Getting a driver’s license in Israel is an expensive and difficult process, which is why it’s a really nice bonus for new immigrants and returning citizens to be given the opportunity to convert their license within a year of their move to Israel with minimal difficulty. Relatively minimal difficulty.
There were plenty of things to take care of when we first got here and we felt like we had plenty of time to take care of getting licenses, so neither dh nor I were in a rush to get this done. But about a month ago we realized we better get ourselves in gear and get this taken care of now (this was particularly motivated by realizing my due date is a month before the deadline is up)!
The first step was to go to an eye doctor for an exam (2 minutes and fifty shekels for each of us) and get the official form filled out. (The optometrists have this form on file so you don’t have to go out of your way to get it and bring it in.)
Once you have the eye doctor’s report, you have to make an appointment with your general practitioner. I hadn’t yet needed to see my official doctor before this and we spent a minute and a half getting to know each other before she abruptly told me to go to the office and bring her a different form to fill out. I knew that this form needed to be filled out before I went to the office in Haifa with it, and that I definitely wasn’t interested in going all the way there with the necessary form not filled in. After questioning her about this several times, she finally told me she meant that I needed to go to the office downstairs in the health care clinic where we were. Okay.
Downstairs I went to get the other form, and the secretaries there had no idea what form I was talking about. They told me the only form I needed was the one I had brought in, and I should leave it there for my doctor to fill out. I asked how she could fill it out since I had only been in her office for a minute and a half. No problem, they reassure me, just leave it here and she’ll take care of it – after I pay 98 shekels for her to check off approximately twelve ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions about my health on the form. I don’t want to call this a racket but someone’s definitely making money on this setup.
I ask if I can pay by check, and after being told that I could and partially writing out the check, was told that I could only pay cash. Ho, hum. You just have to bring a lot of patience with you to these offices and remember to treat everyone the way you’d want to be treated. They told me to come back another day with the form and the money, so the next day that’s what I did. Then I had to leave the form there and come back another day to pick it up. Which I did.
When all of this was done, I was ready to take my form to the licensing office in Haifa. Yes, there’s a licensing office here but apparently only one woman in Haifa can stamp the form so that’s where we needed to go. Last week we took ds3 and ds4 with us, and dh and I set off to get the next part of the form filled out. After traveling for an hour and a half on two different buses, we got there with two very hot little children and were told we didn’t bring all the necessary documentation. Dh is usually really careful about bringing every possible piece of paper we might need when we go to government offices, but this time he had asked a friend what to bring who wasn’t sure. He looked it up on the government website and couldn’t find a list of what was necessary, but he had still managed to bring everything except one document. So back home we went – yes, another hour and a half on two more buses.
Today we went back to the licensing office, getting there at 10:35 am. You might think this is a random and unimportant detail, but you’ll soon appreciate how I’m going to save any of you in this situation time by including this information. Don’t go to government offices when the workers may be taking their morning break unless you like waiting. I think you should get anywhere you need to go by 9:45 am to avoid running into the issue we had. We went to the room where we were directed and found the door locked. When we asked about it, we were told that the only person who could help us had started her break five minutes before, and would be finished in 25 minutes, at 11 am. But I didn’t mind too much since this time we didn’t have the littles with us, the building was well air-conditioned, there was a fountain with cold water available and I had brought a book to read and was able to share some of the thoughts in it with dh.
When the woman returned from her break, she was very efficient and pleasant despite seeing the long line of people waiting for her by then. The good thing about getting there when we did is that we were first in line. The not so good part is that we were waiting the longest! It took just a few minutes for both of our forms to be filled out. She told us to schedule driving lessons locally, then to take the test, and then we’d be issued our Israeli licenses.
When I saw the date by which we needed to have this done, I asked for an extension in case having a baby between now and then delayed things somewhat. (I don’t know how long it will take to schedule the lessons and test – someone told me she had to wait a month until she could get her test scheduled – and I’d rather not be doing this two or three weeks after birth.) She then pointed out the year it had to be done by, 2014, and assured me with a smile that I’d have time to have this baby and even a second one before I’d run out of time!
Then I asked about something else that I’ve been wondering about. Before moving when deciding about if we would get a car or not, we decided we’d rather not have the expense of purchasing and maintaining a vehicle since the local public transportation is so good. When we wanted to go on a family trip, we assumed we’d be able to rent a large van, but the first time we wanted to do this we learned that we’d need a special license for over eight (or is it nine?) people. I wanted to know how to get a license for a bigger vehicle/more people, to be able to drive our family somewhere in one vehicle. She told me that we should get a regular license, then come in to the Haifa office with it to ask the person there what to do next.
I didn’t think this was the most efficient way to do it (wouldn’t it make sense to take lessons and get the license we needed issued to start with?) and asked if we could just get information from that person (who sat a few cubicles away) right then. She looked at her watch and told me that if I wanted to wait another 25 minutes, then we could ask, but that person had just started their morning break five minutes earlier! I suppose it’s good they don’t all syncronize their morning breaks so that someone is always working, but it does make it a little harder to get the necessary information. She did tell me that someone in the Karmiel licensing office should be able to answer that question after we bring in our new Israeli license to them.
Dh and I walked out so happy to have this piece of the license process taken care of! I’m glad to know that we have two more years to get the test done, though I still hope to schedule the mandatory lessons soon and have all of it finished within a year of our arrival here. (I’m not sure how many lessons we need – she told me it depends on what the instructor says, but I thought it was supposed to be a minimum of one or two.)
Even getting a license transfer the ‘easy’ way isn’t cheap or quick or easy. But it’s a lot easier, quicker and cheaper than what native Israelis have to go through!
Avivah
Wow. That is totally nuts, Avivah! I had no idea the licensing process was like that in Israel….
It’s not just the licensing process. It’s everything else run by the government, public organizations, and sometimes even private commercial businesses. I think it has to do with the heat! 🙂
Just wondering why you had to go to a doctor in Haifa and why you had to pay her anything. We go to Clalit in Misgav and pay nothing.
I went to the doctor in Karmiel at Klalit (the office in Haifa was for the licensing); the secretaries in the main office said the form would be filled out for free if I signed up for ‘mushlam’ rather than the basic health coverage. When I said I wanted to sign up for mushlam, they said it would take another month and I’d either have to wait to make the doctor appointment then or pay for the form if I wanted it filled out right away.
Wow…your process was much more involved than mine! I thought one had 3 years to convert a foreign license, but 15 months after I made aliyah I realized that my foreign license was going to expire a month later (your foreign license has to still be valid at the time of the conversion…). I picked up the phone, called a random driving school that I found in the yellow pages, and he happened to have a cancellation for that same Friday morning. I took a “lesson” at 6:30 a.m. and my test at 7:30 a.m. In the meantime, he told me which form to download for the medical/optometry stuff and the test fee to pay at the post office. I think the vision check was 50NIS and the medical form was definitely free. And you’ve been driving for longer than I have, so I’m a bit surprised you had such a hassle!
It looks like you’re right about having three years, Marion, since the final date I was given to take the test is three years from our arrival. I’m not sure about the form – I was under the impression it had to be done within a year, and the other olim I spoke to said the same thing….
For new olim, 3 years. For returning citizens, I don’t know.
If your license is expired by just a week or so, will it be a problem to convert it? My license expires a week before aliyah and I don’t have time to fly across the country in the U.S. and renew it. (Need new picture, can’t renew on line.) I can get an int’l driving permit now that’s valid for a year, would that be acceptable instead of or along with the freshly expired license? I just need a basic small car license.
I don’t know the answer to that, Kathryn. In general I’d recommend getting everything done before you come because it’s easier, but in your case it doesn’t sound so simple to renew. Isn’t there a way to renew where you are in the US without having to travel? I think if it’s expired then it’s unlikely to be recognized.
Since it sounds like you can’t do it, I’ll send good vibes your way that it will work out well once you get here!
The reason you couldn’t get the license for the larger car (the basic one is 8+driver) is because in Israel you must first get the license for the small car and only then get an upgrade to a larger car, and from there upgrade to a bus or truck, etc.
You were definitely ripped off by the doctor- you should not have had to pay anything.
Please check out recommendations for the driving teacher! They can rip you off too, it’s up to them to decide how many lessons you need and they get paid per lesson, so you need an honest person. A good teacher with connections can get you a test pretty fast usually, try to convince them that you need it fast because of the baby. Also specify if you drive shift or automatic.
Thanks for the info about the license, Kaila!
My husband also called the Klalit office and between us we spoke to several different representatives because I couldn’t believe we’d have to pay to have the form filled out, but they all told us the same thing. (I mentioned in the comment above that they said it would be covered if we bought the supplementary coverage but with basic level insurance it wasn’t).
I have a couple local friends who said they have a good recommendation for me as far as a driving instructor, and I’ll be sure to specify about driving automatic. Thanks!
That could be, that there is a difference between the basic and supplementary coverage. I didn’t think of that.
Wow, things sure have changed since I got my Israeli license 15 years ago. Back then all I had to do was have an eye test. That’s it. No doctor’s form, no lessons. It was a piece of cake. Sorry the procedure has gotten so much more difficult!
Hi Aviva,
I thought to share my experience in getting my driver’s license here in Israel:
I made aliyah about 10 years ago. I was 19 and had been driving since I was 15 (in Oregon you can get your permit at 15).
I was learning in Arad at the time and signed up to take the required lesson or two as I was told needed to be taken before the driver’s test to receive my Israeli driver’s license.
I signed up with a driving instructor and after the first lesson (95shekel for automatic), I thought I’d schedule for the test. The instructor however said I needed to take another lesson.
So, I took the second lesson and the instructor told me I kept making several errors (like looking in my blind spot and driving too fast as we approached a traffic circle). I tried telling him that I had learned that it is necessary to look in the blind spot, to insure safety when changing lanes. He said not here; that it is dangerous to turn my head away for even a second.
As we were finishing our second lesson, I drove up to a traffic circle and he again said I was going too fast. My parents had taught me to drive, so I knew I drove well, and still I was a little taken aback. That is when I said to him “Could you perhaps show me how to approach a traffic circle?” and he replied “Yes”. So, we switched spots and he was in the driver’s seat.
After looking at the speedometer when he approached the circle, it was then that I decided I didn’t need another lesson (he went faster than me). We pulled over at the end and he wanted to schedule another appointment. I told him I felt ready for the test. He told me he didn’t think so, and that I would probably just fail the test. (Thanks for the encouragement, I thought sarcastically.)
On the day of the test (I don’t recall how long of a wait from my last lesson) my instructor met me and told me that if at any point the tester touches the steering wheel or puts her foot on the brake, I automatically fail.
During the test, I just tried very hard to send myself positive messages, that I am a good driver and everything will be for the best. Early into the test, the tester took me to a neighborhood where the lanes were narrow with cars parked on both sides…I thought I was driving safely, trying not to bump into the cars on my side, but it seemed the tester thought I was veering into the other lane and she (the tester) abruptly reached out to grab the steering wheel and turned it back to her direction. That is when then the negative thoughts started to fill my mind, especially the one about “automatic failure”.
I decided to keep driving like she hadn’t touched the steering wheel, and at the end of the test, I saw my original instructor waiting for us. He asked me “how’d you do?” I said modestly, “I think okay”. He told me he’d let me know later that day if I’d passed. I thanked him and went home.
I waited anxiously, fears of more lessons and more money to spend on getting an Israeli license, only to receive the call: “Well, you passed.”
Hope I didn’t make this comment too long…
I pray you and your husband have an easy time getting your license!