JAKARTA: Indonesia launched a long-term visa scheme on Thursday intended to attract foreign investors, President Joko Widodo said, with amounts of up to $10 million giving them a 10-year visa and access to Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
The five-year “Golden Visa” requires individual investors to set up a company worth $2.5 million, while a 10-year visa requires a $5 million investment.
Individuals not looking to set up a company must place $350,000 and $700,000 to gain a 5-year and 10-year permit respectively, and the money can be used to buy Indonesian government bonds, public company stocks, or place deposits.
Corporate investors are required to invest $25 million to get five-year visas for directors and commissioners. They need to invest $50 million to gain a 10-year visa.
If the investment is made in the new $32 billion capital city currently being built in the jungles of Borneo island, $5 million dollars will gain investors a 5-year visa and $10 million a 10-year visa, the immigration agency said.
Several countries offer similar investment visa schemes, but others, including Canada, Britain and Singapore, have scrapped such schemes as governments conclude they do not create jobs and could be a means to park speculative money.
Jokowi, as the president is commonly known, said the visa was intended to lure “good quality travelers.”
“We’re launching the golden visa to make it easier for foreign nationals to invest and contribute in Indonesia,” he said.
Silmy Karim, chief of the immigration agency, said Indonesia had granted golden visas to almost 300 applicants since it began testing the permits out last year, attracting $123 million.
Silmy also said the authorities are discussing ways to grant a special status for foreign nationals of Indonesian descent, modelled after the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), which allows foreigners of Indian ancestry to visit, work and live in India indefinitely. That could be issued by October, he added.
Silmy said the plan was intended to respond to calls for Indonesia to allow its citizens to hold another passport.

MANILA: A Philippine-flagged tanker carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil capsized and sank off Manila on Thursday, authorities said, as they raced to contain a spill.
The MT Terra Nova was heading for the central city of Iloilo when it capsized in Manila Bay, nearly seven kilometers off Limay municipality in Bataan province, near the capital, in the early hours.
The vessel went down as heavy rains fueled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon have lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.
An oil spill stretching several kilometers has been detected in the busy waterway.
“We are racing against time and we will try to do our best to contain it immediately and stop the fuel from leaking,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said at a briefing.
He warned that if all the oil in the tanker were to leak, it would be the biggest spill in Philippine history.
“There is a big danger that Manila will be affected, even the shoreline of Manila, if the fuel will leak, because it is within Manila Bay,” Balilo said.
Thousands of fishermen and tour operators are dependent on the waters for their livelihoods.
Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista said 16 of the 17 crew members had been rescued from the stricken vessel.
A search was underway for the missing crew member, but Bautista said strong winds and high waves were hampering response efforts.
Four of the crew were receiving medical treatment.
A photo released by the coast guard showed the MT Terra Nova almost entirely submerged in rough seas.
An oil slick stretching about 3.7 kilometers was being carried by a “strong current” in an easterly, north-easterly direction, the coast guard said in a report.
Coast guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gavan said he ordered a probe into the incident.
Marine environmental protection personnel have been mobilized to help contain the slick.
“It will definitely affect the marine environment,” Balilo said, describing the amount of oil on the ship as “enormous.”
One of the worst oil spills in the Philippines was in February 2023, when a tanker carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil sank off the central island of Mindoro.
Diesel fuel and thick oil from that vessel contaminated the waters and beaches along the coast of Oriental Mindoro province, devastating the fishing and tourism industries.
The oil dispersed over hundreds of kilometers of waters famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world.
Thousands of fishermen were ordered to stay ashore, and swimming was banned.
In 2006, a tanker sank off the central island of Guimaras spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil that destroyed a marine reserve, ruined local fishing grounds and covered stretches of coastline in black sludge.