No Emergency Passport Appointments in U.S. Embassy in Israel for Newborns

By Hamodia Staff

The United States Embassy in Israel has announced that emergency passport appointments are only available for previously documented US citizens who require a replacement for a lost or expired passport.

The embassy reported that over the last 18 months, they have tried to provide a limited-validity, emergency passport with a purple cover for those who have emergency travel to the United States. Emergency travel is limited to the death or illness of a loved one in the United States, and not to bring a new baby to meet their U.S. relatives.

The previous urgent appointment system was taken offline because of the voluminous non-urgent appointment requests. On February 6, a new system for emergency passports was introduced to facilitate the new system in which the recipient only gets an emergency passport with a purple cover, valid for less than one year.

Those filing a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) will not be issued those through the emergency passport appointment system.

Recently the embassy realized that this new system was being abused by applicants who do not actually have urgent, emergency U.S. travel, particularly by those seeking a first-time passports for infants.

As a result, the embassy announced that effective Monday, March 13, emergency appointments will be limited to those who are already documented as U.S. citizens and need to apply for a passport using form DS-11. No passport applications for undocumented applicants will be accepted, including children, with no exceptions to this policy.

The embassy suggested that the revised policy will allow them to schedule additional CRBA appointments for those who are trying to document their children as U.S. citizens and to receive a first-time passport.

While U.S. citizens visiting the embassy in Yerushalayim have complained in the past of poor or even discourteous service from embassy employees, those visiting the Tel Aviv embassy report that they have received prompt and considerate service from the US embassy staff stationed there.