Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced yesterday a reverse in a long-standing US policy that would finally allow passports of citizens born in Yerushalayim to print born in Israel.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a change in a long-standing US policy that passports of citizens born in Jerusalem may not say they were born in Israel.
“Consistent with President Trump’s Jerusalem Proclamation of December 6, 2017, and the historic opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, today I am announcing updates to the Department’s guidance on passports and other consular documents issued to U.S. citizens,” said Pompeo in a statement.
According to the State Department, those US citizens born in Jerusalem who do not specify their place of birth on applications for consular services as “Israel” will continue to be issued documents that indicate their place of birth as “Jerusalem.”
For American citizens born outside the United States, U.S. passports usually list countries, not cities, under place of birth. Therefore, there will be no third option to list “Jerusalem, Israel” as one’s place of birth. U.S. passports for citizens born in America include the state or territory of birth.
The State Department’s former policy that was listed on its website “recognizes that Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are territories whose final status must be determined by negotiations.” As such, anyone who was born in Jerusalem’s municipal borders after Israel’s establishment is listed as being born in Jerusalem. The policy explicitly says not to write that the person was born in Israel.
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