The Bandung Immigration Office, West Java, has prepared special visa extension for the area’s Chinese nationals over most flights from Indonesia to China cancelled over the Coronavirus outbreak plaguing the country in the past months.
"We have received instruction from the Immigration Directorate General Office to provide a special stay permit extension for Chinese nationals living here," Bandung Immigration Office Chief, Uray Avian stated in Bandung City, Thursday.
The chief expounded that steps for requesting a stay permit extension will remain unchanged, but no new fingerprint and biometric data was captured by the officers.
"The two steps will be omitted since we avoid direct physical contact (with foreigners)," Avian remarked.
Chinese tourists were recorded as the largest group of foreign travelers visiting Indonesia during the 2016-2017 period. Indonesia had received at least 1.97 million Chinese tourists in 2017, and the figure increased to 2.7 million in 2018.
However, the number has dropped significantly this year, chiefly after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global health emergency on January 30. (ANTARA)