Visas – Challenge #37 (made up number, I lost count) Submitted by Randi

The last big hurdle we had, that we know of, was to extend our 3-month visitor visas (expired Nov. 12) as our attempts to get a year-long visa this past summer were not successful (strikes and the war got in the way). Because I feel extremely accomplished, I will share the process we went through. This also provides very good insight into how things go around here.

Step 1: Two weeks before expiration, request an appointment using the Ministry of Interior website.

Step 2: Note the auto-reply indicates we will receive a response within two days.

Step 3: Two days pass with no response. So, one week later, request an appointment again using same online system. Receive same auto-reply.

Step 4: Again, no email or phone call despite two requests for an appointment. Attempt to call the Department of Ministry which yields no live response. Message, in Hebrew, seem to state hours, locations, etc. No choice to speak to someone (I think).

Step 5: One day before visas expire, look up address, pack a backpack with a book, important papers such as Ketuva (Jewish marriage license), letter from Rabbi stating we are in good standing, birth certificates, lease, utility bills for Tel Aviv, girls’ admission letters for their school here, Israeli bank account statement, and a few more items.

Step 6: Take bus to the Government Offices on Derech Menachem Begin open from 8:00 AM to Noon (but not on Wednesdays). Arrive a little before 8:00 thinking I am ahead of the game.

Step 7: Go through security check at main entrance, go up two levels and then stand in a line like at the airport to go through another security check and scan.

Step 8: Find the Visa office and grab a number. A few minutes after they open I am already number 19.

Step 9: Grab some forms and take a seat. I fill out the forms, watch the other people fill out forms and realize that I forgot the passport photos. Shoot. Listen to lots of people yell, argue and get upset with the two customer service reps. Some people seem to have appointments and others clearly have lawyers guiding them through the process (or in other words, getting around the bureaucracy).

Step 10: At 10:00 my number is called and another woman who had been lingering around the service window steps up to the counter!! The nerve. As the service rep is asking her for the number, I start waving my little piece of paper (like at the deli) and in Hebrew, state that I am in fact #19. It worked.

Step 11: Answer questions about a) what I want (to extend our visas through June 2015); b) why I am in Israel (we love Israel, we have family here, and our kids are in school); c) Am I Jewish (yes); d) Do you have papers to prove it (hand over Ketuva and Rabbi letter); e) A little lecture, “Did I think we could just stay until June without a visa?” (Well no, in fact, I tried to get one but the consulate in S.F. was on strike all summer). . . . . . pause, good point, “here, fill out this form.”

Step 12: Fill out entirely different form than the one I had already completed for me and the girls, make copy (no way was I going to not have a record of what I submitted) and go back up to the counter. Since Eric was not there, and I did not have his passport, my efforts were not going to pertain to his visa. Another visit.

Step 13: Listen to the rep explain that my letter and Ketuva don’t really prove I am Jewish so I should get another letter from a Rabbi who knows my parents and possibly grandparents. In the meantime, the form and documents will be sent to the Jewish Agency for review.

Step 13: Provide my phone number and listen to the rep tell me she will call me in a few days.

Step 14: Leave, not quite sure what just happened, and skeptical that I will receive a call.

Step 15: Six days later, I actually received a call informing me that my visa was approved as were the girls’. Victory. But, I have to come back, take a number, and stand at the counter, again.

Step 16: Explain to Eric that we need to go on an “adventure” (this word seems to resonate with him) to the visa office and that we had better get there early to get a number.

Step 17: (November 20) Meet Eric at “the car” (graciously lent to us by Efrat, our niece) at 7:40 AM and drive to the Visa office. Go through security twice and grab a number and take a seat. Eric settles in as far away as possible from the crowd and starts working his cell phone.

Step 18: Eric helps a Bulgarian man and his brother fill out their application in Hebrew. Apparently, of the 50 people in the waiting room, Eric looked the most able to complete a form, and in Hebrew. For those of you who know Eric, he has publicly stated that he does not fill out forms, just not something he chooses to do in life. So, the irony of this situation is not lost on me. In fact, Eric did not even fill out the form for himself (although I handed him one). He did a stellar job completing the other man’s form.

Step 19: Two hours in, we are called to the counter. Because I had already been through part of the process and the Jewish Agency deemed I was in fact Jewish, and we are clearly married as evidenced by the Ketuva, and the girls are really our children as proven by their birth certificates, all four of us were granted 2-year visitor visas. The two years is just because the nice man behind the counter said that was the maximum allowed (this does not mean we are staying for two years). The process took an additional hour and this time, we remembered our passport photos.

Step 20: Eric heads off to his work project, and I to enjoy a delicious humus lunch with our friend Jason near the Shuk.

Step 21: Randi stops worrying about getting busted, Eric is happy that Randi is no longer worried and nagging him and the girls feel relieved that they can finish the school year at WBAIS (for the record, there was minimal risk that this would not happen).