Afraid border agents will detain me

amother

OP ↓

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 10:33 am

Here's our story. Lived in Israel for 6 years and moved back to the States about 18 years ago. We were Americans and had not made Aliyah. While living there, we qualified and received kitzvat yeladim, which was the deposited automatically into my bank account (Doar). We also had our bituach leumi payments withdrawn from that same bank account. We possibly had to pay more into the bituach leumi system because we were not citizens, but I don't remember the details from so long ago. Anyway, when it was time for us to move, we had to do it in such a short time and it was so hectic and there were so many things going on that the couple of times I attempted to contact bituach leumi to tell them to stop paying us kitzvat yeladim and that we would no longer be paying them whatever our fee was, did not work. So eventually, we just left the country without having officially closed our account with BL. I don't remember if we officially closed our Doar account or not.
Did the government keep my account open all this time and claim I owe them at this point probably millions of NIS ? This is actually the literal only reason preventing me from visiting EY which I otherwise want to do this summer. I have a cousin in Israel who's a lawyer and asked her to help me look into this but she had no idea how to find out if my name is on some list somewhere. She had me look at some government benefits website but it only works if the person has a TZ which I do not. My BL number is connected to my US passport number, since I did not have a TZ. The same passport which I would be using to enter the country.

This is not the same thing, but I know someone who has a bachur, paid monthly for kupat cholim (also not a citizen, as a student), and when he went back to the states, canceled it but the cancellation did not go through and they kept his bill running and kept charging on his credit card. He tried to contact them from the states but they wouldn't cancel it. Eventually, he canceled the credit card for this reason but when he came back to Israel many years later and attempted to sign on for Meuchedet again, they presented him a bill of $20,000 that they were tracking all those years.
Can anyone help me?

amother

Wine

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 12:28 pm

Try https://chaimvchessed.com/

amother

NeonOrange ↓

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 12:29 pm

Definitely can be a problem. More likely when you leave than when you arrive.

Maybe chaim vchessed can help tell you how to find out?

My sil was detained as the Arnona for a house she had rented was on her name and the next renters didn't change it or pay.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 12:52 pm

amother NeonOrange wrote:

Detained as in, put in jail? How did that resolve?

Thank you and above poster for the suggestion.

amother

Tealblue

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 12:54 pm

I am an Israeli citizen and left Israel for an few months long visit in the US earlier this year, and BL just stopped the kitzvat yeladim payments when they noticed I was out of the country for more than a month.

amother

↑ OP

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 12:59 pm

amother Tealblue wrote:

I do assume they stopped that pretty much right away, but what about all the payments I was meant to make to BL?

Bnei Berak 10

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 1:12 pm

amother NeonOrange wrote:

That's why it's a MUST to change names when letting out. Not only arnona but all bills.

amother

Sienna

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 2:45 pm

I have no idea the answer to your question and how to help you. But here's my story in case it helps at all.

My parents left Israel when I was 2. I travelled there often when I was a child, teen, young adult etc. alone and with my parents, and never had any trouble (aside from the army issue at one point, but not relevant here)

After I married we lived in Israel for a few years. We signed onto bituach leumi and meuchedet and all was good. When I was 8 months pregnant with my second child I was suddenly struck off meuchedet and told that actually I have to have insurance from macabi and on top of that I owed a huge amount of shekel (I don't remember exact amount) because I had a gap of non payment from age 2 till 23! Until that was paid I wouldn't be able to get insurance.

I'm sure you can imagine my panic. I don't remember the details it was a long time ago. But I know we somehow got the contact of a person in charge and we didn't end up pay anything and I was joined back onto meuchedet.

My take away is that it shouldn't be an issue it doesn't seem like it's something anyone is hugely on top of.

amother

↑ NeonOrange

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 2:52 pm

amother OP wrote:

Detained as in, put in jail? How did that resolve?

Thank you and above poster for the suggestion.

She couldn't leave the country my bro had to travel back with the kids on his own as it was just on her name.
I know they paid a large amount and had to go running around to offices for a few days before it was resolved and she could leave.

amother

Taupe

Mon, Jun 24 2024, 2:56 pm

I have the same question!!! We moved to US about 9 years ago and officially canceled everything but I'm very nervous to to back. Supposedly it hits when you owe 10k shekel