A young Jerusalemite could have been spared the need to seek HaMoked's assistance in arranging her status in Israel. As the daughter of Israeli parents who was born in Israel, whose center-of-life is in the country and who never had any legal status elsewhere, she is undoubtedly entitled to be listed as a permanent resident in the population registry. Nonetheless, the Interior Ministry saw fit to put a succession of needless and aggravating obstacles in her way to fulfilling this right.
The young woman was born to Israeli residents in January 1985. Beset with financial difficulties, the parents failed to pay their accumulated debt to the hospital, therefore, they were not provided with a notice of birth for their newborn daughter. Without this notice, they were unable to have her listed in the population registry, and she remained without status. In 2002, she married an Israeli citizen, and they had four children, all of them Israeli citizens. Following their marriage, the couple attempted to have her status legalized, without success.
In January 2008, acting on her behalf, HaMoked contacted the Population Administration Bureau in East Jerusalem in an attempt to arrange for her registration. As a prerequisite to handling the application, the Interior Ministry demanded a declaratory ruling by the Family Court as to her being born to her parents in Jerusalem. The Family Court directed the family to obtain DNA testing to establish their biological parents-child relationship. Subsequently, based on the results which proved this was indeed so, the court issued the required ruling.
In April 2010, HaMoked requested the Interior Ministry to renew processing the legalization of her status, and attached the declarative ruling to its application.
The Interior Ministry refused this request on the bizarre claim that in 2006, at the time of the initial application to legalize her status, the applicant was an adult, and under the child-registration procedure, the Interior Ministry does not consider applications to grant status to adults. HaMoked challenged this refusal, claiming that the Interior Ministry breached its administrative assurance to process the young woman's application, as it had itself presented the course of action: once the declarative ruling by the Family Court is produced, announced the ministry, the application would be considered. Note, when the Interior Ministry directed the applicant to obtain a declarative ruling, it knew full well she was an adult. Despite all that, the Interior Ministry stood firm in its refusal.
There is no doubt that this young woman is entitled to have Israeli status. Regulation 12 of the Entry into Israel Regulations, which stipulates that a child born to Israeli residents in Israel is to receive the same status as his parents - clearly applies to her case. Given that the Interior Ministry persisted in its refusal, HaMoked filed an appeal to the
appellate committee for foreigners in February 2011. In it, it was argued that there is no legal foundation for the contention that it is not possible to legalize an adult's status and register him as a resident. Moreover, under Israeli legislation and case-law, and also under the international conventions to which Israel is signatory, it is incumbent upon the state to arrange for the registration. The protracted affair was finally resolved through the appeal to the appellate committee for foreigners. In March 2011, the Interior Ministry delivered its notice of acceptance of the young woman's application for residency.
