"The Village Entry Passport Program is an approach to bring passport services closer to the community, so that they can cross the Indonesia-Timor-Leste border area legally," Chief of the Atambua Immigration Office K.A. Halim stated in Kupang, Tuesday.
Halim explained that a team of six people from the Immigration Traffic and Stay Permit Section had been deployed to implement the program on July 25-26, 2022.
"Our team brought a mobile passport device that will be used for the service and started at 9 a.m. local time," he stated.
The number of passport applicants reached 64 people from the estimated target of only 30 applications, Halim remarked.
"We praise the public's high interest in getting passport services, both for new passports, renewal of expired passports, and passports with full pages," he remarked.
Meanwhile, applications for new passports due to being damaged or lost are directed to submit the application directly to the Atambua Immigration Office.
Furthermore, Halim explained that from the interview with residents, the team found that most people, who applied for village entry passports, intended to attend for customary purposes or to visit their relatives in Suai, Cova Lima District, Timor-Leste.
Some residents admitted that they can no longer use the Cross-Border Pass to cross the border due to regulatory changes made by the Timor-Leste government.
Halim stated that in implementing the program, the team had also disseminated information and educated the public to continue to abide by the law by not crossing the country's border areas illegally.
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Translator: Aloysius L, Kenzu T
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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