Migration for my fiancee?
Migration for my fiancee?
Further to my letter in The Jakarta Post on May 10, I want to
amend my letter by retracting the words corruption, racism and
incompetence.
Paying Rp 260,000 to be refused any consultation about the
problem, to be informed the reason for rejection by the
immigration officers was a lack of funds (of which there was over
Rp 100 million), then to be told by the complaints officer that
the reason for refusal was a law forbidding fiancees entering
Australia on tourist visas, then to be informed by the Australian
ombudsman that this is not against the law and the reason for
refusal is that my fiancee is Indonesian and that a lot of
Indonesians have been overstaying their visas, all seems to me to
be a corruption of the fair objective case by case application
process. The removal of rights to talk about the decision seems
to be a corruption of fair treatment.
Refusal on the grounds that my fiancee is Indonesian seems to
be a decision based on race, hence the word racism. Like all
public services surrounded by bureaucracy, I wish for the
administration to be more effective and more competent. The words
racism, corruption and incompetence may have had an ambiguous
meaning, but I am critical of the system and decision, as well as
the lack of help or advice.
There is no information to my knowledge on applying for visas.
The fax I sent to the embassy several weeks before applying, in
which I asked for advice on visa applications, is still
unanswered. My phone calls were not answered and my questions to
the consulate were referred to the visa section, which to the
best of my knowledge offers no information. Once again I
reiterate that I retract the words corruption racism and
incompetence from my previous letter.
Since my letter was published, the waiting time has been
drastically reduced at the embassy from my experience some time
ago. My thanks the efforts of the staff. Meanwhile, I think I
will have to apply for migration for my fiancee, costing around
Rp 6 million, for her to spend just over two weeks in Australia
to get married.
MARK OGILVIE
Bogor, West Java