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