Jewish visitors now to get three-year visas to Israel
The cost of renewing visas for all family members can amount to hundreds of shekels a year. There are currently tens of thousands of Jews studying or working in Israel who would be effected by the new rule.
By Jonathan LisInterior Minister Eli Yishai has devised a plan to exempt Jews who come to Israel with their families to work or study from renewing their visas annually. Instead, they will only have to renew them once every three years.
The cost of renewing visas for all family members can amount to hundreds of shekels a year. There are currently tens of thousands of Jews studying or working in Israel who would be effected by the new rule.
The exemption would apply to those with the right to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return. In addition to people coming to Israel to study or work, those with long-term travel plans in the country would also be exempted.
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An El Al aircraft. |
| Photo by: Avi Sherf |
Under the old rules, people in these categories were required to go to the Interior Ministry once a year and present documents explaining the reason for their being in the country. They will also be exempt from payment of the annual visa fee, which is currently between NIS 100 and NIS 300 per person.
"The decision to cancel the visa fee and extend the renewal time comes following requests by young people eligible under the Law of Return who had come to Israel to work and study, and I did not know how heavy the bureaucratic process was weighing on them," Yishai said.
Yishai said the goal of his decision was to encourage aliyah and to strengthen the bond between the Jews of the Diaspora and Israel.
"I am certain those who are eligible under the Law of Return, even if they decide to return to the Diaspora after their stay in Israel, will be advocates for Israel, which will strengthen Israel's image in the world," Yishai said.
In addition, he said he wanted the regulation to constitute a "strong stand against assimilation."
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Its not the amount of Shekels, its the amount of bureaucratic time wasted. Keep on trimming the budget, especially get rid of some more "Jobnicks"! Shavua tov.
Oh, that's right, over 1 million Palestinian Israelis don't count under the rules of apartheid.
Israel is a Jewish state. The ONLY Jewish state. 14 official Christian States and 24 official Islamic states, 1 Jewish state. The law of return for Jews and the lack of one for Arab Israelis is not apartheid, its using immigration policy to help shape the character of the population. Every country of Earth does this!
I think it's really unfair that a country like Israel, which I usually esteem, will do such a thing to segregate its visitors. I'm not Jewish, but frankly I wouldn't enjoy going to Israel (and I go a lot) and seeing preference treatment for other non-israelies just because they're Jews. If you go to my country, we don't ask people about their religion, much less at the borders.
This story is about people visiting Israel who need to renew their visas. Israeli Arabs ("Palestinian Israelis") are already citizens; they don't need visas.