The Rights of a Pregnant Foreign Spouse of an Israeli Citizen
When a pregnant foreign citizen is in the process of obtaining legal status in Israel as the spouse of an Israeli, what national insurance (Bituah Leumi) benefits does she receive? In other words, what are the rights of a pregnant foreign spouse? Our law firm specializes in immigration and in arranging legal status in Israel. We frequently help our clients to obtain legal status in Israel based on a romantic relationship between an Israeli and a foreigner. Attorney Michael Decker explains here about the rights of a foreign spouse who has become pregnant to an Israeli citizen before arranging her legal status in Israel.
There are several different ways to arrange the legal status of a foreign citizen who is the wife of an Israeli. In the graduated procedure for obtaining citizenship, the foreign partner receives various visas over the years, each of which grants the foreign citizen increasingly more benefits: First they receive a tourist visa or work visa, then temporary residence, and, eventually, the foreign citizen receives permanent residence, or Israeli citizenship.
Our firm helps couples who wish to receive legal status in Israel to file a joint-life application with the Ministry of Interior as a formally or informally married couple.
Pregnancy Insurance Granted by the State of Israel Is Valid Only for Residents with an Israeli ID Number or for Legal Foreign Workers
According to the National Insurance Law, 5755–1995, a resident is defined as anyone who holds a temporary A/5 visa (i.e., a person who holds an Israeli ID card) and whose center of life is in Israel.
In addition, a resident must have permanent resident status in Israel (with a permanent Israeli identity card, which may be revoked in certain cases) or be an Israeli citizen (with permanent Israeli citizenship, which may only be cancelled in exceptional cases) and their center of life must be in Israel.
Foreign workers who lawfully reside in Israel based on holding a B/1 work visa are insured for work purposes and pay part of their salary to the National Insurance Institute. This insurance includes receiving a maternity grant, covering hospitalization costs, maternity leave, child allowance, and maternity allowance.
The Various Rules for Arranging Legal Status and Insurance Rights During the Graduated Procedure
As the above linked articles demonstrate, if a foreign woman is married to an Israeli citizen, she deserves a B/1 work visa for a period of six months. After that, she will be eligible to a temporary A/5 visa for a period of four years (which will grant her social security rights through the National Insurance Institute).
A foreigner who is in a common-law marriage with an Israeli citizen (or who is formally married to a permanent resident of Israel) is eligible to a B/1 work visa for a period of 27 months. After that, she will be eligible to a temporary A/5 visa for a period of four years.
Our firm has handled several cases of foreign spouses who became pregnant while holding a B/1 work visa or before opening a joint-life application (and sometimes with no legal status in Israel).
As explained above, a B/1 work visa may grant certain social security benefits for pregnant women; however, a foreign spouse will only receive these benefits if she is working legally – if her employer produces pay slips and contributes the required amounts of money to the National Insurance Institute that are relevant to foreign workers. But this is not always the case, and, if the foreign spouse is not working, then she will not be eligible to any benefits for foreign workers in Israel. This is also the case if the foreign wife has no legal status in Israel.
Even if she is working legally, the existing insurance for foreign workers in Israel does not cover any prenatal medical examinations: ultrasounds, prenatal ultrasound screening for detection of fetal anomalies, and the like. The cost of such examinations without social security rights may be very high.
The father’s social rights:
Be aware that, if the foreign woman has no legal status, or if she has a B/1 visa but is not working and is therefore not entitled to national insurance benefits for foreign workers, as explained above, then the child’s father receives the parental rights (maternity grant, hospitalization costs, maternity leave, child allowance, and maternity allowance).
In such cases, the father should apply for these rights in advance so that the National Insurance Institute will recognize him as the child’s father.
If the National Insurance Institute accepts the father’s claim, all maternity costs (which add up to very considerable sums) will be covered under social security. If the claim is not accepted, (or if no claim was filed in the first place), then the father may prove his parenthood by filing a paternity claim, with the consent of both parents. The child’s father will then receive a refund from the National Insurance Institute for costs related to the birth of the child (which amount to tens of thousands of shekels).
Summary – Contact a lawyer who specializes in representing foreign spouses of Israelis who wish to arrange their legal status in Israel:
Our law firm specializes in arranging the legal status of foreign spouses of Israelis.
Over the years, lawyer Michael Decker, who specializes in arranging the legal status of foreign spouses of Israelis, has solved very many problems of couples involved with the National Insurance Institute and the Ministry of Interior. One problem that often arises is when the foreign spouse becomes pregnant before she is recognized as an Israeli resident or is insured.
Our law firm has helped hundreds of such couples to exercise the rights of the pregnant spouse vis-à-vis the National Insurance Institute, and we will be happy to be of help in similar cases in the future.
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