Israel is set to close its urgent repatriation programme for citizens of Russia and Belarus, VPost reports, citing chair of the Commission on Immigration Law Issues under the Chamber of Attorneys of Israel Alexey Kovalenko.
The opportunity to undergo urgent repatriation will remain open for citizens of Ukraine, as well as in “emergency and humanitarian cases” for those arriving from Russia and Belarus, Israeli media outlet Detaly explains.
The urgent repatriation applicants that began the process of receiving the status before 15 April will be able to complete it until 15 June; in case they do not manage to do so in time, they will have to continue the process through the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the ordinary manner. Those who arrived in Israel after 15 April will not be able to use the services of urgent repatriation centres and will have to apply for citizenship via the standard procedure which takes from several months to a year.
The centres were created after the start of the war in Ukraine due to a big flow of Jewish people from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus migrating to Israel.
In his conversation with VPost, Alexey Kovalenko noted that he was aware of several cases when people had been met with refusal while trying to apply for urgent repatriation in Haifa.
