PT AGS Visa Solutions was founded in 2014 by Daniel Choat, former director Country UK Visa and immigration department to British Embassy in Jakarta. Noticing a potential opportunity in the market to share his knowledge of the visa in the UK and the nationality system, visa and immigration consulting business was born.
Two and half years later, the heart of PT AGS Visa Solutions business is to help travelers who wish to obtain any type of visa in the United Kingdom, ranging from tourism, business, student, family and spouse, as well as investors and entrepreneurs visa. Daniel and his team also help expatriates to renew or obtain British passports. He talks about the latest trends in the industry is seeing, and shares in the UK and Europe Travel Tips for expats in mixed relationships.
Daniel, which constitutes the majority of your customers?
Indonesians with a love of travel in the UK - our customer base here is families who love the UK as a destination for tourism and business, as well as expatriates with partners Indonesian who like to travel regularly to the United Kingdom.
Before starting Solutions AGS Visa you used to work as an immigration officer in the UK, working in various airports. How did you come to work in Indonesia?
While working as an immigration agent, the possibility of a foreign assignment with UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) arrived. I was lucky enough to be assigned to the British Embassy in Jakarta in 2010.
What trends have you noticed?
Many British expats are heading home with their Indonesian families. This is certainly evident in the oil and gas industry. That said, we're seeing young expatriates usually in their 20s-30s coming in Indonesia and use our services for UK passport and British visa for their partners and their children as they settle here. Indonesia travel in the UK for commercial purposes is on the rise, and for their love of watching football Premier League! We also help to identify and help customers deal with the two and five year validity visas to visit.
What kind of work are these new expatriates?
In Bali, the majority do their own business, whether digital or investments, as our customers are based in Jakarta in the education sector.
What about mixed relationships trends?
Traditionally our clients involved in relationships of different nationalities are expatriates based in Indonesia. However, perhaps the impact of social media along with the growing awareness of Indonesia within the UK means now we are regularly contacted by clients based in the UK who wish to invite their friends or relatives for a holiday and have perhaps only visited Indonesia them a few times.
How many Indonesians traveling in the UK and this rising star?
Last year, there were around 38,000 UK visa applications in Indonesia.
Since his arrival in 2010, I noticed the number has been growing. I firmly believe that the number has the potential to be much higher.
help you get British passports. What challenges intermarriage of parents trying to obtain a passport for their child?
This is always an interesting area because it depends on whether the parents are married at the time of birth. If they are not married, the father will not be on the Indonesian birth certificate and that potentially throws a difficult case. The good news is that there are ways to navigate it, but he has more time and focuses the side of Indonesian literature.
What factors would make someone a bad candidate for a UK visa?
For a visit visa application to be successful, applicants must demonstrate that they have a real reason to go to the UK, while being able to maintain and shelter and cover all expenses related to their visit. More importantly, they need to show that they have the intention and motivation from the United Kingdom -. Employment, study, property, family life are all good ways to demonstrate that they will leave the UK at the end of the visit
A message I try to pass to people is that all UK visa applications are assessed on their own individual merits and those circumstances are examined closely; there is not a set of documents that will work for everyone, and what could have worked for a close friend may not necessarily what you need to submit with your application.
How is business?
Initially, I started on the top floor of a house in Pondok Indah with a part-time staff member, and today we are here in our office in Kuningan with an established team five staff members. We are looking to set up offices in Bali, which is our goal for 2016. Our customer base, increases regularly and there will be exciting times for us when we have a fully operational office.
After Bali, do you have other plans for expansion?
After Bali, we will look at Surabaya. UKVI recently opened a visa application center in the UK it, so naturally this is where we will seek to have a presence so we can support and expand our customer base. We also get a name for ourselves in Balikpapan and Batam, then maybe they will be on the cards for 2017
Service you people going to the UK - Ever thought about the maintenance of British citizens who want to come to Indonesia?
this area is fairly well covered here and there are some good consultants delivering this. Personally, I find the immigration law in the UK much easier and we are able to offer a reliable and consistent service. Stick to what you know best is my theory.
Can you tell us how European expatriates married to Indonesians can enjoy their right to freedom of movement when traveling in Europe?
An example of this would be where an Indonesian married to a British national. If they wish to go to France, and then instead of asking a tourist visa Schengen base, they must ask / license of the family of the EU in the EEA, which is free and allows the Indonesian national exercise the entitlement even treated EEA / EU as a UK national. It is reciprocal to a French national married to an Indonesian national who wants to visit the United Kingdom; they might get one free / EEA EU family permit from the Embassy of the United Kingdom.
41 years after the last referendum, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. As a British citizen, how do you feel about this decision and it affects Indonesians wishing to travel to the UK and Europe?
If we exit, the coming years will be interesting as there will need to be a large number of reforms and policy changes in many areas, including the immigration.
Most expats I said you have already felt the drop in the value of sterling.
Our Indonesian customers wishing to travel to the UK and to ask the UK visit visas should not really be affected by the Brexit; it will actually give them the opportunity to take advantage of the exchange rate and see their allowances go little further.
Does the EU still relevant right now treated with Brexit?
Because the UK remain a member of the EU as long as necessary to negotiate the exit agreement, it means there will be no immediate impact right now. You will always be able to move freely in the EU and therefore non-citizens of the EU / EEA married to British and Europeans will be able to exercise their freedom of movement across the EU. It is possible that the UK will accept the continuation of freedom of movement to maintain preferential access to the single market, in which case you will still be able to travel freely within the EU. Otherwise, there may be limits to the ability of British nationals to live and work in EU countries and then impact on spouses and family members accordingly.
What is your visa application success rate?
We are well established around the mark of 99 percent, which is quite high as we looked for two and a half years. We can not guarantee anyone a visa because the embassy will always have the last word, and we help people who meet the requirements and criteria. On a regular basis, we advise customers that perhaps the circumstances are not quite strong enough yet, but they point out how they could in the future be able to meet the requirements and successfully get a visa .
Do you think enough Indonesians traveling in the UK?
There are UK government initiatives that are responsible for driving the tourist numbers / business and student visa and they regularly encourage UK in Indonesia. I would like to see more efforts made and would be happy to support them as the number of requests from Indonesia could significantly increase. Unfortunately, the UK visa application process discourages many travelers. However, we are here to help!
Can you tell us more on investors and entrepreneurs visa?
Investors and entrepreneurs visas are popular in China, unfortunately not so popular in Indonesia, and I think again that this is due to a lack of awareness. There are many families and individuals in Indonesia whose investor or entrepreneur visa could really benefit. The entrepreneur visa covers people who want to start a business in the UK, while the investor visa is best suited to those who can invest £ 2,000,000 or more in government bonds the UK capital or capital ready in active and trading UK registered companies.
What challenges do you meet?
The last minute culture here is a challenge. My advice would be if you have a thought about traveling to the UK, then start thinking about the visa. Do not underestimate the benefits of the allocation of time for the visa process. People do not like either to surrender their passport for three weeks while the visa is being processed; after identifying what we have found solutions to help our customers to both the questions and deliver their visas in the UK at the time.
Thank you, Daniel. For more information, email: info@agsolutions.co.id