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In these days, many migrant worker families are awaiting news from the Ministry of the Interior about their status in Israel. These are families of foreign workers and asylum seekers, who have been in Israel for long periods and who have asked for permanent residency. On Thursday, February 16, 2012, 15 happy foreign workers with their children received the permits they had been waiting for. They had submitted their request to regularize their status already a year and a half ago, according to criteria determined by the authorities. Some of the women came to the Ministry with their children and entered the large hall for talks with the representatives of the Population and Immigration Authority. At the end of the discussions, they left very happy and are expected to receive their Israeli identity cards next week.

See article on Ynet (in Hebrew) here

And in HaAretz ( Hebrew) here

The 15 who were approved constitute a small minority of the hundreds of families who await the determination of their status. Their more than seven hundred children are integrated in the Israeli, Hebrew speaking school system. The Ministry of the Interior has already rejected 118 children.

Rotem Ilan, an activist for the children, from the organization "Israeli Children", explained: "All those children who have applied for status are in Grade 1 or higher grades and their parents entered the country legally. It is thus a disgrace that the Minister of the Interior decided to reject so many of them, contradicting the declaration of the Prime Minister himself, especially in light of the fact that it is the Minister of the Interior who is responsible for bringing many of these migrants to the country, through his blatant support for the revolving door and the personnel contractors". The Hotline for Migrant Workers, whose activists accompanied the families, announced that it would appeal in the name of the families whose request was refused.