For those from countries who need an Israel visa (India in my cousin's case) is this a difficult issue? Especially for someone 26 yrs old? He does have biblical name so they might believe he is a christian. Some travel agents who specialize in visas mentioned this to him and suggested that he go with a tour group. Would they have a vested interest in saying this?

Your question is a complicated one to answer. The tour group thing is a way to ease getting a visa in certain circumstances.

The long and short of it is that many of the countries for which Israel still requires its citizens to get visas are countries where the standard of living is generally lower than in Israel. As a result, Israel does have to some degree a illegal immigration problem -- especially by young men from less prosperous countries. I don't know whether or not India would meet this criteria, although I suspect it does -- at least for the AVERAGE citizen's quality of life. (I know there is a booming offshored workforce there that is quickly gaining in wealth and status, but I don't think that wealth is the status quo there by any means. I could be wrong...)

From some countries (especially African countries and former USSR members) the illegal immigration is so bad that it at least USED TO BE (my experience is 5 years old) that if you want a family member to get a visa and come visit from one of those locations, you had to send them an "invitation" that they could take to the embassy when applying for the visa, and you, the Israeli, also had post a bond that you received back once that family member left the country after his/her visit. If they didn't leave when their visa was up, it was like jumping bail in a way, because you lost that bond money that you put up for them.

I don't know if this still applies 100%, but I think it might.

Long and short of it is, though, that your cousin -- 26, male, physically capable, and from India -- might just raise their antenna as a potential illegal immigrant who is looking to get a black-market construction job. (Where a lot of the illegal immigrants end up working...) That is probably the reason for the tour group suggestion, and it may not be a bad one at that! That isn't to say that there's NO WAY he'll get a visa on his own, but it would be a lot easier with a group that can show a defined agenda for the trip.

He is an engineer with GM and can provide credentials for the same, also he will be flying business class. I guess that would prove he is not coming for any labor work.

How much is the bond that one would have to post for sponsoring a visa? Thanks.

Israel imposes visa restrictions on Indians primarily because of concerns over the large number of Indians who live and work in countries that are potentially hostile to Israel. As long as you haven't done a spell working in Saudi or Syria or similar, you'll probably be fine.

The Israeli missions in India are among the most helpful visa offices I have dealt with and can often get a visa processed within 24 hours without many hoops to jump through. Just be straightforward with them and they will always assist.

I think that is only part of it. I would also think that it has something to do with the fact that a fairly large percentage of India's population is Muslim. I saw a similar constellation in Singapore. Singaporean citizens (who can even enter the US without needing a visa beforehand) must apply for a visa if they want to visit Israel. Singapore is fairly rich and prosperous, so illegal immigration is not really a credible threat. However, roughly 15% of Singapore's citizens (mostly ethnic Malays) are Muslim and thus suspect.

I don't like the fact that they draw general conclusions based on religion, but I suppose that if there's one country out there that's allowed to be paranoid, it's Israel.

I'm not so sure UA Fan's cousin is actually in India. He mentioned earlier that his cousin is working for GM. If this means he's living in the US or some other country rather than India (and thus has a valid long-term visa for that country) it would also help to convince the embassy that he's not likely to try to overstay to immigrate illegally.

My cousin works at GM's Bangalore office. I don't think there is any Saudi stamp on his current passport, although he did visit Saudi where his father works around 15 yrs ago.

Not sure -- this is going back 5+ years, but I recall it was -- at the time -- something in the neighborhood of $5000 to sponsor visitors from Romania (one of the countries that contributed most to the illegal immigration problem). That was then, however; I don't know the status nowadays. I also doubt it applies to Indians -- I just brought it up in case it did.

You mentioned he's got a good job at GM. Proof of this would be helpful (just for comparison, the US require such proof of Israelis who request tourist visas for the same reasons - to filter potential illegal immigrants and other factors).

I also DO certainly suspect that the Indian visa issuing procedures are quite efficient. While these things were just getting underway when I left Israel, Israeli companies have a LOT of close relationships with Indian companies. I suspect there is a lot of business travel between the two countries and, therefore, a streamlined process. Just had a thought: Does his GM office have a travel dept that could request the visa? Having the request come from a reliable and reputable source could circumvent any *potential* hassles and requests for extra paperwork, etc. (Not that there's any guarantee that such hassles will happen! Just why not avoid them if he can...)

I would suspect it is security rather than illegal employment that is driving Israeli concerns. I have sadly) never visited Israel but many friends have. I just talked to two of them (both Indians) and they say allow enough time (always good advice!) and simply follow the process and it would be ok.

Yeah I am also leaning towards believing that it is more of security issue, rather than a employment. India has the second highest muslim population in the world.

While assuming this is possible, do you really think it will work? He is using miles for his ticket and going in business class. Plus there are other stopovers on that ticket. All this won't make sense for a business trip. Plus a junior engineer getting a business class ticket will raise a few eyebrows.

Does he have contact with anyone in Israel from whom it would be easy to ask for a letter of explanation for his visit?

I haven't tried a letter of this kind specifically, but I know anecdotally that if the government has some kind of assurance from an Israeli citizen that your visit is legitimate, that can help smooth things. My mildly-informed opinion based on different experiences also says that a nice, brief letter in Hebrew would be ideal.

Unfortunately, we don't know anyone in israel.

I guess I was thinking more of a work contact that he's going to see?

If he has one, they shouldn't mind doing this. (If they do mind, they're idiots.)

I have heard that the Israel embassy in Jordan is lenient with visas especially if the pax is going by bus. Is this true? If the ticket is changed so as to eliminate the Israel flights will it worth it?

does anyone know if Israel requires transit visas? If I change the ticket so that he goes AMM-TLV-AMM-DEL, would that require a transit visa?