JAKARTA: The diaspora community is skeptical of the newly launched policy granting former Indonesian citizens and their families stay permits for an unlimited period, calling it an investment-driven scheme that does not address the country’s brain drain phenomenon.
Immigration and Corrections Minister Agus Andrianto announced the Global Citizenship of Indonesia (GCI) programme in an event in Jakarta last Wednesday, promoting it as the government’s much-awaited substitute for the dual citizenship long demanded by Indonesians abroad.
The policy offers former Indonesian citizens, foreign nationals of Indonesian descent up to the second degree, foreigners married to Indonesian nationals and children from mixed marriages either lifetime visas and stay permits or the so-called multiple-entry diaspora visas valid for one, five or 10 years.
Agus said the initiative granted “broad residency rights to foreign nationals with strong ties to Indonesia without changing their foreign citizenship status”, and that it demonstrated “Indonesia’s ability to adapt to global dynamics without sacrificing the principle of sovereignty over citizenship”.
The lifetime visa, laid out in a ministerial regulation Agus signed earlier this year, is modelled after the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) scheme, which grants a lifelong, multiple-entry visa to foreigners of Indian ancestry and their spouses holding foreign passports.
Those seeking the unlimited visa can apply through the ministry’s visa portal evisa.imigrasi.go.id.
No one has applied since the programme started a week ago, Immigration Directorate General spokesperson Ajeng Rahma told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Diaspora groups have said that many of the supposed requirements are inaccessible and would do very little to alleviate the country's growing brain drain problem.
Herman Syah, chairman of Indonesian Diaspora Network Global’s Working Group on Immigration and Citizenship (WGIK), noted that the programe resembles an “investment visa” more than a pathway reconnecting former citizens with their homeland.
“For [members of the] diaspora with foreign citizenship, the financial requirements, which include a bond investment worth at least US$10,000, are extremely burdensome,” Herman said on Tuesday.
Herman was referring to a provision in the ministerial regulation that requires an ex-Indonesian foreigner applying for a one-year visa without a sponsor to purchase government bonds, shares or mutual funds in a publicly listed Indonesian company worth at least US$10,000.
The threshold is higher for the unlimited visa.
While former Indonesian nationals with sponsors are exempt from the requirement, they must still provide proof of their latest purchase of government bonds or mutual funds to extend their permits.
“Only a very small segment of former Indonesian citizens will ever meet these requirements.
Most diaspora members are hardworking professionals, not high-net-worth individuals,” Herman said.
Analia Trisna, chair of the Hope for Family of Intercountry Marriages (Hakan), a group which advocates for mixed-nationality families, said that the new policy was “markedly different” from India’s OCI.
“Unlike the OCI, it treats former Indonesians as ordinary foreigners since it is still based on investment and immigration guarantees – not on lineage or historical connection,” Analia said on Tuesday.
“While OCI holders can freely enter India, work and open businesses easily, former Indonesians still need investment guarantees, deposits or Indonesian sponsors [to apply for GCI],” she said, adding that it did not help the country’s brain drain concerns.
Indonesia currently does not allow dual citizenship. Parents of different nationalities must register their children for limited-time dual nationality before they turn 18, and they are required to then choose between the two countries when they turn 21.
Calls to allow dual citizenship have been growing amid concerns about skilled young adults leaving Indonesia for better job opportunities, with the hashtag #KaburAjaDulu (just get out first) gaining traction on social media earlier this year as frustration mounted over the country’s economy and unemployment.
Nearly 4,000 Indonesians became Singaporean citizens from 2019 to 2022, according to data from the immigration office, as reported by Reuters. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
