PIBA’s Proposed Law May Force International Couples Apart for Years

On July 16, 2025, the Minister of Interior published a government bill – a proposed amendment to the Entry into Israel Law – aimed at preventing an “incentive for illegal stay” in Israel by imposing a significant sanction on those who are unlawfully present in the country, including those who have an Israeli partner.

According to the bill, anyone who entered or stayed in Israel illegally for more than 30 days will be defined as an “illegal dweller” and will be barred from applying to legalize their status, including a foreign nationals married to Israeli citizens. Status legalization will only be possible after leaving Israel and waiting out a lengthy “cooling-off” period of at least one to five years. The cooling-off periods will be determined based on the duration of unlawful presence in Israel:

• Stayed illegally for 31 days to 3 months → wait 1 year outside Israel
• Stayed illegally for 3 months to 1 year → wait 2 years
• Stayed illegally for 1 to 3 years → wait 3 years
• Stayed illegally for over 3 years → wait 5 years

This mechanism should be cause for concern not only for couples where the foreign partner has a history of unlawful stay in Israel, but for any international-Israeli couple. A period of 30 days is extremely short, and unlawful presence of this length often occurs even during legal status processes of law-abiding couples – for example, when visa extensions are delayed due to PIBA backlogs, war, or unjustified refusals. Furthermore, the law will also apply to those who “entered” Israel unlawfully. There is no guarantee that a tourist who entered Israel legally won’t now be considered unlawfully present just because they submitted a visa application while on a tourist visa.

AIC submitted elaborate legal opinion against this legislation. Scroll down to read it!

The proposed bill includes a few exceptions to the cooling-off period, such as “error in good faith”, circumstances beyond the foreigner’s control, cases justifying special humanitarian stay permits, or when granting the visa serves an important state interest. However, application of these exceptions will be subject to the discretion of the Minister of Interior, and are unlikely to be easily granted.

In addition, the bill states that if a foreigner’s visa application is denied, they will not be allowed to submit a new application until a period determined by the Minister of Interior has passed – but no specific period is mentioned. This clause creates the potential for extended bans on submitting new visa applications, even longer than those currently in place under existing procedures.

As if that weren’t enough, the bill seeks to block access to judicial review in cases where someone is denied entry to Israel while still inside the country. According to the bill, any appeal or petition submitted before exiting Israel will not be heard until the appellant leaves the country. This section essentially validates any deportation decision by border officials and denies foreigners the ability to legally contest entry denials that are erroneous or unreasonable. It is clear that once someone is returned abroad, the chance to appeal the deportation becomes almost non-existent, and foreigners will be left with no recourse.

The Bill Directly Targets International Couples

If a requirement to “leave the country before the application can be processed” sounds familiar, you’re not mistaken. The Population Authority has previously attempted to implement a similar policy internally, and it was struck down by the courts. The requirement to leave Israel (even for a short period of one month) as a condition for legalizing status was discussed by the Supreme Court, which repeatedly ruled that requiring the foreign spouse of an Israeli citizen (married or unmarried) to leave Israel as a condition for status legalization is unconstitutional and disproportionate, and that the right to family life outweighs considerations of preventing illegal immigration.

There is no easy way to say this: as one of the main populations that will be harmed by the law, the bill constitutes a direct attack on international couples in Israel. This law comes alongside the debates over MK Rothman’s proposed Basic Law on Immigration, which similarly seeks to block all access to legal status for those who reside in Israel unlawfully. This bill goes even further, defining “unlawful stay” more broadly than Rothman’s Basic Law proposal. In addition, the fact that this bill is a regular law (not a Basic Law) means that it will be easier to implement and take effect immediately upon passing.

What About Couples in an Active Visa Process?

The bill includes an exemption for those who submitted a status application under Section 7 of the Citizenship Law, i.e., only for heterosexual married couples. Under this exemption, the law will not apply to foreign nationals who submitted a spouse visa application before the law comes into effect, or within 90 days of its commencement.

In addition, the cooling-off periods will not apply to a foreign national who resided in Israel unlawfully but left the country voluntarily within 90 days of the law’s effective date.

How Can We Fight This Bill?

This bill – which was proposed in similar forms in the years 2005–2011 but was blocked in the Knesset – is currently in its initial public comment stage. Afterward, the bill is expected to move to the Knesset Interior Committee, which is currently hostile toward international couples in Israel and is chaired by an MK from the Otzma Yehudit party.

As part of the public comment phase, the Israeli Association for International Couples submitted detailed legal opinion addressing the sections of the bill, its unconstitutionality, and the unacceptable harm it poses to the rights of Israelis with foreign partners or family members. AIC continues to work in collaboration with Members of Knesset, human rights organizations, and other stakeholders regarding this bill, who will stand with us once it reaches the Knesset.

Click here to read AIC’s comments to the bill (Hebrew)

Click here to read AIC’s comments – English Translation

To read the full bill, and additional public comments that were published by other community members during the public comments period, click here.

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