Palopo Immigration Office Tightens Oversight of Foreign Nationals to Prevent Violations

Palopo (ANTARA) - The Palopo Immigration Office Class II Non-TPI Palopo, South Sulawesi, tightened its oversight of foreign nationals to anticipate violations of the law that could disrupt public order. Head of Palopo Immigration Office Yogie Kashogi in Palopo, on Tuesday, said they conduct surveillance of foreigners in five work areas, namely the city of Palopo, Luwu Regency, East Luwu Regency, Luwu North, North Toraja Regency. ‘Most of our surveillance of foreigners is in North Toraja, because there are many foreign tourists there,’ Yogie said. In this supervision, authorities conduct joint operations with related agencies. The most common type of violations are staying beyond the permitted time (overstay). According to him, most foreigners have become used to coming to North Toraja to the extent that they forget to arrange residence permits. In addition to surveillance in tourist areas, focus is also on companies that employ foreign workers. In Luwu there is a nickel company; in East Luwu and North Luwu there are chocolate productions, and ice cream companies. He said that currently they have secured a Philippine foreign national with initials RA who was found to possess an Indonesian ID card and is currently undergoing detention at Rudemin Immigration Palopo. ‘It is suspected that this person is a Philippine national, based on community reports; he possesses Indonesian population data (KTP). But he still holds Philippine citizenship,’ he said. Suspicious case documents. Head of the Immigration Technology and Information Section Palopo Yulius Lilingan explained that the Philippine foreign national was acted against after immigration officers became suspicious of the documents he possessed. Officers then conducted an in-depth inquiry with the wife of the foreign national, who is an Indonesian citizen, and it was admitted that her husband is a Philippine national. ‘They met in Malaysia and returned to Indonesia about two years ago. Therefore, it is confirmed that her husband is a Philippine national,’ Yulius said. ‘Since yesterday we have carried out joint operations. The results show that we did not find violations related to foreign nationals in Luwu Regency,’ said Heru.