Indonesia to use AI, drones to monitor foreign nationals

Kuta, Bali (ANTARA) - The Directorate General of Immigration is promoting the use of digital technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to strengthen surveillance of foreign nationals.

"Going forward, technology will account for 70 percent of the backbone of immigration services," Immigration Director General Hendarsam Marantoko said at the inauguration of the Immigration Lounge service at the Discovery Kuta shopping center in Badung, Bali, on Thursday.

In addition to AI, his office is strengthening foreign national surveillance through other digital technologies, including drones to monitor conditions in border areas, as Indonesia shares 3,111 kilometers of land borders with neighboring countries.

"We have a program called the digital fence, using drones in certain areas, especially through the back roads. So, people's entry and exit will be monitored," Marantoko explained.

Similarly, foreigners arriving in Bali through I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport undergo immigration procedures equipped with facial recognition technology to record and identify each entrant.

He added that his office has even designed an immigration technology architecture until 2045.

In the near future, he will form a working group to discuss this technology architecture.

Immigration is strengthening its oversight of foreign nationals while also bringing its services closer to the public, including both Indonesian citizens and foreign nationals, by adapting to the characteristics of each region.

In Bali, for example, as a tourist destination, his office has innovated by opening immigration services in areas with high concentrations of foreign tourists, such as shopping centers in the Kuta area.

Since its inauguration in July 2026, the non-technical immigration service unit (UPT) has served an average of 100–120 foreign nationals applying for residence permits per day.

The inauguration of Bali's first immigration service at a shopping center was also attended by Bali Governor Wayan Koster and Bali members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD RI), Ni Luh Djelantik and I Gusti Ngurah Arya Weda Karna.

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