The 1997 economic crisis ended the long period of the New Order era and entered the reform era. Aspirations that live in the community, want a strong commitment to the values ??of Human Rights (HAM), upholding law and justice, eradicating KKN, and democratization, good governance, transparency, and accountability continue to be echoed, including including the demands of accelerating regional autonomy.

Meanwhile the globalization of information makes the world unite without limits, encouraging developed countries (WTO) to make the world function as a free market starting in 2000, and prioritizing the protection and enforcement of human rights and democratization. The flow of globalization has also resulted in increasingly narrow borders of a country (bordeless countries) and has encouraged the increasing intensity of traffic between countries. This has led to various problems in various countries including Indonesia, whose geographical location is very strategic, which in turn has an effect on the lives of the Indonesian people and the field of immigration duties. In operations in the field there were found several problems involving foreigners who needed further handling. The global and domestic strategic environment is growing so fast that it demands all government bureaucracy, including immigration in Indonesia, to be responsive and responsive to these dynamics. For example, the implementation of regional economic cooperation has facilitated the travel traffic of Indonesian citizens and foreign nationals to enter or enter Indonesian territory. The surge in travel out or into the territory of Indonesia certainly requires a management system and services that are increasingly reliable and accurate. Current immigration duties are getting worse along with the increasingly widespread problem of terrorism and the escape of perpetrators of criminal offenses abroad. To overcome the dynamics of the increasingly strategic strategic environment, the field of immigration is required to anticipate various laws and regulations and increasingly sophisticated infrastructure. Keimigrasan regulations and policies must also be responsive to shifting demands for the immigration function paradigm. If previously the immigration function paradigm in implementing Law Number 9 of 1992 emphasized service efficiency to support global free market issues, but paid little attention to law enforcement functions and security functions, starting in this era must be balanced with the functions of security and law enforcement.

In dealing with domestic and foreign problems and developments, the Directorate General of Immigration in the Reform Era has carried out several work programs as follows:

a. Refinement of Legislation Regulations

The Government renewed Law Number 9 of 1992 concerning Immigration. This is based on several developments that need to be anticipated, namely: (1) Geographical location of Indonesia (complexity of problems between countries), (2) International agreements / international conventions that have an impact on the implementation of immigration functions, (3) Increased international and transnational crimes, ( 4) Arrangements concerning detainees and established deadlines have not been carried out comprehensively, (5) Systematic and universal systematic approach to immigration functions by utilizing modern information and communication technology, (6) Placement of the structure of the immigration office and immigration detention center as a technical implementation unit in under the Directorate General of Immigration, (7) Change in the citizenship system based on Law Number 12 of 2006 concerning Indonesian Citizenship, (8) State sovereignty rights in accordance with the principle of reciprocity regarding the granting of visas to foreigners, (9) Agreement in the framework harmonization and standardization of systems m and type of safeguarding travel documents internationally, (10) Immigration law enforcement has not been effective so that the criminal policy needs to include a minimum criminal offense against human smuggling, (11) Extending the subject of immigration crime so that it covers not only individuals but also corporations and guarantor of the entry of foreigners into the territory of Indonesia who violates immigration provisions, (12) Application of more severe criminal sanctions against foreigners who violate regulations in the field of immigration because so far there has not been a deterrent effect.