Passports Law (1952) Amendment
- + Pro-change: Ending discrimination against new immigrants, granting freedom of movement, maintaining good ties with Diaspora Jewry, removing bureaucratic obstacles for immigrants.
- − "rewarding" people who immigrate to Israel "not to settle" in Israel but rather "come to the country only to get passports"
- − Abuse of the right of aliya
Not all citizens are equal before the Darkon
Not all citizens are equal before a passport
The issuance of a laissez-passer instead of passports was a standard procedure in the 1990s, when, according to the Ministry of the Interior, a response was required to a wave of Russian criminal gangs that immigrated to Israel and began using Israeli passports for their activities—there is no support for this other than isolated cases that do not indicate a widespread phenomenon.
In 06.2017, the Passports Law was amended to remove the residency requirement as a condition for receiving an Israeli passport for new immigrants (Yisrael Beiteinu party)
In December 2020, a workaround to legislation was made in the procedures of the Population and Immigration Authority by Interior Minister Aryeh Derci, according to which a new immigrant received a first passport for one year only, and starting from the second year, the renewal of the passport was conditioned on their settling in Israel.
07.2023 The Passports Law was amended (Amendment No. 10), according to which new immigrants are not eligible to receive a passport as their first travel document (except after one year of proven settlement).