Investment Pretext Ends in Deportation: Three Chinese Nationals Caught Using Duplicate Stamps

Three Chinese nationals who entered Indonesia on business and pre-investment visas have been forcibly repatriated after authorities discovered they used manipulated documents. They have also been blacklisted from entering Indonesia for five years. “We will never tolerate foreign nationals who attempt to violate the law in Indonesia,” said Agus Winarto, Head of the Surabaya Class I Special Immigration Office. The three individuals, identified by the initials YJ, CN, and LJ, entered Indonesia using a Pre-Investment Visit Visa (index C12) and Business Visas (index C1 and C2), permits that should be used to explore business opportunities or investments. However, something was amiss. Immigration officers in Surabaya began to detect irregularities while examining their immigration documents. Suspicion grew when the immigration system showed a mismatch between the guarantor registered in the system and the documents used for the visa application. “The document irregularities were first detected from the immigration system, which showed a discrepancy between the registered guarantor and the documents used for their visa applications,” Agus revealed. A subsequent finding was even more suspicious. In the application files belonging to YJ and CN, officers discovered identical stamp serial numbers. The duplicate stamps were a strong signal of document forgery that was not carried out haphazardly. Further investigation into the foreigners’ activities on the ground caused their stated reasons for arrival to collapse. The claim of preparing for investment and business activities could not be substantiated. “The three of them never actually planned to invest or conduct business activities in Indonesia,” Agus stated. The findings escalated the case from a mere administrative suspicion to a serious immigration violation. The three foreign nationals were deemed to have violated Article 122 letter a of Law Number 6 of 2011 on Immigration regarding the misuse of residence permits, as well as Article 123 letter b regarding the use of visas obtained through the provision of false information. The Directorate General of Immigration, through the Surabaya Class I Special Immigration Office, imposed administrative sanctions in the form of deportation and a five-year ban. On Friday, the trio were repatriated via Juanda International Airport on China Southern Airlines flight CZ8138 with the route Surabaya–Guangzhou. The aircraft took off at 08.00 WIB and landed in Guangzhou at 14.05 local time.