If your Indonesian passport was issued after 2019, get it out along with your KTP (ID card) and print copies of them. You’ll need them to obtain a signature page that is missing in your most essential travel document.
Recently, a citizen aired her grievance on social media that she was unable to obtain a visa for Germany after the German embassy in Jakarta rejected her application on the grounds that her passport lacked a signature page, which is typically found on the last page of the document.
The story garnered the attention of the Immigration Directorate General, who clarified that since 2019, it has issued passports — both electronic and traditional — without the signature page for reasons related to “efficiency.” The office stressed that this passport design was approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization Public Key Directory (ICAO PKD) and thus should be recognized anywhere in the world.
Without admitting blunder on its part, immigration now says that those affected can now go to any immigration office or diplomatic missions abroad to have a signature section printed into their passports.
The procedure should involve little effort on your part. According to the steps outlined above, all you have to do is bring your passport to immigration/embassy/consulate, print hard copies of your passport and your KTP, get in line, have an officer print the signature field on one of the endorsement pages in your passport (typically found among the first few pages), put your signature in the field, have that endorsement page legally certified by an immigration authority, and get your passport back by showing an officer your KTP.
The steps are essentially identical to those you have to go through when applying for a new passport, only that this process should only take one day instead of three or more.
Some who have recently gone through the process have shared photos of their new signature page online, showing that the entire field was handwritten. Here’s hoping that immigration authorities don’t get carpal tunnel syndrome from manually endorsing god knows how many passports.
And if you’re headed to Germany, rejoice in the fact that the country will accept the tacked on signature page as above. Furthermore, the German Embassy in Jakarta also said that Indonesian nationals with passports without a signature field and already containing a visa can travel to Germany for a short transitional period until Aug. 31, 2022.
