An American who is new to Israel asks: How do I get a passport and travel to the Holy Land now?

I was a U.S. citizen for more than ten years, prior to these recent comments by President Trump. I am legally, and have become a citizen for the first time in 2011.

My question is: Where, exactly, do I go to do business/attend/live now? I can’t wait to travel to some place that I’ve always wanted to visit. I’ve never done anything illegal.

The simplest answer for me is to go to the nearest American embassy or consulate to receive a passport, as I have been doing for the past eight years. They are almost always open.

If I visit anywhere other than an American embassy or consulate, I have to take my passport to a government facility where they give you a name of a local immigration officer who can then issue you a visa to that country or place.

If I go to the nearest immigration officer in the country I’ve been visiting, as most people do in this country, he/she is likely not trained as to how to read and interpret the Hebrew version of my passport. So all I get is to complete an application for a visa, and then wait around for six to eight weeks or so for it to be in my inbox.

[FRANZ’S: Where the heck is Holy Land or Jerusalem and is there anywhere in the world that is safe for me to visit now?]

My full name is not all that easy to translate into Hebrew, so I simply go to my synagogue to go pray and put the papers in the safe while there. By the time I go to the nearest embassy/council and apply for the passport, all of the other synagogues and churches in Israel will have put out clear notices and cards that they want to take a certain amount of passports on hand to dispense if more than one person’s in need. So if I can secure a reservation for one day, then I won’t have to go to my temple, synagogue, synagogue and then go to a government facility.

I’m at the midpoint of my naturalization interview process and will be getting a letter with my entire transcript and U.S. citizenship process soon. Once I have my passport, I’ll surely be running around anywhere.

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