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Exa: antaranews.com
Exa: antaranews.com
Bali Zero handles visas, company setup, tax and property compliance in Indonesia. Ask us directly on WhatsApp.
Chat with Bali Zero on WhatsAppIndonesian immigration authorities have identified 15 individual sponsors responsible for facilitating the legal stay of 320 foreign nationals who wer
Indonesian immigration authorities have identified 15 individual sponsors responsible for facilitating the legal stay of 320 foreign nationals who were subsequently caught participating in illegal online gambling operations in the Hayam Wuruk corridor of Central Jakarta. The Directorate General of Immigration (Ditjen Imigrasi) announced the identification as part of an ongoing enforcement sweep targeting what officials describe as a systematic exploitation of the visa sponsorship framework.
The 320 foreign nationals were found to be engaged in judol — the Indonesian colloquial term for judi online, or illegal online gambling — an activity that has become a priority enforcement target for both immigration and financial crime authorities under the current administration. President Prabowo Subianto's government has identified online gambling as a national security threat, with Satgas Pemberantasan Judi Online (the national online gambling task force) coordinating multi-agency responses that now explicitly include immigration enforcement.
Sponsorships in Indonesia's immigration system create a formal liability chain. A sponsor — whether a company, a representative office, or an individual Indonesian citizen — assumes legal responsibility for a foreign national's conduct and compliance with stay permit conditions. Working in activities outside the scope of the approved stay permit, particularly in illegal enterprises, constitutes a fundamental breach of that permit's terms. Sponsors who knowingly facilitate such arrangements face potential sanctions under the Immigration Law (UU No. 6 Tahun 2011) and its implementing regulations.
Authorities have not yet publicly confirmed whether the 320 individuals have been detained, deported, or are subject to ongoing criminal proceedings. The identification of 15 sponsors, however, suggests investigators are pursuing the administrative and potentially criminal liability of those who provided the documentary basis for the foreigners' legal presence in Indonesia.
The Hayam Wuruk area has historically been associated with commercial activity and serves as home to numerous registered business addresses. Law enforcement has increasingly focused on so-called 'online scam compounds' — operations where foreign workers, sometimes themselves victims of trafficking, are brought in under legitimate-seeming work arrangements to staff illegal digital operations. The scale of this particular case — 320 individuals linked to a single geographic cluster — places it among the larger such enforcement actions reported in 2025-2026.
This case is a textbook illustration of why immigration compliance is a whole-chain responsibility, not just the foreign national's problem. When 15 sponsors are identified in a single enforcement act
ion, the message is unambiguous: Indonesian immigration authorities are following the paper trail upstream. A KITAS or ITAS is not a get-out-of-jail-free card — it is a contract between the foreign na
tional, their sponsor, and the state.
For our clients operating PT PMAs or representative offices that sponsor foreign workers, the compliance implications are direct. If your company is a sponsor of record, you bear legal exposure for the activities your sponsored employees conduct on Indonesian soil. 'We didn't know' is an increasingly weak defense in an enforcement environment where Ditjen Imigrasi is demonstrably building cases against sponsors, not just the visa holders themselves.
The intersection of immigration enforcement and the judol crackdown also matters for Bali specifically. Bali's tourism and hospitality sectors have seen an influx of foreigners working in digital roles — some legitimate, some not. Any operator in this space should treat this Jakarta enforcement action as a direct warning shot.
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