In 2004, in the framework of an administrative petition filed by HaMoked,
a new arrangement (the "Dahud procedure") was established to regulate the continued validity of the Israeli stay permit (DCO permit) or temporary residency visa of applicants whose family unification applications had been approved, to prevent their remaining without a valid permit or visa pending decision in their renewal/upgrade request, as had often happened due to Ministry of Interior omissions. Under the new arrangement, an applicant with an approved application undergoing the graduated family unification procedure who seeks to renew or upgrade his permit/visa, is to be summoned to the Population Administration branch office within three months from the application date. The Ministry of Interior has undertaken that if upon the applicant's appointment date the requested extension (or upgrade) for the entire stipulated period is not possible, the permit or visa will be extended for a period of six months, in the absence of security preclusion, during which a decision in the application will be made. The ministry promised to publish an updated procedure on family unification between foreign spouses and Israel residents and citizens, incorporating the "Dahud procedure", by the end of October 2004.
In recent years, HaMoked has encountered an increasing number of cases in which the procedure was not followed. Upon arrival at the Ministry of Interior, the applicants, who had scheduled an appointment three months before the expiration of their permit or visa, found out that the decision in their matter was delayed, and they were sent on their way empty handed. Despite the "Dahud procedure", the population bureau did not deign to temporarily extend the validity of the requested permit or visa and knowingly left them without any document legalizing their presence in Israel. Thus, entire families were caught in an impossible situation in which the continuity of the lawful presence of one or more of the family members was severed through no fault of their own, and they found themselves, against their will, without legal status in their own home, unable to conduct normal life.
On July 18, 2012
HaMoked wrote to the Ministry of Interior to demand the ministry abide by the "Dahud procedure" – as undertaken eight years earlier – and extend the validity of the permit or visa of applicants undergoing family unification whenever renewal was delayed by the population bureau. HaMoked also demanded that the ministry update its procedures and set the "Dahud procedure" in writing, as it had undertaken to do.
On August 3, 2014, after months of foot-dragging, during which the Ministry of Interior repeatedly promised that new procedures incorporating the "Dahud procedure" would be published shortly,
HaMoked filed an appeal with the Appeals Tribunal. HaMoked requested the Tribunal to direct the Ministry of Interior to publish the updated procedures.
On December 1, 2014, the state informed the Appeals Tribunal that the promised procedure had finally been published. The state presented the "
Procedure for Processing the Grant of Status to a Foreign Spouse Married to a Permanent Resident" that includes the "Dahud procedure", and requested the Tribunal to delete the appeal. HaMoked requested the Tribunal to order the state to pay the trial costs and noted that the procedures were published about two years after HaMoked's letter to the ministry and about ten years after the ministry's initial undertaking.
On December 3, 2014 the Appeals Tribunal accepted HaMoked's request and ordered the Ministry of Interior to pay trial costs in the sum of ILS 3,000.
