Children of foreign workers may receive permanent resident status
Photo: Dudu Bachar
Foreign workers' children status debated
Interior Ministry document says extraditing children who were born in Israel entails cultural detachment; children must be at least 10-years-old to be eligible
Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz intends to grant permanent resident status to foreign workers’ children under certain conditions, a document obtained by Ynet Wednesday says.
A special ministerial committee on the issue of foreign workers is expected to convene next week to discuss the proposed plan.
Interior Ministry sources told Ynet that Pines-Paz hopes the ministerial committee would approve the arrangement and bring forth a solution to the plight of foreign workers’ children, who live in constant fear of extradition from the country.
The document states a number of provisions for issuing permanent resident status to the children:
1. The child must be at least 10-years-old.
2. The child’s parents entered the country legally.
3. The child attends an Israeli school and speaks Hebrew.
4. The child’s extradition from Israel would entail a “cultural exile” to a country he or she has no cultural association with.
It is estimated several hundred children comply with the aforementioned terms, and they are expected to receive permanent resident status pending the ministerial committee’s approval.
According to the document, the children’s immediate family members’ temporary resident status would be extended annually until the children reach the age of 21, whereupon the families would be permitted to submit a request for permanent resident status.
Also, the document states that the proposal relates only to children who currently reside in the country.
Requests for a status arrangement in accordance with the Interior Ministry’s document may be submitted until the end of 2005.
