Jordan and Palestine: Whether a Jordanian citizen, who is married to a stateless Palestinian from East Jerusalem, can sponsor the Palestinian spouse to live in Jordan or in the West Bank; procedures and requirements (2014-December 2015)

Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa

1. East Jerusalem Residence Status

According to a submission on human rights violations in Occupied East Jerusalem delivered to the UN Human Rights Council by the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ) [1], following the Israeli takeover of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel granted Palestinians in East Jerusalem a different status than that of other Palestinians; Palestinians in East Jerusalem were granted "Jerusalem IDs" amounting to permanent residence status in Israel and municipal Jerusalem (CCPRJ 31 Jan. 2015, 5). According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, permanent resident ID cards given to East Jerusalemites permit them to live and work anywhere in Israel, including accessing social benefits and health insurance (9 Dec. 2014). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the Coordinator of International Advocacy for the CCPRJ, who provided information in a personal capacity based on work done for over 20 years with Palestinian human rights organizations that are specialized in Palestinian residency and refugee rights, explained the following:

Palestinians from East Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel, hold the status of "permanent residents of Jerusalem/Israel" under Israeli civil law. Palestinians elsewhere in the occupied West Bank are "permanent residents of the Palestinian Authority" under Israeli military law (occupied West Bank). The first are free to move from Jerusalem to live in the West Bank, but Israel is likely to revoke their Jerusalem residency permit if they do so. West Bank Palestinians are prevented from moving and living in East Jerusalem by Israeli law and military checkpoints. (Coordinator 22 Dec. 2015)

2. Requirements for a Palestinian Living in Jerusalem Who is Married to a Jordanian Citizen to Live in Jordan

2.1 Eligibility to Obtain Jordanian Citizenship

According to Article 8 of the Jordanian Law No. 6 of 1954 on Nationality,

Subject to the approval of the Minister of Internal Affairs, a foreign woman who marries a Jordanian national may acquire Jordanian nationality if she so wishes by making a written statement to that effect:

Three years after her marriage if she is an Arab. (Jordan 1954)

However, sources indicate that a foreign man married to a female Jordanian citizen will not be able to acquire Jordanian nationality (Boston Review 14 Oct. 2013; BADIL 18 Dec. 2015). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an attorney and legal consultant in Amman indicated that this reality was not codified in the law, but that it was part of instructions issued by the Jordanian government in 1988 [2] (Attorney 21 Dec. 2015).

For more information on the rights and obligations of Palestinians living in Jordan without Jordanian citizenship, see Response to Information Request JOR104860.

2.2 Requirements and Procedures to Obtain Jordanian Residence Status

Sources indicate that a Jordanian citizen can sponsor his Palestinian wife from East Jerusalem to live with him in Jordan (BADIL 18 Dec. 2015; Coordinator 22 Dec. 2015; Attorney 21 Dec. 2015). The CCPRJ Coordinator stated that Jordanian husbands with full citizenship can sponsor their spouses, and that this applies equally to spouses from East Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine (Coordinator 22 Dec. 2015). However, the same source also noted that if the Jordanian sponsor does not have full citizenship in Jordan, his or her spouse from the West Bank and East Jerusalem is "not entitled to live permanently in Jordan" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.

In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a legal researcher at BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, an independent human rights non-profit organization "committed to protect and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons" (BADIL n.d.), explained that

[A]n East Jerusalem ID holder needs a visa to enter Jordan. Most East Jerusalemites have Jordanian passports, so it is not common for them to apply for a visa to Jordan. But if they did not have a Jordanian passport, then they would have to go to the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv, or the consulate in Ramallah and apply for a tourist visa. [The wife] could apply for a spousal visa thereby showing the marriage contract. Once in Jordan, they could register their marriage in the Ministry of Interior, and fill the necessary paperwork for permanent residency. (BADIL 23 Dec. 2015)

In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the Legal Advocacy Coordinator for BADIL stated that if a Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem does not have a Jerusalem ID or any other form of ID, she will not be allowed to travel abroad; nor will she be able to obtain a Jordanian temporary passport, which requires having a residence permit granted by Israel (ibid. 18 Dec. 2015). Therefore, she will not be allowed to travel to Jordan (ibid.).

Similarly, the attorney stated that a Jordanian husband can bring his stateless East Jerusalemite wife to live in Jordan and that the woman needs to present the Jordanian authorities "her passport (which is usually a temporary Jordanian passport) or an Israeli ID showing that she is a temporary resident of Jerusalem, and the marriage contract" (Attorney 21 Dec. 2015). He explained that under the amended Jordanian Law on Nationality of 1954, she will be able to acquire Jordanian citizenship after three years, and once she obtains citizenship, she will be entitled to obtain a "National Number" (ibid.). Similarly, the BADIL Legal Advocacy Coordinator explained that if the woman is an Arab, married to a Jordanian national, and a Jerusalem ID holder, she would have to wait three years after her marriage to apply for Jordanian nationality "by making a written statement" (BADIL 18 Dec. 2015).

Sources said that procedures regarding both citizenship and sponsorship are usually respected in practice by Jordanian authorities (ibid.; BADIL 23 Dec. 2015).

According to a December 2014 article published by Haaretz, the Israeli Ministry of the Interior said that permanent residence status expires "only if a person has lived abroad for more than seven years without returning" (Haaretz 9 Dec. 2015). However, in contrast, sources state that if a person from East Jerusalem moves out from Jerusalem, they are likely to lose Jerusalem residence status; Israeli authorities revoke this status when the "center of life" of the person is no longer Jerusalem (Assistant Professor 23 Dec. 2015; Attorney 21 Dec. 2015; CCPRJ 31 Jan. 2015, 5). The attorney gave the view that the criteria used to determine whether one's "center of life" has changed is "arbitrary and has no juridical support" (21 Dec. 2015). The CCPRJ report specifies that since 1967, more than 14,000 Palestinians have had their residency rights revoked (CCPRJ 31 Jan. 2015, 5).

3. Requirements for an East Jerusalemite to Live in the West Bank

Sources indicate that a Jerusalem ID holder is entitled to live in the West Bank (Coordinator 22 Dec. 2015; BADIL 18 Dec. 2015), without being sponsored (ibid.). However, sources report that if a Jerusalem ID holder moves out of Jerusalem to the West Bank, that person risks losing residence status in Jerusalem (ibid.; Attorney 21 Dec. 2015; Assistant Professor 23 Dec. 2015).

Haaretz states that West Bank residents "need a permit from Israeli military authorities to enter or work in [Israel], and must go through long lines at army checkpoints" (Haaretz 9 Dec. 2015). According to the CCPRJ coordinator, if the woman is "stateless in the sense of not being a citizen/resident of any state, she has no way to enter or live in the West Bank" (22 Dec. 2015). The Legal Advocacy Coordinator at BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights stated that, if she chooses to reside in the West Bank illegally, she could risk being arrested and deported (BADIL 18 Dec. 2015).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Notes

[1] The CCPRJ is "an East Jerusalem-based union of Palestinian NGOs cooperating to protect and promote the human rights of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, including the right to self-determination" (CCPRJ 31 Jan. 2015, i).

[2] In July 1988, the Jordanian government decided, on King Hussein's instructions, to take a series of measures to sever Jordan's legal, administrative and financial ties with the West Bank (MEMO Dec. 2015, 8).

References

Assistant Professor, Al-Quds University, Faculty of Law. 23 December 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.

Attorney and legal consultant, Amman, Jordan. 21 December 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.

BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. 23 December 2015. Correspondence from a legal researcher to the Research Directorate.

_____. 18 December 2015. Correspondence from the Legal Advocacy Coordinator to the Research Directorate.

_____. N.d. "About BADIL." [Accessed 29 Dec. 2015]

Boston Review. 14 October 2013. Elizabeth Whitman. "Jordan's Second-Class Citizens." [Accessed 22 Dec. 2015]

Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ). 31 January 2015. Occupied East Jerusalem: Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council Independent International Commission of Inquiry Investigating all Violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Since 13 June 2014. [Accessed 21 Dec. 2015]

Coordinator of International Advocacy and Public Relations, Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ). 22 December 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.

Haaretz. 9 December 2014. Ariel David. "Who Are East Jerusalem's Permanent Residents?" [Accessed 18 Dec. 2015]

Jordan. 1954 (amended 1987). Law No. 6 of 1954 on Nationality (Last Amended 1987). [Accessed 21 Dec. 2015]

Middle East Monitor (MEMO). December 2015. Sawsan Ramahi. Special Report:Palestinians and Jordanian Citizenship. [Accessed 24 Dec. 2015]

Additional Sources Consulted

Oral sources: Al Quds Center for Political Studies; Canada - Embassy in Amman, Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority; Centre for Palestine Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Centre for Refugee Studies, University of Oxford; Institut français du Proche-Orient; Jordan - Civil Status and Passports Department, Embassy in Ottawa; Lecturer in Law, City University London; Palestine - Department of Refugee Affairs, General Delegation in Canada; SHAML Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Center; United Nations - Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch; Institute for National Security Studies; The Independent; The Jerusalem Post; United Nations - Refworld.