Extortion….
I was writing the headline of this post as “corruption” and my husband…sitting beside me said its more of an EXTORTION…. here’s why..
For the past 5 years, I have been holding Limited Stay Permit Card (KITAS) and with this:
1. I need to renew it every year which will costs me about Rp 2.5 jt to Rp 3jt per year……
2. I have to pay to report myself to the police costing about Rp 400.000 per year
3. I will need to apply for an exit permit each time I am leaving Indonesia.. , costs about Rp 850.000 per 6 months, so basically I paid about Rp 1.700.000 per year..
4. AND again I need to pay the full FISCALl….. like all ordinary local Indonesian….
damn it right? …… now, I really hate it here..
anyway, after holding KITAS for 5 years, all KITAS holders are entitled to apply for a Permanent Stay Visa - KITAP - kartu Izin Tinggal Tetap… and the benefits of holding this are that:
1. You can request to put your name in the Kartu Keluarga….. (I don’t give a damn really….)
2. Apply for a local Driving License (I need this badly…)
3. Renew the permit every 5 years but I will still need to pay for the exit permit yearly…….
so, I have been doing some enquires and thought… oh well, just go ahead and apply for the KITAP as I hate the fact that my passport is gone for about 1 month yearly during the renewal process…. so, we called the our agency (Indopacific @ Jl. Permuda) who deal with my paperwork…. initially she quoted me Rp 7 Jt… 1 week later, she called saying that the Medan immigration asked for an extra of Rp 3 JT as I will longer need to pay for the police report (these people can no longer extort from me for the next 5 years you see…)… I was already pissed.. and thought … ok just let it be.. (reminding myself that this is Indonesia…) …… and this is about 1.5 months ago…
this is Indoensia right?…….. so today, she called me again saying that my passport has arrived in Jakarta and in the hand of the final Head who needs to sign for my KITAP approval… guess what…. he said NO! NO! NO!… (money talk right?) …. so my agency offered Rp 1JT extra… but… he said NO! NO! NO! again!!! …. and rather bluntly asking for a nice round sum of Rp 5JT!!!!! ………. worst … I cant pull my passport out now…… since I have agreed to pay for these extra fees from Medan ……
what can I do… ??? …. except to be a good expat and pay for it…. ever since these whole permit renewal things started, .. I have missed my 2nd honeymoon to Maldives (I received free tickets!!!) , my Songkran in BKK and my weekends gateway to Penang… and I have to pay for all these #@$%&!!!!
p.s. the immigration guy dare ask if I will be able to afford to pay for this….!!! can they not use their much calculative brain that what can we do if we cant pay…..???
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April 11th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hi,i had the same problem with me 6 yrs ago when I ( Indonesian ) born and grown up in Medan and my husband and my 3 children’s are British Citizen.
My husband was working in Indonesia as contractor for 1 yr and his got work permit and my children’s got Visa too.
And long cut story my husband finished job in Medan and his got job in Saudi without family.
Well,I’ve to stay in Medan with the kids and start make ” New Visa” for them.
Unbelievable,how much money i have to spent and gave to £***$£ imigration people. It’s about -+Rp. 20 jt just to make Visa for 3 kids. They’re thingking we ( the husband is Bule ) got lots of money. Me and my hubby was so angry and upset. But at the end i’ve got Visa for them. And we’re manage to stayed and they ‘re school at ordenary school ( Al-Azhar, Harapan and the oldest at SMA 2 ) for 3 yrs.
Now,we’re leave in UK with peace. Too many corruption in Indonesia. Very very sad.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
sad isn’t…..
at the moment my total costs for KITAP stands at Rp 18 JT… god knows how much I will ended up paying when it arrived in my hand…
April 27th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
OMG. Are you serious? I have no idea it would cost that much. My husband is going to be really mad if I tell him that …
So really there’s no way around the nasty immigration huh. Btw, are you also writer of Medanku.com?
Also, I managed to get my husband a driving license. I don’t know how my father did it, but it cost only IDR 600,000,-. If you want, I can get the contact information for you. Drop me an email.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Hi Andie
Its not cheap for expat like us to live here in Medan. its not the living standard but the cost of all these paperworks..
I co-write for MedanKu but the blog belongs to Macan-group.com
nice blog you have..