Israel / Jordan land borders

Looking over the archive, it appears that there can be long waits at the borders between Israel and Jordan. Hard to tell if these are horror stories, or reflect the norm.

Can anyone advise on how early you would want to arrive at the below crossings, about how much time it takes to get through and what their hours are. I'll have no vehicle and no suspect stamps in my passport.

1. The Jordan River border crossing going from Israel to Jordan;

2. The Allenby Bridge going from Jordan to Israel.

Any help appreciated.

Raimo

I dont remember exactly when they close but I seem to recall that we needed to be there much earlier than I had hoped. Something like 5pm? Someone else can weigh in on that, but as for time, I traveled with two other Americans. I am jewish and have a zillion israel stamps in my passport and my travel partners are not jewish and had no stamps. It was clear that my partners were what was slowing us down. I would say it took us 45 minutes to get out of Israel, about 2 minutes to get into Jordan, then 2 minutes to get out of Jordan and about 2 hours, maybe a little less to get back into Israel. The Jordan/Israel border on the entering-Israel side is one of the more frustrating in Israel (the world?) but we did get through without any suggestion we wouldnt despite the endless hoops they made us jump through. We were very polite but also be respectfully firm. Of course it depends on where you are from, and what religion you are. You can do simple ethnic-math to figure out how they will handle it. Being turned away generally will not happen unless you raise a particular flag. Being alone is an issue but not reason to be turned away so that by itself is not sufficient by any means. Having paperwork to support clear cut locations in israel that show where you are going is helpful (lots of paperwork of a hotel reservation for example, or a tour operator etc,) it also helps to have israeli friends, in israel, who you can call ON THE CELLPHONE right there at security (make sure they know why are taking out your phone!) to talk to the border guards and make them realize you are not some loner with no associations.

As for being on foot, that does not matter. Everyone is on foot since your car or cab drops you on one side and you get a car or cab on the other. Just tell them you are catching a cab on the other side -- going both ways. If you have an israeli cab with an israeli driver waiting for you when you come back, that can only work in your favor especially if you can get him to show his face. I realize some may disagree with these very specific and petty tactics but they all work. I'm a journalist who has covered that region for years and its all about how you make people feel and what they perceive.

Edited by: guywithcat

guywithcat is absolutely right when he said it depends on your nationality and religion. I'll explain my experience, just to give you some idea about how long the waiting period at Allenby Bridge (when crossing from Jordan to Israel/West Bank) can be.

I'm a British Muslim (with British passport) who arrived at the crossing point with my family. The staff on duty were reasonably polite but when I mentioned to the passport control officer that we were planning to stay in a private Palestinian home (a friend's home) in a West Bank city she looked shocked and summoned her collegue over for help! They had a brief conversation in Hebrew then handed me a white form and said "fill in this form and wait over there" before pointing to a waiting area containing approximately 50 seats. Before we had chance to ask questions about "how long?", "why?" etc the pasport control girl left her desk whilst we were still standing there. We completed the form then waited in the area as requested. I then attracted the attention of another officer and asked how long the wait was likely to be..He casually said "it could be 30 minutes or 7 hours!"...We were kept waiting in that area for 5 hours before being summoned for further "security checks" before finally being granted entry. Furthermore, despite 2 members of my family telling the 1st employee at the passport control desk that they wanted to visit Jerusalem after the West Bank we were all given entry stamps for the "Palestinian Authority Only" - hence they were unable to enter Jerusalem.

I don't advocate lying, but would advise travellers if possible to AVOID mentionning any planned visit to the West Bank or private Palestinian homes and to avoid mentionning any Palestinian/Arab friends or contacts as this seems to cause holdups and a lot of extra questionning.

{quote:title=raimojohannes wrote:}{quote}
I'll have no vehicle and no suspect stamps in my passport.

You will have suspect stamps in your passport if you use ANY of the land border crossings between Israel and Jordan as the entry stamps Jordan use "helpfully" state which border crossing it is.

If you want to avoid suspect stamps then you'll have to fly to Jordan

There was very little traffic at the Jordan River crossing (from Israel to Jordan) when I was there last week. Almost no questioning on either side, but I suppose you could be less lucky. The main hassle was in fact waiting for the bus that takes you from the Israeli to the Jordanian border station - if you don't have a lot of luggage, it could be faster to walk. The process on the Jordanian side is a bit bureaucratic as you will have to queue up to change money, to get a visa (to be paid in dinars only), at immigration, then to fill in a form which I don't really understand the purpose of, and finally for customs.
On both sides of the border, taxis are the only available means of transport.

Thanks for the advice it is appreciated.

Raimo