New immigrants and 'returning citizens' can now receive income security packages after Yoav Galant, the Minister of Immigration and Absorption, signed a temporary order on Tuesday.The new order will allow for citizens who were unemployed and looking for work, or taking vocational courses run by the Immigration and Absorption Ministry before the coronavirus outbreak to receive their payments in full. The order allows them to bypass previous procedures which, during the current crisis, caused them to stop receiving payments.
Under procedures in place before the coronavirus outbreak, immigrants and 'returning citizens' had to visit the Immigration and Absorption offices in person to receive their income security payments. In certain circumstances, recipients could also be asked to provide special forms signed either by the Employment Offices or the National Insurance, proving that they weren't receiving other forms of financial assistance. As the current crisis has made it impossible for recipients to follow this procedure, they weren't receiving their income security payments. As a result, Galant, by way of a temporary order, has made it possible for the continuation of financial assistance during times of emergency, sanctions, strikes, and Israeli holidays.
From now on, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry will continue to pay those eligible with an already open application in the system, or to those who have already started to receive help, and will do so without the previously held requirements.
The payments will be made automatically and in full to the eligible immigrants and 'returning citizens,' and the temporary order, which is currently valid until the end of June, will be extended should the need arise.