the equivalent of the U.S. greencard, for a period of four years. Then, seemingly, I will have to renew it every four years in order to stay (and work if I want to) in Belgium.

I have had no hassle at all from the Belgian immigration, because I am legally married to a Belgian citizen. I wish this could have been the same for my husband when we were still in Indonesia.

Actually, I have not even seen a Belgian immigration officer. Everything is done by an employee of the city administration and the city police have checked on me twice. They then follow up with the ministry, delivering the necessary documents (to the Ministry of the Interior I think). And no malpractice is involved in the process. All this is done in a very gentle way. Nothing to compare to the hassle my husband (mainly) and my two Belgian kids (mainly the first, because with the second we were experienced) went through in Indonesia (Jakarta and Bandung). The Bandung immigration office twice mandated travel to Singapore on my first baby. This is something that I will never forget. That was inhuman. My baby cried all the way to Singapore in the hands of my husband. They could have given us the KITAS in Indonesia, but they did not want to. They argued that they could only deliver it after my kids had applied in Singapore three or four times for the Visa Kujungan (visitor's card). But by law that was a lie, however, we could do nothing about it.

In January/February, the government of Belgium held a special operation to give the opportunity to all illegal immigrants on Belgian soil to legalize their status. More than 40,000 illegals showed up at the Belgian immigration and it is expected that a majority of them will be given a chance to stay legally.

I wish Indonesia would review its overall immigration policy, so as to diminish the hassle, the fees (higher than in Belgium!), and ease the procedures people like my husband go through.

ELIS SUMINAR

Tubise, Belgium