Interior Minister Moshe Shapiro announced tonight in Israel’s Parliament new regulations aimed at prevention of abuses of Israeli passports by persons living abroad.
Except in special cases, passports will be issued to new immigrants only after one year’s residence in Israel. For travel abroad, the validity of passports will be limited to one year and will not be extended without Interior Ministry authorization. When the holder is abroad, no passports will be extended beyond a five-year period unless the holder registers annually with the Israeli consulate in the country where he is staying.
The Minister also announced that categories of holders of Israeli passports which will not be extended, except for a return trip to Israel, include shirkers of military service, those under court injunction, those in situations endangering security interests, fugitives from justice, those found guilty of criminal offenses, persons raising funds under false pretences and offenders against morality.
In announcing the regulations, the Minister said that more than 100,000 persons emigrated during the past 15 years and that there had been many cases of misuse of Israeli passports.
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