More W. Java people to work abroad

More W. Java people to work abroad

BANDUNG: The number of West Java residents working abroad will
probably increase this year, judging from the growing number of
people applying for passports to work overseas.

The head of the local immigration office in Bandung, Riawan
Pramudjo, said on Thursday that until August this year as many as
1,139 job seekers had applied for passports to work in
neighboring countries.

"The number is twice as much as that of the same period last
year," Riawan told The Jakarta Post. "We recorded only 531 people
applying for passports to work abroad last year."

"This month alone as many as 300 passports are being
processed. We have had to work overtime."

He said the passport applicants were people who had been
legally recruited through state-owned recruitment company PJ TKI.

More than half of the job seekers were women from the towns of
Cianjur, Sukabumi, Sumedang, Majalengka and Cirebon.

"Surprisingly most of them want to work in Malaysia, Japan and
Taiwan. Only four or five of them want to work in the Gulf
countries," he said. (25/sur)