West Bank, Palestine Visa: If you’re a foreigner planning your first visit to Palestine, especially the West Bank, you might be worried about getting the right visa. This is common for those wanting to study Arabic, volunteer, or do an internship for more than three months. Figuring out how to obtain a visa to stay in the West Bank, Palestine for a year or longer can be a bit confusing for many. This article is for those who want to learn about the process of applying for a visa to enter the West Bank, Palestine.

Understanding the steps to get a visa is crucial for a smooth entry into Palestine. Whether you’re here to study, volunteer, or work, knowing the application process will help ease any concerns you may have about obtaining the necessary visa for your stay. Let’s explore how you can successfully apply for a visa to enter Palestine.

Direct Flights To Palestine

Unfortunately, Palestine (including Gaza and the West Bank) has been without an operational airport since 2000. The Yasser Arafat International Airport in Gaza, adjacent to the Egyptian border, opened on November 24, 1998, but barely lasted two years, until October 8, 2000, when the second Intifada (the Arabic term for revolt in English) began.

The Israeli army demolished the Gaza International Airport, as it was known at the time. As a result, there are no direct flights to the West Bank of Palestine.

No Civilian Airports Within the West Bank 

There are no civilian airports within the West Bank, Palestine and the nearest major, public airport is Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion. From Ben Gurion Airport, it is possible to take a 50 minute taxi or shuttle ride to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem, to then continue onto major West Bank cities including Bethlehem, Hebron, Salfeet, Tubas, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Ramallah. This option is the most popular way of reaching the West Bank.

Note however, that all Palestinian ID card-holders cannot travel to Israel or the Palestinian Authority through Ben Gurion Airport. The Israeli government requires you to fly to Amman, Jordan and enter via the Allenby Bridge border crossing located nearby Jericho.

Visiting Palestine Requires An Israeli Visa

Moreover, Palestine has no visa policy since it is governed by Israeli authorities. This implies that in order to reside lawfully in the West Bank, Palestine, you will need only an Israeli visa, which you may get at the airport rather than applying from home. The Israeli immigration officer will generally ask you a few questions and check your passport during passport control.

The whole procedure may take a few minutes, although you may be requested to wait longer. This is not a cause for concern; it is regular practise. Some travellers acquire their visas quickly, while others may be subjected to more in-depth interrogation before being allowed to enter. We would want to reassure you that this is a common occurrence and that you should stay cool and comfortable while cooperating with Israeli border security personnel.

Will You Get An Israeli Stamp On Your Passport?

The first step of your journey in Palestine begins Israeli passport control as it is now impossible to travel in Palestine without passing through Israeli borders. In the past, Israel stamped passports upon arrival and exit, which could be concern as there were certain repercussions for having an Israeli stamp in your passport. However, Israel no longer stamps passports and instead you will be issued with a separate credit-card sized piece of paper which is your tourist visa that serves as your permission to visit Israel and Palestine.

The visa that internationals receive upon arrival to Israel is all they’ll need to travel to or around the West Bank, Palestine and Israel.

How to Enter Gaza? 

There are no options currently other than the Rafah Border Crossing, controlled by Egypt, to enter or exit the Gaza Strip. Due to the ongoing war and siege on Gaza, entry to and exit from the Gaza Strip is currently extremely limited.

Israeli Visa On A Separate Piece Of Paper

Israel is aware of the issues their passport stamp could cause for foreign tourists. So in January 2013, Israel began issuing visa slips on separate pieces of paper with entrance and departure records and 2D barcodes. While this process was introduced in phases, Israeli border control facilities no longer have any rubber stamps, even if visitors did want to get an Israeli stamp.

When you arrive at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport (TLV), your passport will not be stamped. In all situations, Israel has ceased stamping passports upon arrival and exit. You will only have to worry about an Egyptian or Jordanian stamp if you are crossing an Egypt-Israel or Jordan-Israel land border.

Is It A Problem To Have A Passport Stamp That Indicates Entry To Israel?

Many volunteers and students who visit Volunteer in Palestine are aware of the difficulties that come with having evidence of visiting Israel in their passport. Some people have heard that having an Israeli passport stamp may drastically restrict their travel possibilities or make them a target for detention or deportation from certain Muslim or Arab countries. 

There are a number of countries who have a boycott of Israel to varying degrees. One facet is that participating countries would refuse Israeli passport holders entry into their countries. A lesser proportion will refuse entrance to anybody having an Israeli stamp in their passport or proof of previous visits to the State of Israel.

Furthermore, you will likely be refused entry to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Syria, or Yemen if your passport contains evidence of having visited Israel. You may also be denied entry to Iran, although recent reports indicate you can visit Iran as long as your visit to Israel was more than six months ago.

While several other countries including Sudan and Saudi Arabia previously denied entry to anyone with evidence of visiting Israel in their passport, this is no longer the case.

Entering/Exiting Israel

It is important to note that while Israel no longer stamps passports, Egyptian and Jordanian authorities will in most cases stamp your passport upon arrival and exit. This will only be a concern for you if you are crossing via land from Jordan or Egypt. If you fly into or out of Egypt or Jordan, then there is no problem.

An exit or arrival stamp from the Egyptian land border crossing at Taba or from a Jordanian land crossing (the Allenby Bridge, the Jordan River Crossing or the Wadi Araba Crossing) will serve as evidence that you have visited Israel. Even if you can manage to get the Jordanian or Egyptian immigration officer to not stamp your passport, if you only have either an entry or exit stamp to Egypt or Jordan, this can raise suspicions when visiting the aforementioned countries.

If you wish to avoid this issue altogether, the best way to do that is to fly into and out of Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, which will leave no evidence in your passport of ever having been to Israel. If you are unable to do that, getting a new or second passport is the next best option.

In Case You Need A New Passport

Volunteers, interns, and students at Volunteer in Palestine in Hebron, West Bank, Palestine, as well as tourists to the West Bank and Israel, are now given a separate visa slip on arrival and do not need to worry about their future travel plans. 

However, if one finds oneself with a stamp from an Egyptian or Jordanian border with Israel, there is a pretty simple solution: Most individuals may acquire a new passport from their government for a cost, and they can even get an emergency one from their country’s embassy if their travel plans need it.

Some countries, including Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States, allow citizens to hold two separate passports, allowing them to keep one passport for travel to and from Israel and another for travel to countries such as Lebanon.

Is It Possible For Me To Get A Student Visa To Study In Palestine?

If you want to study at any university or language school in the West Bank, you must get a visa to enter Palestine from Israel. Obtaining one seems to be very difficult, if not impossible. The ideal option for students is to enter the West Bank, Palestine on a tourist visa obtained upon arrival at the airport in Tel Aviv and remain for three months (90 days). If you want 6 months, you can usually leave Israel for a few days before returning to secure a new tourist visa for another 3 months.

According to our experience, unless you work for a non-governmental or humanitarian group, you cannot remain in the West Bank for more than six months.

A Visitor’s Perspective

Tara, from the United Kingdom, visited Palestine in February 2020 and travelled over the majority of the West Bank. “I had previously been to numerous Middle Eastern countries, and I was concerned that stamps from locations like Jordan and the UAE might jeopardise my chances of being approved upon my arrival at Ben Gurion,” she recalls. 

Furthermore, “I was also concerned that receiving an Israeli visa stamp in my passport might prevent me from visiting other Arab or Muslim nations in the future. I didn’t have to be concerned since there was no issue. Instead of having my passport stamped, I was issued an Israeli visa on a blue piece of paper, as were the other members of the party travelling with me. An Israeli border officer gave me access after I answered two straightforward questions, the first of which was about where I would be living and the second of which was about my work description.

The return travel aroused more in-depth inquiry, such as why I visited Jordan, who I knew there, when I last talked to them, and what was going on, but I answered all of the questions calmly and accurately and was permitted to continue my journey. During my journey to Palestine, I carried my passport and visa slip with me at all times since both of these papers were often required at different checkpoints. I never had any difficulty obtaining entry to any location on the West Bank.”

Visa Exemption Agreement

Please visit this website to verify whether or not your native country participates in a visa exemption agreement (Tourists to Israel).

To Summarise

Obtaining a tourist visa to Palestine, particularly the West Bank should not be difficult. Please don’t throw your visa away! Keep your visa and passport in a secure location at all times, since you may be requested to display them while passing through Israeli checkpoints.

You will also be required to produce it upon departure from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, in order to exit. The worst that may happen is that you will be delayed at the airport for some time. Relax and take use of this opportunity to reflect on the experiences, new friends, and adventures that you had in Palestine!

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