Hike in passport fees delayed

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)