The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Legal Concept of Visas in Indonesia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic that has been going on globally since March 2020 has led to the universal closure of national borders. The exponential spread of the Covid-19 virus has resulted in a new phenomenon in the immigration field: stranded foreigners. To avoid the continued access of these stranded foreigners, Indonesian immigration issued a series of visa regulations. This study aims to analyse the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the concept of visa law applicable in Indonesia by existing formal law. This research uses a normative method with a conceptual approach, namely by identifying existing principles or doctrinal views and then generating new ideas. The concepts and theories used in this research are the rules of law concept with an analytical knife in the form of a hierarchy of laws and regulations theory and the theory of sovereignty. The results show that there is a shift in the concept of visa law in Indonesia as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the theoretical study, it is known that this shift in the idea of visa law has ruled out the visa doctrine that has been regulated in Indonesian immigration law. However, the principle of relative sovereignty that respects the principles of international law is the justification for changing the concept of visa law in Indonesia during the Covid-19 pandemic.