On social-cultural visa

On social-cultural visa

The visa for a foreigner married to an Indonesian citizen is
called Visa Kunjungan Sosial Budaya (visa for social and cultural
visit). The procedure involved to obtain this visa is similar to
that of a business or KITAS visa.

The procedure can be summarized as (1) a letter of application
written by the Indonesian partner is handed into the immigration
office, who (2) then returns a letter, authorizing the issuance
of a visa, to an Indonesian embassy in the country nominated by
the spouse/sponsor.

As a foreigner who has lived in this country for some 15
years, I am amazed that the procedure for issuing a Sosial Budaya
visa cannot be done within Indonesia, as the foreigners who apply
for such visas are residents within Indonesia and as such are in
effect citizens

The money expended in airfares, taxis and hotel accommodation
etc., while traveling to another country to obtain this type of
visa are lost to Indonesia, whereas if the process was done in
Indonesia, the costs would be lower and the money would stay in
Indonesia.

My recent trip to Singapore, where I was required to stay for
three nights because the consular section requires two working
days to process a Sosial Budaya visa, cost the equivalent of 20
months basic wage in Indonesia. Just imagine if the money I had
to spend could have stayed in Indonesia, how many more
Indonesians would have work/wages.

So I hope that the immigration office can streamline the
procedures for Sosial Budaya visa and thus stop forcing people to
spend their money in other countries when they really only want
to spend it in Indonesia.

L. LEAROYD
Sukabumi, West Java