Every citizen must have a passport – even a baby
New passport
You need to go to the ministry of interior with your updated picture
(presence is required). You should come when it's not the holidays
season and at the morning.
For an adult, the validity of the passport is 10 years from the day
it was given (section 4a). If the validity of the passport is less than
10 years, you can extend it, as long as the sum of the extensions is not
bigger than 10 years.
For a minor (till the age of 18), the validity of the passport is
only for 5 years, and a parent presence is required. In case the parents
are not married, both parents need to come.
There is a passport with 64 pages designed basically to business men who fly frequently.
Passport extension
In Israel, extending your passport doesn't require payment.
You can also extend it in the airport, but the price there is very high.
Its open 24 hours a day, not including Saturdays and holidays, and on Friday, they work till 14:30.
While you're abroad, you can extend your passport at the local
embassy/consulate. In Israel, you can use the 171 postal service, and a
messenger will bring you the documents for a fee.
In case the passport was stolen or lost, the renewal in Israel is
valid for one year only, whereas abroad you will receive a pass
certificate (for your information, some countries don't allow passing
through them with it, so you'll need to check it) or any other
certificate so you can continue the trip. It's your duty to inform the
local police or the representatives back at your country and bring
confirmations that you have lost or, bring two passport pictures,
documents that you download from their website or at the
consulate/embassy. You are also recommended to bring a picture of the
lost/stolen passport.
Renewing lost/stolen passport costs money.
Important rule: the passport must be in valid for at least half a
year from the time you leave Israel's borders. There are countries, like
Turkey and the Czech Republic that require at least 3 months validity.
In case you have another passport, you are allowed to carry them
both. When you arrive or leave the country, you must bring the Israeli
passport, and when you arrive abroad, you can choose which passport
suits you.
The guidance is conclusive, and reasonable: don't take the passport
out of your sight, even for a second. At the check-in, you can see that
the officer prints the first page at most places, compares it to the
information in the computer, and sings the passport.
At the front desk in the hotel, for the convenience of the clerk, he
demands that you leave him your passport, so he could write your
information. First of all, you don't hand out the passport to someone
you don't know (terrorists pay a lot of money for an Israeli passport).
Second, your passport is your method of identification abroad.
You cannot leave the passport in the reception when you register,
but they can copy your passport with the following information: your
first and last name, the year you were born, your nationality, and your
passport's number (it takes no more than a minute). They can't copy
anything else (they don't need to), and they must return it to you as
soon as possible. These actions must be made in your line of sight and
you need to watch if they copy it like the original. The only place it's
allowed to print your passport alike is at the check in at the airport.
If you don't want to stand on the this principle, give them a copy
(size 1X1 with a passport picture - laminated), and make sure you take
it back. At the rest of the time, the passport must be found on you, at
all time, and just in case, store it with your money, licenses, flight
tickets and credit cards in a pocket's sock or in an interior pocket you
sewed, attached to your belt.
Recommendation
Scan all the important documents you own (including the passport)
before you fly, and send it to your private email account, just in case
you might need it (it will be easy to print it from all over the world).
Today, a biometric signature is available (reading you palm), and it saves a lot of time waiting in line for the clerk.
Author,
yair bar zohar
