Hike in passport fees delayed

JAKARTA (JP): The immigration directorate general decided on Thursday to delay its plan to raise the prices of passports by an average of at least 87.5 percent.

Immigration Director General M. Mudakir told reporters that the decision to delay the hike, scheduled to be effective as of June 7, was taken because it was not timely at present.

"Its implementation needs to be socialized first," he said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post.

The plan to raise the price was previously said to be in line with the enactment of Law No.20/1997 on nontaxable state income.

"The increase is stipulated in Government Regulation No. 26/1999 on tariffs of nontaxable state income at the Ministry of Justice," he said earlier.

For Indonesians, Mudakir explained that the charge for processing an ordinary 48-page passport would increase by 166 percent from Rp 75,000 to Rp 200,000.

"Processing an ordinary 48-page family passport for two people or more will cost Rp 340,000, up from only Rp 100,000 previously," he said.

The cost for processing an ordinary 24-page passport will be raised by 200 percent from Rp 25,000 to Rp 75,000, while ordinary 24-page family passports will increase by 87.5 percent from Rp 40,000 to Rp 75,000, he said.

"The decision to raise processing costs was taken as they have not increased over the last four years," he said.

Mudakir said the directorate general contributed greatly to the state income over the last three years due to the rising number of passport and other immigration documents processed.

The directorate general currently operates at least 84 immigration offices throughout the country, he said. (hhr)