Information on the benefits, privileges and rights to which Jewish and non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union are entitled [ISR11936]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991 states that "Israel welcomes Jewish immigrants, including Jewish refugees, to whom it gives automatic citizenship and residence rights" (1992, 1434).

Attached please find Response to Information Request ISR11097 of 15 June 1992 on the aid provided by the government of Israel for new Jewish immigrants from the former USSR.

Attached please also find a copy of a document entitled Soviet Jewish Immigration to Israel: Political and Economic Implications which provides comprehensive information on the policy of the government of Israel towards Jewish immigrants from the former USSR as well as the government programmes available for these immigrants.

While not elaborating on the benefits, privileges and rights to which Soviet immigrants in Israel are entitled, the attached New York Times article which reports on the problems which immigrants from the former USSR face in Israel, including housing, unemployment and underemployment, may be noteworthy

(21 June 1992).

Information on the benefits, privileges and rights to which non-Jewish immigrants from the former USSR are entitled is currently unavailable to the DIRB.

Additional information on the above subject is currently unavailable to the DIRB.

References

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991. 1992. U.S. Department of State. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.

The New York Times. 21 June 1991. Sabra Chartrand. "For Soviet Jews, the Jobs Don't Match the Dream."

Attachments

Immigration and Refugee Board Documentation Centre (IRBDC), Ottawa. 15 June 1992. Response to Information Request ISR11097.

The New York Times. 21 June 1991. Sabra Chartrand. "For Soviet Jews, the Jobs Don't Match the Dream."

Reiser, Stewart. Spring 1992. Soviet Jewish Immigration to Israel: Political and Economic Implications. Los Angeles: The Wilstein Institute.