The family of the grand-granddaughter (the petitioners) claimed that the family relationship continued even when the minor stayed with her grandmother in Ukraine, including frequent visits and phone \/ zoom calls every few days. It was claimed that the family intended to return the two children to Israel even earlier, and they even bought plane tickets, but the grand-granddaughter had to stay in Ukraine due to the restrictions of the corona virus, since she did not receive a vaccine. In addition, her brother returned to Israel after several years in Ukraine and received his legal status, so there is no reason why she should not receive her status on the same basis.<\/p>\n

Ministry of Interior lawyers on behalf of the prosecution argued that a great-grandson of a Jew will be entitled to immigrate to Israel only while he is a minor who is part of a family immigrating to Israel. If the grand-granddaughter lives separately from the parents, in Ukraine, then she has no separate right to status in Israel. Also, the girl stayed several years outside of Israel, while the procedure specifically insists on staying in Israel, with the visa being renewed for a year each time. Moreover, the minor left Israel before the corona epidemic and did not return when the restrictions were lifted, so it is understood that she stayed in Ukraine for several years willingly and not due to lack of choice. A consultation was carried out with the headquarters according to the procedure, and it was decided not to give the minor a status. Finally, it was claimed that the minor’s brother was granted status by mistake.<\/p>\n

What did the district court decide and why?<\/h4>\n

The judge reiterated the rules of administrative law according to which the court should not interfere with the considerations of the Ministry of the Interior unless they are tainted by “gross lack of reasonability, extraneous considerations or discrimination”, but the dissolution of the family unit and preventing a minor from being reunited with her family is not reasonable under these circumstances.<\/p>\n

The court emphasized the new paradigm of the family unit in the 21st century, where children can live in another country and still maintain the family bond through technology and visits, and the right of minors to reunite with their family in Israel. That is, the family unit is the same family that was in 2018, on the eve of aliyah, and the right to status in Israel is maintained on the basis of the maintained relationship.<\/p>\n

The important considerations are not the strict observance of the procedure but the best interest of the minor, his young age, the importance of the family relationship, and the acceptance of the claim that the minor’s lack of residence in Israel was not by choice.<\/p>\n

What conclusion can we draw from the verdict?<\/h4>\n

First of all, this is good news for grand-grandchildren of Jews and perhaps even minor children of foreign spouses of Israelis who were forced to return to the country of origin or remain there, but maintained the family relationship with the parent in Israel.<\/p>\n

There is even a certain window of hope for grand-grandchildren and children who have reached the age of 18 outside of Israel, provided that they were indeed in a family relationship with the parent. As of this moment, there are many families in which one of the parents immigrated to Israel, the children remained in Russia or Ukraine (or returned from Israel to another country of origin with the other parent), who lost the right to immigrate upon reaching the age of majority.<\/p>\n

On a general level, there is room here to emphasize the importance of persistence in legal matters – the status of the great-granddaughter was rejected 3 times before the district court stood upheld her right. Petitioners only have to win once.<\/p>\n

In addition, it never hurts when a number of claims are thrown before the court – even the ones that are useless will not do any harm. The court understands that the petitioners mobilize every possible argument, therefore the weight of an argument that has been refuted is less than an argument that may speak to the judge’s heart.<\/p>\n

Contact an immigration specialist:<\/h4>\n

If you, one of your family members, or friends have encountered difficulties in the process of making Aliyah or immigrating to Israel, whether the area is legal status for a great-grandson of a Jew, status for the spouse of an Israeli, rejection of an aliyah request or any other issue, contact our offices in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. We will be happy to assist with professional advice and solving any problem with the Ministry of the Interior or the courts.<\/p>\n

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What happens when great-grandchild of a Jew immigrates to Israel with their family, returns to their homeland before receiving permanent status in Israel, and then requests to return to Israel? The Ministry of the Interior emphasizes the importance of preserving the “center of life” in Israel – the fourth generation does not have the right…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[668],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aliyah-to-israel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n