The Four No's

March 24, 2009

With our visas due to expire on April 7, we set aside today to extend them. A standard tourist visa for Israel is three months. Although it is preferable to arrange for a longer visa before coming to Israel, it is possible to renew visas while already here, but those who attempt this are warned to start early, because sometimes you have to stand in line just to make an appointment to come back to speak to a clerk! With our visas due to expire in April, we started the process about six weeks ago by exploring Ministry websites and getting passport photos from one of the self-service machines in the Dizengoff Center. We came upon telephone numbers for six offices, but none of those numbers connected us to a person to whom we could ask questions about exactly what documents would be required. About three weeks ago, I asked Rakefet, the administrative assistant at Sheatufim, for her help, so she started sending faxes-- every day--to the Ministry, asking somebody, anybody, to call back. After several days of unrequited faxes, I decided to try the U.S. option. I contacted the Israeli consular office in Atlanta by email. Within 24 hours, there was a return email asking for my phone number and two days later, Yaron called me. This was progress. I knew that with persistence I could overcome this bureaucracy!

“You know,” he said, “it’s better to get this visa before you come to Israel.”
“I understand, but we just ran out of time. What should we do now? Nobody seems to answer the phone.”

“It’s possible to get a volunteer visa, but it’s better to extend your tourist visa.”
“Yes, and how do I find out what I need to do that when nobody answers the phone?”
“Maybe you should go to the office to find out.”
This was not the answer I was hoping for.

The next day I solicited the UJC in Jerusalem for their advice. After checking with an unofficial contact at the Jewish Agency, they sent some very specific suggestions. Finally. Would these work? Go to the office in Rishon Lezion (not the one in Tel Aviv). Do not call for an appointment. Extending the tourist visa is the easiest option. Provide several documents. Over the next ten days, I compiled a dossier for each of us: copies of airline tickets, apartment lease, passport ID page, a letter from me describing my leave from UNC, the certificate from my circumcision 60 years ago (just kidding) and, just in case we needed it, a letter from Sheatufim explaining that they were providing a home base while Linda and I learned about Israeli nonprofit organizations.

Last night we reviewed the Egged and Dan bus schedules to confirm travel for today, V-day. We awoke early enough to catch the #274 at 7:47, right on Namir Street. The trip to Rishon Lezion, an industrial city south of Tel Aviv, was only 40 minutes. Not knowing where the Ministry was located, we exited at the old central bus station and took a cab for a 28 shekel fare, to Yisrael Galili St. It was both amusing and sobering to see a large sign for a law firm (perhaps immigration law?) on the ground floor of the building. The guard directed us to the second floor and the guard at the entrance to the visa office was welcoming.

The office looked like a government office—chairs lined up, kiosks with dividers along one wall, signs overhead with instructions--but it did appear well maintained. We walked up to the desk facing the entrance.
“We would like to extend our visas,” said Linda, to the rather large, youngish woman behind the desk.

“Do you have an appointment? No?, You need an appointment.” Here is where the skills we have learned to just keep asking for whatever it is you want seems to be the strategy in Israel.

“We were told that an appointment was not needed,” I offered, in a calm voice.
Rebuffed, she scowled and directed us to desk 1.

An older and younger man were seated facing the desk, talking with the agent. A young Filipino woman sat facing desk #1, so we were number two in line. After a few minutes, the agent stamped some papers and took the fees from the men. The young woman approached the desk, but apparently she did not have the required dossier so she was told to return another time. Just as she was finishing, a rather stout, short Russian woman approached us. Although I could not understand her Russian, the way she was signaling, she was asking if she could just ask the agent one question. We were too psyched to take the field and too experienced with the “just one question” request in a bureaucratic line to be gracious and I joined the chorus of Linda’s insistent “lo, lo, lo” (no, no, no) as we positioned ourselves in the seats at desk #1.

The agent, perhaps in her late 20s or early 30s, was stylishly dressed in a black and white top, with a dark sash or scarf around her neck that gave the impression of a necktie. She spoke excellent English.

“We would like to extend our tourist visas,” said Linda, as she shuffled some parts of our dossier onto the desk.
“Do you have an appointment?” she asked.
“No, we were told that an appointment was not necessary.”

Noticing a Tel Aviv address the agent asked, “Are you living in Tel Aviv? You have to do this in Tel Aviv, no, not here.”
“We were told that we could go to any office,” I politely offered.
“Who told you this?”
“Becky Caspi from UJC said that we did not have to go to the Tel Aviv office, that we could extend our visas at any office.”

“We are leaving at the end of July,” Linda added.
“When did you arrive?”
“On January 8th, so we would like to extend the visa until then.”
“No, you can only have another three months. There is nothing I can do.”
“Do you mean we have to come back in three months, even though we are leaving at the end of that month? We were told that we could have the visas extended for six months.”

That apparently was the end of the interview. She handed each of us a routine form with name, address, and etc. As she was entering our identifying information I recalled that it was a good idea to ask for a multiple entry visa so that we could travel outside of Israel.

“I can only give one entry,” she explained, but this was good news, because it was the first time that the lead was not “no.” In a few seconds the nearby computer spit two a gummed labels, the size of a passport page, one for each of us, that she affixed to each of our passports. We gave her 160 shekels each for the visa and 80 shekels each for the one re-entry. I looked at the extension date—7-20-09, Linda’s departure date—two weeks after what should have been the expiration on July 7. My own departure is the next day, so I guess I’ll be illegal for a day, but as Linda noted, the penalty for having an expired visa is probably deportation anyway. It was nice of our agent to listen.

In Israel, just keep asking until you get the answer you want.