Holy See Visa policy

Bilateral relations between Israel and the Holy See are marked by an inherent asymmetry in a sense that almost all requests on behalf of the Vatican are within the realm of Israeli domestic policy. In 2002, the Ministry of Interior introduced a rather restricted policy on permits for stays longer than 3 months. Although its policy is not aimed at being discriminatory, it affects Christian clergy. Before, these clergy members were used to receiving permits in uncontrolled numbers and for practically indefinite periods, since the state authorities did not enforce their own provisions. Thus, the shift was not a consequence of policy, but practically the end of the loss of state control.

After the Twin Tower attack in 2001 and due to the second Intifada, awareness to domestic security increased. As a consequence, all previous permits were revoked and a restrictive policy, which limited the number of permits and their duration, was implemented. This policy takes into account Israel's security needs. Israel believes it cannot risk the entry of citizens from Muslim countries who are at war or do not have any diplomatic relations with Israel, without prior security check; and past experiences lends credence to the view of the security establishment, which authorizes visas and sees clerics from such countries as residents of a hostile state, rather than the Vatican view, which sees them primarily as Christian clergy. Luckily, the numbers involved allow for each case to be examined on its own merits.