MK Rabbi Uri Maklev is seeking to persuade the Ministry of Transportation to reduce the red tape for avreichim from abroad who try to get a driver’s license in Israel. Speaking to a session of the Knesset Absorption Committee, Maklev spoke of the temporary residents, students including bnei yeshivos from abroad, who live in Israel and seek to get a driver’s license.
Maklev explains he has received many complaints from students as well as those who have Israeli licenses but are prevented from renewing it due to bureaucratic snarls related to their status.
Rav Maklev cited hundreds of avreichim from abroad arrive annually with the intention of remaining to continue their limud torah and when they try to get an Israeli license they are told they must take a driving test. He points out that the issue is not their driving abilities for the law permits them to use their license from abroad for a year, so there is not logic to compel them to take a road test.
Maklev disapproves of the unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles placed before foreigners and new immigrants who are permitted to use their foreign license to drive when they arrive. He refers to the avreichim from abroad as the “step children” of driving instructors, because assisting the avreichim to get a road test lacks the financial incentive associated with a local resident who must sign up for dozens of lessons. Maklev adds that those who receive a license must renew it every half year, calling this bureaucracy “absurd”, questioning the justification of bothering a person to renew a license twice annually.
(One must sign up with a licensed instructor to take a road test. One may not just have someone drive them to a road test with a private vehicle, creating the need to persuade a driving teacher to agree to take one for a road test).
The MK points out that an avreich listed as a student/temporary resident who has an Israeli license loses it and is given one of the temporary ones, adding to the madness of the existing system. Maklev explains the Ministry of Transportation is not the Ministry of the Interior and one who is qualified to receive a license should receive it without a hassle.
Tzion Mizrachi, a senior ministry official explained the ministry is now lowering restrictions for license renewals and this includes addressing tourists and students seeking to obtain a driver’s license in Israel.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
“so there is no logic to compel them to take a roadtest”
As far as I always heard this was done after the waves of immigrants from all kinds of countries with bought licenses proved they didn’t necessarily know how to drive, you can’t prevent a tourist from driving without seriously harming tourism, you can however prevent someone who is permanently in the country from driving before you verified they actually know how to drive.
In the US as far as I understand you also have to change your license if you are in a different state longer then a certain period, and they may force you to do a roadtest at that stage.
“(One must sign up with a licensed instructor to take a road test. One may not just have someone drive them to a road test with a private vehicle, creating the need to persuade a driving teacher to agree to take one for a road test).”
This applies to all Israelis, one doesn’t “persuade” a teacher to take one there, it’s part of the service one gets for the considerable fee one has to pay to use their car for the test.
So what exactly is the author complaining about here?
keeper: its actually an additional 500 ni”s. Talk about HIGHWAY robbery….
When I lived in Israel I tried to follow the law and get an Israeli license but it was impossible. Every where I went they told me to go else where. I eventually gave up.
When I moved from one state in the US to another, my prior license was OK for 30 days, then I had to take a ROAD TEST in the new state to get a license. There are those who drive with NY license’s in NJ for many years or vice versa.
I have Israeli friends who get licenses in US to avoid the large investment needed in Israel to get one.