As the Immigration authorities in Indonesia are still unable to implement the government’s mandatory request from December 2021 to ensure visa agencies are legitimate to process your visa application in Indonesia, this has allowed fake visa agencies to continue practising immigration advice and subsequently, delivering questionable and sometimes fraudulent business activities.
The Indonesian Government asked Immigration Authorities to provide visa agency licenses back in 2021 with a December cut-off, but as of yet, this still has not been actioned. To apply for a license, visa agents in Indonesia were required to provide business documentation and licensing, provide office address, provide bank statements, have funds in the bank, as well as send a representative to do training with immigration authorities.
Unfortunately, despite being extremely beneficial for foreigners obtaining visas for Indonesia, Indonesian Immigration authorities are yet to implement this useful change. Hopefully, it will happen, but until then, the visa agent industry remains unlicensed which has caused a lot of opportunities for scammers and opportunists.
Before the pandemic, there were only a few agencies across Indonesia that had a history of succeeding in visas applications, now when you look through social media or online there are hundreds of visa services all varying for your attention, many making proclamations that are simply false to gain your trust and extort you. We hear from dozens of people every month who have been scammed or whose agency has closed down. They could have lost their passports, and documents, oftentimes leaving them out of pocket or without important documentation, while having their visas remain undone.
Many foreigners might think “Why does this matter to me? I’m only coming for a holiday”, but here are a few reasons why you should be concerned:
1. Losing your sponsor. If you use a visa agent on your visa application for a sponsored visa and they pack up and quit, you lose your visa sponsorship.
2. Confidential information: Your information such as YOUR passport and other identifying information won’t be stored safely or protected, especially if they cease to exist.
3. Getting scammed: Most fake agents don’t have real offices, landlines or truthful contact points. Therefore, they can simply take your money and disappear.
In this guide, we will point out the most common tricks fake visa agents use and some ways to avoid falling into the trap.
Look at the visa agencies’ names
There are numerous visa agencies with the name e-Visa. For those that are unaware, the e-Visa was only introduced at the end of 2020. Therefore, if a visa agency has an e-Visa in its name, they are possibly a new visa agency. One suspicious agency that includes an e-visa in their name claims they have 12 years of experience, which is not true as they’ve not been around for 2 years.
Using services from an agency that has not been around for a long time in making visas is dangerous. They have little experience and are more likely to make mistakes with your Indonesian visas. Mistakes may lead to overstay fines or additional costs.
Visit their social media or research the website’s history
It is very simple to determine the history of a website, you can simply check on www.who.is and see when a website was registered. Before getting your visa issued, check out the agency’s Facebook or Instagram and see how far it tracks back. If a visa agent claims to have 15 years of experience, but their social media accounts only started this year, it is highly probable they are not telling the truth.
Use Google
Simply check with Google by typing in search terms relevant to what it is you are looking for. E.g. if you are looking to buy a Single Entry Visa Indonesia or Business Visa, type the word in Google and see who comes up. Reliable agencies more likely will be at the top. If you type in “Best visa agency in Indonesia” for example, you may see a certain LetsMoveIndonesia leading the pack.
An official visa agent has authorised information and addresses to visit
If the visa agent team doesn’t have a landline, it means they don’t have a fixed business address.
Check the address of the office or look for photos of it on their website/social media. No photos would suggest they don’t have one. If there is no address, how do you expect to find them if something goes wrong?
If a visa agent claims to have multiple offices find out if they do. One famous Bali Visa agency claims to have multiple offices, but the truth is, some of their offices are jewellery shops with their sign outside. This is one of the most famous ones, which makes it more concerning that they would need to manipulate the truth to get you to trust them. Professional visa agencies have real offices, it is that simple.
Ask for referrals
Join the Facebook group “Visa & Law Indonesia”, the largest visas-specific group in Indonesia. It has almost 19,000 members and you can ask the members for referrals about professional visa services.
Reasonable prices and unrealistic timelines of the visa process
Look out for clickbait prices and unrealistic timelines. At LetsMoveIndonesia, we prefer to overestimate the timeline and complete work early than advise a short time and not commit to our deadline – ultimately leaving the customers upset.
We do this because we process thousands of visas to visit Indonesia every year and value, repeat customers. We know how long things take to process and the many reasons why the timings may change.
Many smaller or fraudulent agencies don’t care about their clients’ experiences as they simply want the money. They will make the price low and timeline short so you believe it is good value; which more often than not results in your stress levels increasing.
Why should you use LetsMoveIndonesia for your Indonesian visa?
The real question is why would you use anyone else?
We are a reliable professional agency to have 3 real offices across Bali and 2 offices in Jakarta. We are the first agency to advertise our prices for all visas category transparently. Our trustworthy services got us called The Most Trusted Agency by expatriate social media outlets.
We also won the award Best Visa and Business Consultancy in Indonesia from the National Award Foundation, we successfully have assisted tens of thousands of visas and visa extensions since 2016, we are factually the most cost-effective national agency in Indonesia, and we are the market leader of the visas industry.
Simply put, more people have chosen to be our clients than anyone else because of our ethical values and dedication to improving our industry.
To get your free consultation, contact our team using any of the contact details here: WA: +62 812 9260 0590, T: +62 21 300 297 27 (Jakarta) T: +62 361 934 8343 (Seminyak) T: +62 361 939 9406 (Canggu), T: +62 361 280 789 (Sanur), E-mail: info@letsmoveindonesia.com
To find out more about all things Indonesian Visa-related, then check out our Indonesia Visa page!
Found this article interesting? Then check out these useful guides about Visas for Indonesia!
Indonesia Visa on Arrival for Australian Citizens
The Single Entry Social Visa – Everything you need to know!
