Foreigners getting entry permits to allow visits with first-degree relatives
Following a change to government regulations made last week, non-Israelis who are vaccinated against COVID-19 have begun receiving entry permits to visit first-degree relatives living in Israel.
This represents the first time since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic that foreign nationals, as long as they are vaccinated, have been able to obtain entry permits into Israel to visit parents, children and siblings for any reason at all.
Since the beginning of the pandemic it has been impossible for the foreign-national relatives of Israeli citizens to visit without good reason, such as weddings, births and other milestones.
And since the end of January this year, it has been extremely difficult for foreign-nationals to visit their close relatives in Israel even for such critical life cycle events, as reported on in depth by The Jerusalem Post.
But last week, after activists and government ministers including Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata lobbied for a