Indonesia’s US$8 million visa scandal threatens drive for talent, investors

The country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) last week arrested eight high-ranking immigration officials, including then deputy minister Silmy Karim, for allegedly extorting foreigners seeking residency and work permits in Indonesia. KPK also detained nine visa agents acting as intermediaries between applicants and immigration officials.

The suspects are accused of running a “systemic” extortion scheme from 2022 to 2026, where they collected “extra fees” from foreigners at the immigration counters totalling 145.5 billion rupiah (US$8 million).

Foreigners were charged a fee of up to 1.5 million rupiah to speed up residency permits processing, or risk their applications stalling or getting rejected, KPK said, revealing also that Silmy pocketed a “regular allocation” of 100 million rupiah weekly.

KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto told reporters on June 4 that the suspects allegedly used the money to buy personal assets and establish businesses such as a towing company – showing how the acts were carried out “systematically”.