misrad hapanim

Skyscrapers in Tel Aviv confuse me a little. There are a few along the coast, which makes sense because they're trying to take advantage of the view of the sea. But there are other skyscrapers scattered around the city, which makes less sense to me. Aren't skyscrapers supposed to be clustered together because of high real estate values? From the window of my friend's apartment on Zvulun Street, I see a single building that appears to have more than thirty stories, and no others that appear to have more than eight.

The visa department of the interior ministry is on the third floor of a skyscraper at 125 Derech Menachem Begin, which is across a busy intersection from the Azrieli Center, a distinctive group of three skyscrapers. I arrived around 8:30 a.m. and took number 635. The big board was on 592. While I was waiting, I read Amos Oz, filled out my visa type change form (i.e. from tourist to work visa) and bought passport-size photographs at a store on the second floor. I also filled out an entry form for a Bulgarian woman. When she asked for my help, she motioned to her eyes, so I assume either that her eyesight was too poor to read the form or that she could not read Hebrew even though she spoke it. Her English was worse than my Hebrew, but we succeeded in filling out the form.

The waiting room included a surprisingly diverse group. Russians, southeast Asians, and Africans were abundant. I only saw two kipot (yarmulkes), and I would guess that around 200 people rotated through that room while I was there. Some had appointments and bypassed the number system. It is possible I was the only American Jew in the room, but I'm not sure. The people who had appointments were instructed (by signs in Hebrew and English) to talk to the guard rather than take a number. I thought the guard looked a little like Bibi Netanyahu. He barked instructions in Russian, Hebrew and English as was appropriate for the visa applicant.

My turn at the misleadingly labeled "information desk" (it was actually where all the processing occured) came around 10:30 a.m. A woman behind me was holding number 697. She thought it could not possibly be the same sequence, but of course it was. I had all my application materials (form I filled out in the waiting room, form from the Jewish Agency, letter from rabbi, letter from employer, birth certificate, passport, photos), so I had my work visa 5 minutes later.

If instructions for obtaining a work visa are in English online, I could not find them. I am extremely grateful to advice from Sager, Ruth, Sammo, and Smikes, without whom I would surely have a more convoluted story to tell about getting a work visa.