How to apply for refugee status in Israel?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Asylum seekers in Israel apply to the Ministry of the Interior to receive refugee status. The application is made on the basis of the Procedure for the Treatment of Asylum Seekers, which was updated in 2017. The objective of the procedure is to quickly process requests for refugee status in Israel. Our law office specializes in immigration to Israel. We have experience in assisting asylum seekers in Israel. This article by Israeli Attorney Joshua Pex will explain the process of applying for refugee status in Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the legal basis for processing the claims of asylum seekers in Israel?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Israel has signed in the year 1951 the United Nations\u00a0Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees<\/a> and the International Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees<\/a> of 1967. This later protocol removes certain limitations of the 1951 UN Refugees Convention. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Convention defines a refugee as a person who has been forced to leave his country due to “a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion”. According to the Convention, a refugee may not be deported to his country of origin or to another place where his life or liberty are in danger due to persecution. In addition, a refugee is not subject to whatever punishment the country he escaped to has for illegal immigrants. Also, the UN Convention for refugees states that an asylum seeker may not be deported from said country (since the refugee flees to another country out of fear for his life, rather than for illegal purposes). Furthermore, the refugee is entitled to the right to work in the country in which he had found refuge<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Refugees in Israel before 2009 would submit an asylum request at the UNHCR office<\/h4>\n

Prior to 2009, the processing of requests by asylum seekers in Israel was assigned to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Tel Aviv. The UN organization interviewed asylum seekers, examined their documents, and determined whether they were eligible for refugee status in Israel. After the increased influx of asylum seekers in Israel from Africa and the former Soviet Union countries, the Israeli Ministry of Interior established the Refugee Status Determination Unit. The RSD deals with requests for asylum on the basis of the Entry into Israel Law<\/a> (1952). This law allows the Minister of the Interior (and his representatives at the Ministry of the Interior, the Israeli Immigration Authority, the RSD unit, etc.) to approve or reject the entry of foreign citizens into Israel. In particular, the processing of applications for refugee status is based on the updated procedure for handling asylum seekers.<\/a>\u00a0 The updated MOI procedure regulates the RSD unit’s work with asylum seekers in Israel, the Minister of the Interior, and the Director General of the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority.<\/p>\n