Consulate General of Israel — Local services in New York

Our experience in seeking to renew my grandson's Israeli passport at the New York consulate was, alas, terrible. The consulate seems reasonably well organized; after passing through the (essential) security arrangements on both the ground floor and the upper floor of the building, one comes into a well-lighted office where one takes a number and waits (in our case, about 45 minutes) to be called to the receptionist. That was where the trouble began. The receptionist noted that there was an issue of deferment from army service to complete studies. When told that all she had to do was contact a representative of the Israel Defence Forces to get verification, she said the consulate could not do that, and that they had no access to any information from the Army or other government departments. She then asked for a letter from my grandson's school certifying that he is a full-time enrolled student with one more year to go before graduation, and gave us an email address to have it faxed to. My grandson telephoned his mother (in Israel! and this was on the eve of Shavuot, May 30th, close to the beginning of the holiday there) and she emailed the letter. Twenty minutes later we were called back and told that the email was not received. This happened twice more, with different email addresses that we were given. After another long wait, we were summoned to one of the other windows where a clerk who seemed willing to help us had us fill out various forms and took my grandson's application and his old (soon to expire) minor's passport. We'd been at the consulate for almost three hours and thought we had at least succeeded in submitting the application for a new passport. Two days later we got a telephone message from the clerk saying we had to submit the letter from the school--it was "extremely urgent." We sent a copy of the letter to her via priority mail (and found out from its tracking number that it was delivered the following Monday morning, June 5th). We had included a cover letter requesting acknowledgment of its receipt, as well as leaving a telephone message (you cannot reach a person directly by telephoning the consulate) and sending an email. It is now over three weeks later, and we've had no acknowledgment or response. At the suggestion of a friend we tried the Boston consulate. A friendly woman from there phoned us, told us she was going to phone to the Army, did so and called us back within 5 minutes to say she'd received confirmation, and told us what to send by Fedex to apply for the passport. We did that, and by the end of the week my grandson had his new passport. The incompetence and apparent indifference of the staff of the New York consulate...

I edited my review with little more details to bring evidence to the unprofessional conduct of the agency security officials. As I entered the building past the officers a gentleman approached me asking bunch of questions did not even Introduced himself or said good morning. You don't have to be rude to be a professional tactical security guy. I have a friend in the a high elite organization recruited after Idf service in the 90s , he is build tough but professional with others. Little about my background, My father got an award from Rabin on his heroism in 1967. Served in סיירת צנחנים pulling people from burning tanks. I grew up with the elite warriors of six days war. Not the puppet security ex idf puppets that are given a job securing a consulate. As an IDF soldier who fought for my country I would assume the consulate will have better costumer service , more friendliness and respect. After long security check points you are made to wait long time. I arrived early and the communication on whatsup confirmed that I could be seen earlier. Dishonest and rude interactions. Unprofessional. Security is one thing but rudeness is another. The girls at the consular windows were lovely and polite but the overall feeling was unfriendly with poor customer service orientation.

By the way the no bag policy, well as I was sitting in wait for security check the 2 ladies next to me had backpacks. I guess I was not as pretty that security arbitrarily decides who brings a bag and who not. Rules should be applied equally to all isn't that right? Right there backpack a breach of security. + people come in out with unchecked bags from lunches so on. Just sitting and observing I was amazed to the ridiculousness of the קונסולייה ביטחון

If you are given a job do it right. Sloppy is not the way IDF or Israel security should work. If you are checking other be aware other check you too my friends.

By the way the screen in the wait room had the no bag disclaimer but spelled it big or large bags. Mine and the one the other customer behind...

This place is a pathetic joke. It may have a nice look, but it functions with third world incompetence.

I got my passport in Israel in 2009 when I was living there. I mistakenly thought it was good for 10 years like my US passport and didn't realize that it expired in 2014. I checked their website and it said that I need to get a brand new passport, not a renewal. I got photos, downloaded and filled out the application and took out time to go there Monday, 12/5.

I was there for 1 1/2 hours, most of it waiting to be called. They told me they had to issue me a Travel Document instead of a passport since I didn't live there long enough and I've been out the country for too long. They charged me for the document and I had the option to come back in 2 weeks to get it or pay for them to send it Fedex. Since I did not want to waste all this time again I paid the FedEx fee.Total time spent including travel time: 3 Hours.

The person to whom I spoke at the service window just called me, Tuesday 12/13, over a week later, to tell me she made a mistake. Although the expiration date of my passport was 2014, they are really good for 10 years from the date of issue and she was supposed to stamp my passport to extend it the additional 5 years to 2019. She was supposed to do this while I was there at her window. Now she said they will refund my credit card for the document fee, stamp my passport the way she should have done when I was there, and send it out by FedEx, except I still have to pay the FedEx fee which I would not have had if she had done her job properly.

The Israeli Consulate should cover the cost of the FedEx fee since it was their mistake that caused it. This site doesn't let me give a rating of ZERO stars, but that is what I would give it. I have a relative who used to work there and who currently works at the consulate in Boston so believe me when I say that I find their lack of...