August 6, 2025 | 08:43 pm
The passport printer at the Indonesian Embassy in Bern has been broken since April 23, 2025. As a result, Indonesian citizens living in Switzerland must take a detour to several embassy offices outside the country—including those in Netherlands, Belgium, Frankfurt—to obtain a passport.
Some even had to return to Indonesia.
Puji Lestari, a social and cultural information officer at the Indonesian Embassy in the Netherlands, confirmed this. "Currently, there are indeed several Indonesian citizens from Switzerland who are processing their passports at the Indonesian Embassy in Den Haag," Puji told Tempo on August 1, 2025. "And we are serving them the best we can."
Meanwhile, those with registered biometric data, especially fingerprint and photo records, are processed through the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin, Germany.
The processing time could take a while. Andrea, an Indonesian resident in Zurich, had to wait three months for the passport. "I had to cancel my flight for a vacation to Indonesia. Fortunately, there was insurance for the tickets," said Andrea.
Another citizen had to travel on an expired passport due to the malfunctioning printer. Swiss woman Maureen Mathilda mentioned that her son, who holds dual citizenship, traveled to Indonesia last July. Mathilda's son, Hans, was detained at immigration upon returning to Switzerland due to his invalid passport.
The Coordinator of Protocol and Consular Function at the Indonesian Embassy in Bern, Purnowidodo, said the embassy has been trying to expedite the processing of new passports for Indonesian citizens in Switzerland. "We are attempting manual repairs with guidance from technicians from Jakarta," he wrote to Tempo on August 4, adding that they have not been proven successful.
The purchase of a new passport printing machine is being coordinated between the Indonesian Embassy in Bern, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, and the Ministry of Finance.
"The procurement is scheduled to be completed and delivered to Switzerland at the earliest opportunity," said Purnowidodo, but he stopped short of detailing the timeline. The Indonesian Embassy in Bern provides guided instruction to process new passports in Frankfurt, Brussels, and Den Haag.
Krisna Diantha contributed to the writing of this article.
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