Status settlement of a foreign spouse
One of the key areas on which the A.I law firm is focusing is the status settlement of a foreign spouse who is married to an Israeli (it should be noted that this article is considering the case of officially registered couples, while in the case of unmarried couples, the “cohabitation” procedure is used; please see a separate article on the page of the sphere of activity of the Ministry under the “cohabitation” heading.
The policy of the Ministry of Internal affairs complicates the lives of individuals married to foreigners, by trying to thoroughly and carefully examine their activities and their cohabitation in Israel.
This step-by-step procedure is a procedure for obtaining status in Israel on the basis of relationship between the spouses, in accordance with which the Israeli citizenship is granted to a foreign citizen who is married to an Israeli and who is not entitled to obtain the Israeli citizenship under the Law on Return.
This process is called the “step-by-step procedure” because it involves a “step-by-step” granting of citizenship. It is a lengthy process designed to consider the rights of foreign nationals who are in a relationship with Israelis.
According to the procedure, the couple must go through several stages in order to verify if the foreign spouse has the right to Israeli status and, at each stage, the foreign spouse obtains an intermediate status in accordance with the process of the proceedings.
At the end of the procedure, in a couple who successfully passed all the stages of the process established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the foreign spouse obtains a permanent status and a permanent citizenship in Israel.
In Detail’s
The spouses have to undergo many bureaucratic tests, which, in particular, examine the “sincerity and reality of their relationship” and ensure that their marriage is not fictitious and is not concluded solely for the purpose of obtaining Israeli citizenship for a foreign citizen and settling in Israel.
These tests include a test for the so-called “center of life” of the spouses, a security check, a criminal record check, a verification of documents, compliance certificates and a check to verify if a foreign citizen has permanently stayed in Israel for a certain period of time, as well as a check of documents from the foreign spouse’s country of origin and much more.
The specialists of our law firm help in collecting the required documents from different countries, which reduces the waiting time and, consequently, speeds up the process of obtaining status for a foreign spouse.
It should be noted that the processes and procedures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are lengthy and establish only the minimum period for completion of the procedure, but do not include a limit on the maximum period during which the state needs to consider an application; thus, if there is no professional accuracy, this situation can lead to a process that will drag on for many years.
During the procedure, the couple must provide the Ministry of Internal Affairs with various documents and certificates confirming the nature of the relationship and the union between them. After that, the couple is subjected to a sort of an intense interview, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs examines in detail the “sincerity of the relationship” between the spouses.
Sincerity of the relationship
The purpose of the interview is to examine the “sincerity of the relationship” between the spouses and to ensure the existence of a common “center of life” in Israel.
If both spouses are in Israel, the interview is conducted fully in Israel at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, in the case where the foreign spouse is abroad, the situation is different and the foreign spouse’s interview is conducted at the Israeli embassy in his country of origin, while the Israeli spouse’s interview is conducted at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Israel; thus this leads to many inaccuracies in the transmitted versions of the spouses during an interview, and as a result to the rejection of their application.
It should be noted that a preliminary preparation for an interview with the assistance of a lawyer greatly increases the chances of success. In addition, during the preparation for the interview, the lawyer will compile a list of relevant questions that the couple will most likely be asked at the Ministry.
Moreover, the lawyer will conduct a simulation interview for each spouse in order to avoid anxiety and confusion when answering questions in real time.
After the cross-examination of the spouses, if the Ministry of Internal Affairs gets the impression that the spouses’ relationship is insincere and / or that they have no joint “center of life”, their application for status in Israel is rejected and the application for a step-by-step procedure is cancelled, after which the foreign spouse is required to leave the country or, if a foreign spouse is abroad, he is prohibited from entering Israel.
In addition, if there are serious concerns that the relationship of the spouses is insincere, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is entitled, at its discretion, to extend the validity period of the B / 2 permit for an additional six months, after which it will consider the issue of “sincerity of their relationship” again, or stipulate the approval of the application at the beginning of the step-by-step procedure, by providing guarantees; the level of guarantees will be set in accordance with the guarantee procedure adopted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The completion
If the couple has successfully completed the cross-examination process, its application is submitted to the competent authorities for consideration and a temporary residence permit is issued to the foreign spouse pending consideration of his application.
The completion of the step-by-step procedure can result in two possible outcomes:
1. Completion of the procedure and obtaining permanent status in Israel.
2. Or, alternatively, termination of the process due to non-compliance with the criteria established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Among the main reasons for the rejection of the petition are such issues as providing contradictory and inaccurate answers during an interview, undermining confidence in the versions of the parties, non-compliance with the criteria of “sincerity of the spouses’ relationship”, non-compliance with the criteria of “center of life” in Israel, rejection of the petition due to security reasons or criminal reasons, as well as rejection due to polygamy or due to a failure to provide the necessary documents.
After the approval of the application, a temporary permit of A / 5 type is granted for a period of up to one year. For four years, additional tests will be conducted each year to examine the nature of the relationship between the spouses and their cohabitation, after which the couple will have to undergo a thorough interview at the Ministry of Internal Affairs again.
In fact, a married couple is required to undergo inspections over and over again, proving their compliance with the criteria established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
It should be noted that after 4 years, the foreign spouse who successfully passed all the tests established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is granted Israeli citizenship.
Divorce
It is also important to note and to emphasize that when there is a divorce in the middle of the step-by-step procedure, in some cases the foreign spouse has the opportunity to stay in Israel, on the basis that the Population and Immigration Authority considers each case on its own merits, taking into account two main parameters:
1. The circumstances of the divorce.
2. At what stage of the proceedings the spouses divorced.
The conditions are cumulative and, to prevent the foreign spouse from obtaining a permanent residence in Israel, it is enough for just one condition not to be met.
It should be noted that it is very important to consult a lawyer at the beginning of the process in order to work out the right strategy as, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, failure to comply with the procedures and / or detection of discrepancies in the information provided by the couple will cause mistrust and doubt, in which case the Population and Immigration Authority has the right to immediately revoke any permit issued under this procedure, thus the foreign citizen will lose his permit and will be forced to leave Israel. Damage caused by reckless behavior negatively affects the whole procedure, such a situation is defined as “what’s done is done and cannot be fixed”.
Experience shows that couples assisted by a qualified lawyer, who has thoroughly studied their case and their purposes, have the highest rate of success, achieve faster results and obtain status in Israel in the shortest time possible.
The case law means that the foreign spouse does not automatically have the right to obtain Israeli citizenship because of the fact that he concluded marriage with an Israeli citizen.
Please see notes of the Supreme Court 754/83, Rankin v. Minister of Internal Affairs, please also see notes of the Supreme Court 2208/02, Salam v. Minister of Internal Affairs and, in addition, Supreme Court 4156/01, Dimitriov v. Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The application for the naturalization of the foreign spouse is submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for consideration and, of course, the existence of the marital relationship between the spouses is taken into account.
All of this must be considered against the backdrop of the struggle of the State of Israel, fighting against the applications, which are submitted by couples in sham marriages with the purpose of taking advantage of the family reunification program.
The granting of citizenship depends on the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which may take into account many different facts (see Stamka et al. v. Minister of Internal Affairs), and all of this has to take into account the fact that the process of naturalization of foreign spouses is closely related to the creation of a real family unit in the society and, since there is no family unit, the naturalization process will not take place.
The courts have long approved the decisions to reject applications for the naturalization of a foreign spouse in cases where the Ministry of Internal Affairs gets the impression that the relationship between the spouses is not genuine.
Please see the decision in the case of the Honourable Judge Gadot, Administrative Claim (Tel Aviv) 28965-11-09, Ignatiev et al. v. State of Israel – Ministry of Internal Affairs, in which:
“The burden of proof does not fall on the defendant to prove that the marriage is a sham. The burden of proof lies with the appellants who have to prove the sincerity of their relationship. Taking into account the fact of the illegal presence of the appellant in the country for many years and the fact that he was unable to identify the nature of the relationship between him and his spouse during the hearing of November 2018, as well taking into account that the appellants did not provide the necessary evidence, therefore they did not prove the sincerity of their relationship…”
On the basis of the above decision, it is clear that we are dealing with a complex and lengthy procedure, according to which the burden of proof lies with the spouses who apply to create a family unit in Israel.
The A.I law firm of Avraham Israilov provides professional legal representation and assistance at the highest standard from the beginning of the procedure to its completion. We represent our clients and help them in their cases at the Ministry of Internal Affairs across the country.
Our law firm provides strategic planning and creative solutions for all aspects of status settlement of a foreign spouse.
It is important to remember that often a foreign spouse can maintain his legal status in Israel even after a divorce from an Israeli spouse and until the completion of the process itself.
Our firm also provides legal assistance outside of Israel during an interview at the Israeli embassy.
Procedures of this type are characterized by their long duration; our specialists understand and take into account the special needs of our customers and our relations with the government allows us to explore the possibilities and propose solutions that match the profile of each client in order to achieve high efficiency without wasting precious time.
Our firm provides continuous assistance in interviewing, interrogation and throughout the proceedings process at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the courts until the results are obtained.
Our firm possesses a unique specialization in the status settlement and family reunification issues in Israel. We offer a wide range of creative solutions in particularly difficult cases.