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I have recently married a Palestinian man and would like to move back to the West Bank with him. We are in Canada right now but I'd like to live in the West Bank. He says it's easy for me to do this but I'm sceptical! I guess that everything to do with my visa/residency permission would be dependent on the agreement of Israel. Is this correct or is is dealt with by the Palestinian Authority? My husband is from Nablus and assures me that I can arrive in the West Bank with him and then apply to the Palestinian government for permission to live there on a secure permanent basis. He says that Israeli involvement wouldn't be an issue and that the Palestinian Authority handle/make decisions on all applications of foreigners wanting to settle with Palestinian spouses in the West Bank.

Does anyone know about this or have any similar experience? If so I'd be grateful for any information.

PS: I wasn't sure exactly which section to post this question in, so posted in both Israel and the PTs.

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1

First of all, congratulations!
This is from a parallel post on immigration to Israel. These lawyers may have the info you need. Obviously if you can find Palestinian lawyers dealing with immigration issues that would be even better.

Check out this list (I don't know any of them. I suggest you contact more than one. Add +972 and drop the first 0 when calling Israel from abroad):
http://www.visa-law.co.il/Heb/Immigration_Visa_to_Israel.php?gclid=CJfn7d7Eyq0CFUVTfAodmzkAhw

http://www.belaw.co.il/

http://www.en.klarfeldvisa.com/

http://www.az-lawoffice.com/web/8888/nsf/land.taf?&did=3107&sid=94&trace=templet94

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2

Your spouse may be correct as to the Palestinian authorities, but totally ignores the Israeli authorities. This is not a simple matter, as you must enter Israel in order to get to the WB. On what visa would you enter? I second amirico's advice.

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3

Firstly, is he a Palestinian man originating from Palestine and not Jordan, Syria, Lebanon or any other number of places the Palestinian diaspora are located. Does he hold a Palestinian passport or any other Arab passport? Does he have a Canadian passport? Probably not if you are recently married. Once you have whittled all that down and know exactly his status you can move forward. I say this as all Palestinians state they are from Palestine even though they may never have see Palestine but originate from there.

As mentioned above all borders and issuance of visas is under the authority of Israel so it doesn't really matter what the PNA think or say. Without wanting to put you off, I would say your chances are extremely limited as I have never heard of anyone successful in this attempt but its worth a try. Your husband may be naive to suggest this and he is probably unaware of all the rigmarole involved.

I suggest you contact your nearest PNA office (I guess you have one in Canada somewhere) and start with a meeting with one of their legal counsellors before forking out money on a hiding to nothing. What is the status of your husbands stay in Canada, conditional, indefinate ??? This is important. Why?? Because if you go back with him and declare you are married on the border, you may be refused entry and then blacklisted and prevented from ever entering again. This is a very complcated situation and you really need to do lots of homework.

Some people just go and enter on the standard 3 month visa and see how it goes. Why don't you do that? Maybe you don't like it there... See for a trial period first and then you can find out more if you want to stay. In which case maybe better to enter separately.

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4

All the borders of Palestine are controlled by the Israeli army, and everything is decided by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA), the Israeli body in charge of managing the occupied Palestinian territory. They're the ones in charge of visas - the Palestinian Authority has no real power.

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