After Ten Years, Citizenship for Goiya

Yael, Goiya, Oded. Photo: ACRI

Yael, an Israeli citizen, and Goiya, an asylum seeker from Sudan, have been together for years, and ACRI has been assisting them since 2016 in their efforts to regularize Goiya’s status in Israel as Yael’s partner, without requiring him to provide documents from Sudan (a nearly-impossible task). Finally, on April 27, 2026, after a decade of fighting, the Tel Aviv–Jaffa Administrative Affairs Court ordered the Population and Immigration Authority to grant Goiya citizenship. This is the first time citizenship has been granted to a Sudanese asylum seeker who completed the status regularization process as the partner of an Israeli citizen. 

Summary of the Case 

Goiya is a Sudanese citizen and asylum seeker who arrived in Israel in 2007. In 2012, he met Yael, and the two soon became partners. In 2014, Yael and Goiya submitted an application to the Population Authority to regularize Goiya’s status in Israel under the graduated procedure for unmarried couples. Although the Population and Immigration Authority determined that the relationship was genuine, it did not allow Yael and Goiya to begin the status regularization process because Goiya was unable to provide a passport and authenticated documents from Sudan. With ACRI's help, they began legal proceedings that continued for many years. 

The 2016 Appeal and the 2019 Decision 

In 2016, ACRI filed an appeal with the Tel Aviv Administrative Affairs Court on behalf of the couple after the Population Authority refused to regularize Goiya’s status without documents from Sudan. The court accepted the appeal on September 11, 2019, and ordered the Authority to continue the process of regularizing Goiya’s status even without the documents. The court ruled that the Population and Immigration Authority was aware of the difficulties in obtaining documents from Sudan, and that the insistence on these documents as a condition for completing the process was not made in good faith. 

In her judgment, Judge Dr. Michal Agmon-Gonen addressed the difficulties faced by asylum seekers in Israel and the yearslong delays in processing asylum applications. She held that, given the importance of the right to family life, it should not be denied except in exceptional circumstances, and that the procedures should be interpreted in a manner that enables family life in Israel. Judge Agmon-Gonen ordered that Goiya be granted temporary residency immediately, and that the procedure governing the regularization of legal status for partners of Israelis be amended so that work permits would be upgraded to temporary residency after 27 months. 

The Population and Immigration Authority filed a request with the Supreme Court for leave to appeal the judgment. On January 22, 2023, the Supreme Court denied the request, and only vacated the instruction to amend the procedure and shorten the waiting period for eligibility for temporary residency, because such relief had not been requested from the District Court. Beyond that, the Supreme Court found no grounds to intervene in Judge Agmon-Gonen’s ruling, and the judgment remained in effect. 

Administrative Appeal 4789-12-16 Eisenberg v. Population and Immigration Authority; Leave to Appeal Motion 6848/19 Population and Immigration Authority v. Eisenberg 

Attorney: Oded Feller 

District Court decision, September 11, 2019 (Heb) 

Supreme Court decision, January 22, 2023 (Heb) 

The Petition and the 2026 Decision Granting Citizenship 

Goiya received permanent residency in November 2023, and about a year later submitted an application for citizenship. The Authority sat on the application for a long time, and again demanded documents from Sudan. In February 2026, we filed a petition with the Administrative Affairs Court, demanding that the Authority grant Goiya citizenship as the partner of a citizen. Meanwhile, the Authority argued that the document requirements for citizenship are stricter than those for permanent residency, and that citizenship cannot be granted without the original and authenticated documents from Sudan. 

On April 27, 2026, the court accepted ACRI’s petition. Judge Agmon-Gonen ruled that the Authority’s conduct was marked by unfairness: the prolonged delays in rendering a decision; the attempt to drag the couple into further court proceedings; and its repeated insistence on documents from Sudan, which had already been decided in previous court proceedings. The court further determined that when it comes to the required documents, there is no substantive distinction between requests to be granted permanent residency and citizenship; that it is well-known that there are objective difficulties in obtaining documents from Sudan; and that insisting on this requirement is unreasonable and not an argument made in good faith. The Authority was ordered to grant Goiya citizenship in accordance with the procedure applicable to partners of Israeli citizens who have completed the status regularization process. Moreover, to the Authority’s improper conduct, it was ordered to pay legal expenses in the amount of 40,000 NIS. 

Administrative Petition 22470-02-26 Galtan Wain v. Ministry of Interior – Population and Immigration Authority 

Attorney: Oded Feller 

The petition, February 8, 2026 (Heb) 

Response of the Population Authority, April 2026 (Heb) 

Petitioners’ main arguments, April 2026 (Heb) 

The decision, April 27, 2026 (Heb)