By President Jokowi agreed to waive the PMIs’ IMEI registration fee when they arrived in Indonesia
Jakarta (ANTARA) – The president will waive registration fees for International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) of cellphones brought by Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) upon arrival in Indonesia, Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) Head, Benny Rhamdani, stated.
“President Jokowi agreed to waive the PMIs’ IMEI registration fee when they arrived in Indonesia,” Rhamdani remarked after attending a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.
Rhamdani noted that with the policy of exempting IMEI registration, migrant workers arriving from abroad will be given IMEI free of charge when they arrive in Indonesia.
He remarked that migrant workers often complained regarding the IMEI registration fee, which is too high, when they were looking to activate their phones in Indonesia.
Apart from the IMEI fee waiver, Rhamdani said that President Jokowi had also agreed to regulate the workers’ goods delivery and hand-carry goods brought to Indonesia.
In this case, he outlined three categories of goods, with the first being monthly or yearly goods consignments to Indonesia during the workers’ working period.
The second category is goods brought directly by migrant workers when they are on leave or when they have completed their job contracts, while the third category is goods brought by PMIs when they completed job contracts and moved all of their goods to Indonesia.
“So far, there are no rules that specifically regulate the goods’ shipments. This creates problems for them because they often deal with officers in the field asking them to unload their goods and some of the goods are not returned,” Rhamdani explained.
However, he drew attention to one of the regulations related to migrant workers’ goods from abroad, namely a tax relaxation of US$1,500 for goods shipments thrice in a year.
“I assured President Jokowi and related ministers that PMIs will not bring goods for business purposes. Their goods only consist of their personal stuff and souvenirs for family,” he remarked.
Moreover, his side proposed the construction of subsidized low-cost housing for PMIs. Rhamdani said that the president welcomed the proposal positively.
“The president promised to hold discussions with the relevant ministries soon. This is a gift for our PMIs,” he stated.
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