Social visit visa

I am a foreigner married to an Indonesian woman and here on a social visit visa with a maximum validity period of six months. Recently I had to leave Indonesia and my family against my will, because my visa was no longer renewable. I had to go abroad to apply for a new visa.

At the airport the immigration officer carefully calculated (twice) how long I had stayed in Indonesia. The period came to 179 days. The immigration officer said he was obliged to tell me I could stay for 183 days and did not have to pay fiscal. Whether this information was true I cannot tell anymore, because two years ago I stayed for 182 days and then was made to pay the fiscal. The reason was I had overstayed the six-month period. When I objected that time and asked to see the man's supervisor, the immigration officer told me his boss was not in, thus effectively killing any opportunity for redress. If I had not paid, he would not have stamped my passport and I would then have become an illegal foreigner with all its attendant difficulties.

H.W. VAN DER SPIL

Magelang, Central Java