![\"Deporting](\"https:\/\/lawfirmbackup_200125.k1uagm.ap-southeast-2.wpstaqhosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/child-abduction-law-in-Israel-251x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nuabb domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/sites/lawfirmbackup_200125/wordpress/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131The harsh situation of parents being cut off from their children sounds like it is taken from a tragic film, but unfortunately it is not rare to see Israeli authorities deporting foreign parents of Israeli children. There are many cases where parents face a real, tangible threat of deportation. The law provides only partial solutions on the issue, so it is important to know the legal situation well and understand how to deal with such cases. This important issue is explained in detail below by attorney Michael Decker, an expert in Israeli immigration law from our office, who has extensive experience in handling such cases.<\/p>\n
Our firm, in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, specializes in the field of Israeli immigration law. We have extensive experience, among other things, in representing foreign parents and their children in Israel in processes of obtaining legal status, working with the Interior Ministry’s Population Authority and all the administrative and legal courts.<\/p>\n
Note: The names of the people and some of the details included in the stories below have been changed to protect individuals\u2019 privacy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As a firm dealing extensively with immigration to Israel and regulating the status of foreign spouses of Israeli citizens and their minor children<\/a>, we encounter countless complex human stories. Many of these stories are ignored by the media, or at most get only partial public media coverage. However, these stories represent the fate of a significant number of families with ties to Israel, who want to live in the country but encounter bureaucratic and legal difficulties on the way.<\/p>\n One of the most difficult types of such cases is without a doubt the case in which foreign parents of Israeli children are not recognized as having the right to remain with their families in Israel. As a result, they face a choice between two bad options: to leave their family and return to their country of origin alone, or leave with their children — who have usually lived in Israel since their birth or at least for several years. Moving the children to a totally foreign environment can cause them significant emotional and social harm, so the parents often prefer that the children remain in Israel, even at the cost of being cut off from them.<\/p>\n What can be done legally to deal with these severe occurrences? Unfortunately, there are no simple answers to this question. Legally these are extremely complex cases which require dealing with the state authorities and in most cases even a court\u2019s intervention. Given the legal difficulties that arise in these cases, as described in detail below, enlisting an expert lawyer at an early stage of the process may change the picture dramatically.<\/p>\n When there is a sincere relationship between a mixed couple (an Israeli with a foreign citizen), and a center of joint life in Israel, the law defines routes for obtaining Israeli legal status for the foreign spouse. In these cases, where the couple is married or lives together as a common-law couple<\/a>, the Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority<\/a> has set protocols (a protocol for married couples<\/a> and a protocol for common-law couples<\/a> and same-sex couples<\/a>), which, if followed, will generally allow the foreign spouse to stay in Israel together with the minor children living with them.<\/p>\n On the other hand, when foreign parents divorce or separate from their Israeli spouses or their relationship ends, the foreign parents\u2019 affinity to Israel is usually significantly weakened. The default in many such cases will be to halt the process of arranging legal status for the foreign parents and to require them to leave Israel. This is because their original application for Israeli legal status was based on an ongoing spousal relationship, and the termination of the relationship leads to noncompliance with the procedural requirements. The protocol for halting the gradual procedure<\/a> for a foreign spouse requires inviting the couple to an interview, and then ordering the cessation of the process for arranging legal status (the gradual procedure) for the foreign partner.<\/p>\n Exceptions to this are cases where all the following conditions are met: the couple’s relationship was sincere and real<\/a> when the application for legal status was submitted; the foreign partner received a temporary residency permit (an A-5 permit) as part of the gradual procedure; more than half of the gradual procedure has passed (that is, more than half of the period of the temporary residency permit); and the couple has joint children who are in the custody of the foreign partner, or have a close and ongoing relationship with that partner, and a professional opinion of an social worker or welfare official states that deporting the foreign parents will significantly harm the Israeli children. Compliance with all the above conditions will allow the case to be transferred for an additional review by an inter-ministerial committee to grant Israeli legal status for humanitarian reasons<\/a>.<\/p>\n It should be noted that legal solutions can sometimes be found that will prevent the parents\u2019 deportation even when the conditions are not met for reviewing the case. For example, in a case handled by our office, a foreign mother of an Israeli child obtained Israeli legal status even though she was already a candidate for deportation. The mother — for the purpose of describing the case, we\u2019ll call her Emily \u2013 had a relationship with an Israeli man and became pregnant.<\/p>\n At first the father denied paternity, but following the paternity claim she submitted, the father was obliged to perform a tissue test<\/a>. After it became clear that the child was indeed the father’s son, the child’s Israeli legal status was arranged. However, the mother was then arrested and became a candidate for deportation. This decision was appealed, leading to Emily’s release from custody. At the same time, an exceptional application was filed to have a humanitarian committee review the mother\u2019s case. As a result, the mother obtained legal status in Israel, and eventually the father became connected to his son and even supported Emily’s staying in Israel.<\/p>\n It is important to emphasize that there are differences in the chances of obtaining Israeli legal status for a foreign mother or foreign father in the case where they were in a relationship with an Israeli partner that was subsequently ended. There is generally a stronger tendency to recognize the connection between foreign mothers and their Israeli children as a tie that justifies reviewing the mothers\u2019 stay in Israel. In contrast, for fathers, the assumption is that foreign fathers of Israeli children have no inherent right to stay in the country by virtue of being parents.<\/p>\n For example, in a 2002 Supreme Court ruling<\/a>, it was ruled that a foreign citizen who was father to an Israeli girl, who divorced his Israeli wife during the process of arranging his Israeli legal status, was not entitled to obtain that status following the divorce, while the girl was living with the mother. It was ruled that the father could come on visits to Israel and continue to maintain contact with his daughter in this way, and that there was no need to grant him legal status in Israel for that reason. The court emphasized that only in exceptional circumstances can a foreign parent obtain legal status in Israel, and the father in this case did not persuade the court that such exceptional circumstances existed.<\/p>\n In this ruling, the court did not specify what unusual circumstances would allow a foreign father to obtain legal status, but it can be understood that the court was leaving a narrow opening to make exception to the rule that foreign fathers have no “natural” right to remain in Israel because they are parents of Israeli children. A success story in this context, handled by our office, is the story of a foreign citizen \u2013 for our purposes, we\u2019ll call him Leon. Leon moved to Israel following a relationship with an Israeli citizen, and the couple had two children. During his stay, Leon developed a strong affinity for Israel, and even began conversion<\/a> proceedings. Despite the end of his relationship with his Israeli partner, Leon’s case was brought before a humanitarian committee, which decided to allow him to acquire permanent status in Israel. Today Leon is an Israeli citizen. Another and more difficult type of case is one in which the Israeli partner passes away during the period in which the foreign parent is acquiring Israeli legal status. When the foreign parent loses their spouse, apart from the personal tragedy, they also lose the right to continue living in Israel with their children. We often hear of such difficult cases in the press. For example, in 2011, Haaretz<\/em> reported<\/a> on the cessation of legal status proceedings and a deportation order for a Philippino mother of an Israeli child, whose partner died during the process of arranging her legal status. In the article the mother emphasized the difficulty of leaving the country with the child, who was very connected to the family of his Israeli father.<\/p>\n In another case in 2017, covered by “News 13”<\/a>, the Interior Ministry ordered the cessation of legal status proceedings for a foreign mother who had moved to Israel to live with her two children, who had made aliya by virtue of their grandfather being a Jew. During her stay, the mother met an Israeli partner and they lived as a common-law couple for several years. But then her partner passed away, and the Interior Ministry decided to stop the mother’s legal status proceedings and to deport her.<\/p>\n The conditions for transferring such cases (in which the Israeli parent died while the foreign parent was in the process of obtaining legal status) to a humanitarian committee are quite similar to the above conditions when the spousal relationship is terminated: it is required that the Interior Ministry obtain the impression that the relationship was sincere; that following the gradual procedure, the foreign spouse was granted a temporary residency permit (visa); that more than half of the gradual procedure has passed; and that the children are in the custody of the foreign parent. If the children are not in that parent\u2019s custody, welfare agencies will be contacted to obtain relevant information regarding the children.<\/p>\n When a foreign parent\u2019s case (when either the relationship is discontinued or the Israeli spouse dies) does not comply with the required conditions and therefore it is decided not to transfer the case to the humanitarian committee, the decision can by filed by an internal appeal, within 21 days of the decision or sooner if possible. Even if a case is transfered to the committee, and the committee decides against approving the application, this decision can be appealed to the Appeals Court<\/a> under the Entrance to Israel Law. This court’s ruling can be appealed to the Court for Administrative Affairs<\/a>, and in some cases an appeal may be made to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\nDivorce or lack of relationship between the foreign parent and the Israeli parent<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The difference between foreign mothers and foreign fathers<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"Deporting](\"https:\/\/lawfirmbackup_200125.k1uagm.ap-southeast-2.wpstaqhosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/angry-family-getting-divorce-300x277.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhat happens if the Israeli spouse dies before the procedure is completed?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
How to appeal Interior Ministry decisions regarding the deportation of foreign parents of Israeli children?<\/strong><\/h4>\n