Category News & Updates
Israel at War – Official Information About Visas [PIBA’s official answers]
AIC wishes safety and security to all international couples in Israel, their families and their loved ones. This October 7th, Hamas initiated a deadly attack on Israel, launching thousands of rockets into the country, infiltrating Israeli territory and murdering over…
Municipal Elections in Israel 2023 – Can I vote?
The 2023 Israeli municipal elections are just around the corner, and will take place on October 31st, 2023. Before dismissing the idea of elections, thinking that you or your partner have no right to vote in Israel and would rather…
Official: Utah “Zoom Marriages” Fully Recognized for Spouse Visa Procedures
Following the publication on our Facebook Page last week, about a recent legal development on the subject of Utah “Zoom marriages”, we can now confirm that Utah proxy marraiges (conducted via video confernecing) have the same value as in-person marriages…
Future Mother on A5? Enough With Security Deposits at the Hospital!
If you are an A5 visa holder who is about to give birth in Israel (or your partner is), you probably heard about the standard procedure of having to make a security cheque of 15,000 NIS at the hospital after…
Discount Bank Policy Impacts ‘Foreign Residents’: AIC Advocates for Exemption of Partners of Israelis
In the last few months, AIC has gotten inquires about a series of notification letters sent by Discount Bank to some of its clients, notifying them about a new bank policy. As stated in their letters, the bank decided to…
Passport Marathon Impact Survey: 73% of Visa Meetings Cancelled, Parliament Discussion Blows Up
Over the last two weeks, AIC conducted an impact survey on how the government’s ‘Passport Marathon’, and the shutdown of visa services all around the country, has affected the international couples community. The survey was conducted in preparation to a…
Supreme Judge Yechiel Kasher: “The petition is theoretical. The potential damage of the outline is limited”.
AIC regrets to inform the community of international couples in Israel that our petition against the “Passport Marathon” outline, its implementation and its destructive outcomes – has been dismissed in limine. This last May 18th, AIC in collaboration with JIJ…
Read the Petition: AIC v. The Minister of Interior
On May 1st, the Minister of Interior and the Population Authority have published the “Passport Marathon” outline. From those publications we learned that PIBA’s intention was to shut down visa departments in the 4 biggest bureaus in Israel for a…
Reports: Activity of Visa Departments in Israel – May 2023
Following the closure of PIBA visa departments in several cities and automatic visa extension, AIC has collected dozens of testimonies about the activity of visa departments around Israel over the last week. Here is what we know so far. Please…
Protocol 5.2.0008 Update: Utah “Zoom Weddings” To Be Treated Same As Other Proxy Marriages
Protocol 5.2.0008 that determines the treatment of applications for status based on marriage to an Israeli citizen, was updated last week. The update to the protocol (which was quite significant) comes as a follow-up to the big update of the…
AIC Submits a Petition to the High Court of Justice Against the Shutdown of Visa Departments
Last Thursday, May 18th, The Israeli Association for International Couples, in collaboration with the Jerusalem Institution for Justice, have submitted a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court. The petition challenges the current policy of the Minister of Interior and his…
Visa Extension Round – May 2023
Two days ago (12th May 2023) at 17:00 PIBA started sending out the SMS notifications about visa extensions. As usual, the messages state the updated expiry date of an existing visa, and vaguely says “there’s no need to go to…