Israelis can now renew biometric passports online from home, cutting out long waits
New system only available for those who already have a biometric travel document, and will only enable renewal for five years — not long enough to obtain US visa waiver
Starting Tuesday, many Israelis are now able to order a fresh passport online without needing to go to an Interior Ministry office, where there are months-long waiting lists for an in-person appointment.
The pilot service is available for those who already have a biometric passport and need to replace it or who have a biometric national identity card, depending on certain other restrictions.
Applicants must be aged 21-60 and their existing biometric passport must have either expired in the previous six months or will expire during the coming year.
Requests can only be made from a computer physically located in Israel.
Users will also need to submit a new digital photograph of themselves, similar to the existing biometric photo. They cannot request a name change.
The passports provided by the service will be valid for five years, rather than the usual 10.
The Interior Ministry application website noted that Israelis wishing to travel to the United States who want to participate in the US Visa Waiver Program must have a 10-year passport, which can only ordered by visiting a ministry office in person.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel hailed the new service as “a dramatic step” in efforts to improve the ministry’s services.
As well as ordering a passport, the new system offers a similar online service for ordering a new biometric national identity card, with the minimum age for applicants set at 18. All Israeli citizens receive a national ID card when they turn 16 and the Interior Ministry has been upgrading the older, plastic-wrapped cards to a biometric system.
First-time registration for biometric documents, whether a passport or identity card, is done at Interior Ministry sites across the country, where the applicants are digitally fingerprinted and their faces photographed.
The online application service for passports and identity cards can be found on the Interior Ministry website (Hebrew).
The ministry has been searching for ways to make its services more efficient due to a dearth of available appointments.
The problem was caused by various networks of hackers and bots that captured thousands of appointments in the government’s online system and sold them for up to hundreds of dollars, causing a serious lack of availability at Interior Ministry offices.
Last year, amid a backlog in applications for new passports, the Interior Ministry ran a month-long trial during which people could turn up at its sites without booking an appointment.
Lines quickly formed on the first day of the program as Israelis swamped Interior Ministry offices.
In 2023, Israel joined the US Visa Waiver Program after years of efforts from both governments, solidifying a major boost to bilateral ties.
Previously, Israelis were forced to sometimes wait months just to schedule an appointment in order to secure a visa.
