Any advantages to getting an Israeli passport?
Discussion
The story about Roman Abramovich getting an Israeli passport to get around his UK visa difficulties prompted me to look into something I was told about a few years ago.
My paternal grandmother was raised as a jew in Europe, and was apparently practicing up until she married my grandfather in London between the wars. At this point she was pretty much disowned by her family, as grandad wasn't jewish. He was non-religious. This fact was never mentioned during their lifetime. We only found out when mum did the family tree thing about 5 years ago. Dad said he had no idea that he was "officially" jewish (maternal blood line).
An Israeli acquaintance of my brother told him that he could qualify for an Israeli passport under their "Law Of Return", and that does seem to be the case. Anyone with a jewish parent or grandparent can qualify, as long as that relative didn't convert and practice a different religion. Not practicing to "fit in" doesn't seem to be a problem.
It seems that Israeli passport holders don't need visas for EU countries, so I'm wondering if holding one (while also keeping my UK passport) would make life easier post-brexit? Maybe make relocating to France or Spain simpler if they decide to withdraw free movement/residency rights from UK citizens?
My paternal grandmother was raised as a jew in Europe, and was apparently practicing up until she married my grandfather in London between the wars. At this point she was pretty much disowned by her family, as grandad wasn't jewish. He was non-religious. This fact was never mentioned during their lifetime. We only found out when mum did the family tree thing about 5 years ago. Dad said he had no idea that he was "officially" jewish (maternal blood line).
An Israeli acquaintance of my brother told him that he could qualify for an Israeli passport under their "Law Of Return", and that does seem to be the case. Anyone with a jewish parent or grandparent can qualify, as long as that relative didn't convert and practice a different religion. Not practicing to "fit in" doesn't seem to be a problem.
It seems that Israeli passport holders don't need visas for EU countries, so I'm wondering if holding one (while also keeping my UK passport) would make life easier post-brexit? Maybe make relocating to France or Spain simpler if they decide to withdraw free movement/residency rights from UK citizens?
Having an Israeli passport or entry/exit stamps in a non-Israeli one can be problematic for travelling elsewhere especially Muslim countries. Israeli customs now issue you with a separate paper visa on entry that must be kept with your passport.
Back in the 90's I was sometimes travelling through or working in various ME countries & had to have a duplicate passport for travel to Israel when they insisted on stamping it like everyone else. Tourism started to suffer IIRC & they adopted the former method.
Back in the 90's I was sometimes travelling through or working in various ME countries & had to have a duplicate passport for travel to Israel when they insisted on stamping it like everyone else. Tourism started to suffer IIRC & they adopted the former method.
clockworks said:
The story about Roman Abramovich getting an Israeli passport to get around his UK visa difficulties prompted me to look into something I was told about a few years ago.
For Abramovich, an Israeli passport is far better than his Russian one. Compared to a UK passport, there's little advantage unless you wanted to live in Israel. There are few passports better than a UK one in terms of movements through borders. As for residency visas, most consider your country of origin and country of residence as you can effectively buy passports (a few million will get you an Australian one, nice and legit through a government program).Update on this:
Apparently my Jewish ancestors arrived in London during the 19th century from The Hague, before that they were in Portugal.
My paternal great-great grandfather is buried in the Sephardic cemetery in Mile End, London.
Mum saw something on TV a few days ago about descendants of Portuguese Sephardic jews being granted Portuguese passports. Something to do with the way they were forced to convert to catholicism or kicked out of the country by the Inquisition.
I've checked on the Portuguese government website, and it appears that I am in with a good shout of getting a Portuguese passport - potentially much more useful than an Israeli one.
Next time I visit mum, I'll get some printouts of the family tree, birth and death certificates, etc. Initial application is via email to the Jewish community in Porto or Lisbon.
The only thing I'm not clear on is whether this is applicable only to practising jews...
Apparently my Jewish ancestors arrived in London during the 19th century from The Hague, before that they were in Portugal.
My paternal great-great grandfather is buried in the Sephardic cemetery in Mile End, London.
Mum saw something on TV a few days ago about descendants of Portuguese Sephardic jews being granted Portuguese passports. Something to do with the way they were forced to convert to catholicism or kicked out of the country by the Inquisition.
I've checked on the Portuguese government website, and it appears that I am in with a good shout of getting a Portuguese passport - potentially much more useful than an Israeli one.
Next time I visit mum, I'll get some printouts of the family tree, birth and death certificates, etc. Initial application is via email to the Jewish community in Porto or Lisbon.
The only thing I'm not clear on is whether this is applicable only to practising jews...
Echo66 said:
Having an Israeli passport or entry/exit stamps in a non-Israeli one can be problematic for travelling elsewhere especially Muslim countries. Israeli customs now issue you with a separate paper visa on entry that must be kept with your passport.
I only got the visa ticket which wasn't even stuck let alone stamped on my UK passport.The ex, dual citizen, had to use her Israeli one as they know you hold both and apparently can be a bit funny if you try to use the UK one instead. This also leads to the questions about why you haven't done military service, so a no-win.
clockworks said:
Update on this:
Apparently my Jewish ancestors arrived in London during the 19th century from The Hague, before that they were in Portugal.
My paternal great-great grandfather is buried in the Sephardic cemetery in Mile End, London.
Mum saw something on TV a few days ago about descendants of Portuguese Sephardic jews being granted Portuguese passports. Something to do with the way they were forced to convert to catholicism or kicked out of the country by the Inquisition.
I've checked on the Portuguese government website, and it appears that I am in with a good shout of getting a Portuguese passport - potentially much more useful than an Israeli one.
Next time I visit mum, I'll get some printouts of the family tree, birth and death certificates, etc. Initial application is via email to the Jewish community in Porto or Lisbon.
The only thing I'm not clear on is whether this is applicable only to practising jews...
Sounds like this would be a better route to explore given what you're looking to do. In fact, many Israelis have done similar with other European passports - German, Austria, Polish etc. in order to be able to work in the EU. Apparently my Jewish ancestors arrived in London during the 19th century from The Hague, before that they were in Portugal.
My paternal great-great grandfather is buried in the Sephardic cemetery in Mile End, London.
Mum saw something on TV a few days ago about descendants of Portuguese Sephardic jews being granted Portuguese passports. Something to do with the way they were forced to convert to catholicism or kicked out of the country by the Inquisition.
I've checked on the Portuguese government website, and it appears that I am in with a good shout of getting a Portuguese passport - potentially much more useful than an Israeli one.
Next time I visit mum, I'll get some printouts of the family tree, birth and death certificates, etc. Initial application is via email to the Jewish community in Porto or Lisbon.
The only thing I'm not clear on is whether this is applicable only to practising jews...
I've seen a few different criteria for the Portuguese application, looks like links to community/heritage may be a factor but didn't seem to be the limiting one, so perhaps worth exploring.
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