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I am a Bangladeshi citizen studying in Columbia University. I wanted to go to Israel for a trip this winter. But Bangladesh still does not recognize Israel as a state and the front page of the passport states that This passport is valid for all the countries in the world except Israel.

I applied for a visa in the Israeli consulate here in NYC. I have just received the confirmation of visa from the Israeli consulate in NYC. I have heard that Israel do not give the visa on the passport. Instead they paste it on a separate piece of paper, and make like a travel permit and they also do not stamp the passport/or any ID during immigration. Is that true? And would I get in trouble entering Bangladesh if I do get a visa on my passport?

I do not have any other passport/nationalities.

Are you allowed to travel to and fly in and out of Israel proper? If yes, is your visa a regular tourist visa or a special case?

I'm asking because although Israel does not ban citizens of countries that do not recognise its existence and have no diplomatic ties with it, it only permits visit/tourist visas to a minimum group of 10 people to visit the Palestinian territories including the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. They need to enter and exit from Jordan-West bank border crossing and be accompanied by a security official at all times. Source is timatic (except the security detail which comes from secondhand reports)

In any case, since Bangladesh passport states it's not valid for travel to Israel, you will not get visa stamped in your passport nor will you get entry/exit stamps. Instead you will get a permit on a separate sheet which would be stamped on entry and exit.

It seems that Israeli visas are stamped on the passport, which can be a problem for you. However, your circumstances are quite unique - Israel normally doesn't grant visas to citizens of countries that don't recognize it - so it's possible that things would be different.

Why I think they stamp the passport:

• A Google image search for "Israeli Visa" shows some visas that seem to be stamped on the passport.


• In this question a Hebrew stamp saying "A visa request has been submitted" is stamped on the OP's passport.

If your passport is indeed stamped (you'll find out soon enough), then it may get you in trouble when returning to Bangladesh. I really don't know how strict are the Bangladeshi authorities about it. In some countries (e.g. Iran) it could make you a suspected spy. You might want to report the passport lost.

P.S. you might want to read this story - a Bangladeshi doctor who's the first Bangladeshi national to ever visit Israel, and is now banned from Bangladesh (he's also a "loud and proud pro-Israel activist who is converting to Judaism", which surely doesn't improve his situation in Bangladesh).