The state of Israel is created, first of all, on a national basis. The Law on Citizenship and the Law on Return Repatriation are the main regulatory acts that govern the acquisition of Israeli citizenship. They clearly define who can claim to this status that is Jews, children of Jews, grandchildren of Jews, spouses of Jews, spouses of children and, accordingly, grandchildren of Jews.
Truly, this is customary in most developed countries, but Israel is an exception. If the new family choose Israel as their permanent place of residence, the Israeli spouse will need to submit a special application for granting status to a foreign spouse in the Israeli Ministry of Interior Misrad HaPnim. The application is submitted at the place of residence. Then the family will need to go through several stages of the so-called step-by-step procedure for legalizing marriage, at the end of which the foreign spouse can apply for either permanent resident status or Israeli citizenship.
This procedure lasts an average of years. The duration and quantity of stages depend on many factors. In this article, we will not give a list of documents or describe in detail the stages of the procedure, but try to discuss the most important issues to be considered for the success of the case.
Collecting documents. As it was noted before, in the case of the step-by-step procedure for legalizing a spouse, a lot depends on the input data. They include whether the marriage was registered before or the civil spouses apply for this procedure, whether the foreigner resides in Israel and what his status is, whether the couple has children, joint or from previous relationships, how long the couple has been together and much more. A general list of documents for starting a case can be found on the website of the Ministry of Interior, where you can also request a telephone consultation.
Carefully study the list and make sure that all the required documents can be collected in a fairly short time. Pay attention to certificates with a limited validity period criminal record or those that can be obtained only before marriage a certificate of the marital status of a spouse before marriage in most ex-USSR countries is issued only before a new marriage.
