Important for you to know: Newborns born to an Israeli father and a non-Israeli mother will not automatically receive an identity card, if the mother's status in Israel was not regularized prior to the birth
Our office often receives inquiries from Israeli fathers who had babies born in Israel, as a result of a relationship with a non-Israeli woman. These fathers had assumed that immediately upon birth, their son or daughter would receive an Israeli identity number and be registered in Israel's population registry, thus immediately receiving subsidized health services and other social rights.
However, this assumption is incorrect, and this is not the case. According to the procedures of the Ministry of Interior, a child born in Israel to an Israeli father and a non-Israeli mother will not automatically be registered in the population registry and will not automatically receive an Israeli identity number. This is because the Ministry of Interior insists on prior evidence that the Israeli "father" is indeed the father of the newborn.
According to these procedures, if the parents contacted the Ministry of Interior before the pregnancy and submitted an application to grant legal status in Israel to the foreign mother, then it will be possible, immediately upon the birth, to register the newborn based solely on a declaration issued by the Israeli father that he is indeed the father of the newborn. However, if the couple did not submit such an application before the pregnancy, then, in most cases, the Ministry of Interior will refuse to register the newborn and will demand to see the results of a DNA test proving that the alleged father is indeed the father of the newborn. In order to carry out this test, a lawsuit must be filed to a family court, and after receiving an order from the court, the couple will need to coordinate their arrival to one of Israel's hospitals, where genetic samples will be taken from both parents and the child.
The process of proving paternity through a genetic test is both expensive and time-consuming, and during this entire time the newborn will not be registered in the Israeli population registry. Therefore, couples should prepare for this contingency in terms of health insurance and hospitalization costs for childbirth, which can be very high.
Therefore, it is important to submit an application to regulate the status of the mother in Israel as early as possible, prior to pregnancy and birth, and through such action, preempt this difficult situation.
If you need advice or individual representation on the issue of regulating the legal status in Israel of a non-Israeli spouse, granting status to newborn or paternity claims - contact our office today!