FAQs

1. How to get visa for Israel?

Apply for it online. Each visa application will have to be checked and approved by the Interior Ministry in Israel, and hence the process is quite dependent on the host. Luckily, the system at Technion is streamlined. In our experience, contacting visas@int.technion.ac.il for incoming students and kayellet@technion.ac.il for postdocs will make the entire process simple. In certain cases, the people whom you contact via the above mentioned emails get you an approval from the Interior Ministry in Haifa beforehand (that is, before you apply for the visa). In any case, you'll need the official letters they send you for the visa procedures. In India, in general they do not respond to mails. Call the VFS office. If they don’t pick up (which is very probable), keep calling and confirm that all documents are in order. If you are in Mumbai, Delhi, or Bangalore, visit the VFS office directly. This will speed up the application. Recently, at least in Bangalore, IVS is handling visa applications instead of VFS.

In some cases (when you come on a special project such as Marie Curie), your host department can apply for visa on your behalf (after you provide them with the filled form in pdf via email). Icing on the cake: once your visa is done, you can choose the country from where you want to receive it (very helpful for those who are travelling during that time).

2. How do I extend the validity of my visa?

It is many a times the case that the visa granted to you is only valid for about 2 months from your arrival date. Not to worry - you just go to the Interior Ministry a few days before the visa expires (bus number 17 from Technion) and present the extension form, passport, photos, letter from Technion, and 175 NIS. You can also make your visa multiple entry then, if it is not already. Multiple-entry visa will require 350 NIS. Carry exact change. Note that if your passport is expiring within one year, visa will be renewed only until 6 months before the date of passport expiry.

If your passport is expiring while you are in Israel, you can get it renewed in the Indian embassy at Tel Aviv. More information can be found at https://www.indembassyisrael.gov.in/pages?id=vbmOe&subid=kazYe. Note that the forms on the website maybe outdated, therefore contact them beforehand to get the up to date procedure and forms. It may take 2 months or more to get the new passport.

3. Whom should I contact for academic queries?

These are looked into by both the secretary of your hosting faculty and a general one, assigned to postdocs, visiting researchers, or students. Your host should direct you to them at the beginning. So be in touch with them. There are also informal points of contact for general queries like housing, shopping, medical insurance etc. It would pay to be in touch with them as well. Again for graduate students, contacting IntGrad@technion.ac.il will surely clear your doubts on any academic matter.

As a side note, please be informed that https://graduate.technion.ac.il/en/prospective-students/ provides info on all admission-related queries.

4. What about scholarships for graduate students?

Every student will receive basic scholarships for pursuing his/her studies. You will submit a scholarship form (and a dorm form) to the graduate school when you make the formal application. Sometimes based on your GRE score, you might receive special fellowships such as the Lady Davis for one year. You should be able to manage even with the basic scholarship. Tuition is waived mostly. Please have a look at https://graduate.technion.ac.il/en/prospective-students/

5. How to reach Technion from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel-Aviv?

Tel-Aviv Ben Gurion airport is the closest international airport to Haifa. It is possible that you’ll be stopped by a security person right after you arrive. Answer calmly and truthfully. There is a busy but efficient immigration checking procedure (~10 mins). People do speak in English, though various signs might not be in English outside the airport. Use information centre and/or airport website for more details. Train tickets can be bought from the machine. If for any reason you need to come back to the airport, you would have to ask the guard personally to let you back in since the ticket won't be valid for the second entry. Retain the ticket/Rav Kav (more on this later). Trains are frequent but Haifa is not the last stop, hence one usually needs to board the train running to Nahariya. There is WiFi at the airport, the train station, as well as in the train. All train-related information (Ben-Gurion Airport to Haifa Hof HaCarmel) (Israel Railways) or the bus information (Egged) can be found online. There’s an app known as MOOVIT that can be used to plan all public transport journeys in Israel. In general it has accurate and real time information.

Details: After landing, take Exit 3. Board train to “Haifa Hof Hacarmel” (Haifa has three train stations; Hof means ‘beach’). The bus station is right next door, but the first time ask for directions. Many buses come to Technion (spelled HaTechnion = הטכניון) such as 11 (preferable, reaches Technion in around 25 minutes), 17. There is also a taxi stand at the opposite end of the station. You can take a taxi directly to your destination. Expect to pay anywhere in the range 60-100 NIS depending on traffic. Insist on meter. Public transport doesn't run during Shabbat (Friday afternoon-Saturday afternoon. There is limited public transport in Haifa on Saturday). Avoid that time or take a shared taxi (‘sherut’) run by Amal sherut service otherwise from right outside Exit 3. Public transport is ~40 NIS (can get discount) and sherut: ~120 NIS. Expect to wait for the sherut to fill up before leaving.

Guest house: If you arrive at the guest house in the weekend (say Thursday evening), the reception might be closed and you would need to ask the guard at the main entrance (West Gate) to let you have an entrance card.

6. How to open a bank account?

Go to the bank Leumi inside Technion (this has been moved outside Technion as of May 2018; now at Ziv centre close to Technion west/main gate) and start the procedure to open the account. You would need your passport as well as tax document (i.e. PAN card for India and social security number for EU/US. In any case you would need at least one other ID than your Passport. PAN would be preferable). The procedure is slow and takes up to 1 hour. Apply for the cheque book; you will receive it only after a week. Apply for an additional Master Card too since the primary one may not be valid outside Israel. Your bank account will be active in 1-2 days. The card too won't be active immediately. Having some problem in the bank account so that your scholarship is not transferred in time is not uncommon; so have plan B ready. A student guide will help incoming graduate students.

Some people are dissatisfied with the services of the Technion Leumi bank. In this case, walk over to Bank Hapoalim (Ziv Square), and you could sign up for an account in a matter of 5-10 minutes! The experiences that people had with the bank have been very pleasant, taking money deposits, international transfers, credit cards, etc. into account. It is just a matter of taking an extra 10-15 minutes to catch a bus from the Technion (almost every single bus from the Technion goes there), or as was said previously, you could take a pleasant walk to Ziv to get to the bank, and then everything is taken care of personally by a bank employee who attends to your work.

REMITTANCE: Most banks here have some way for you to remit money to India if you want to. If you decide to do it make sure you know about the charges.

There is an SBI in Tel Aviv that you can use to directly transfer money to your SBI account in India. You will need original passport, visa, valid student ID-card, address proof in Israel (letter from Dorms will do if you are in the dorms), a letter from University/ Faculty (which authorizes that you are currently a student) and details of your account with SBI branch in India (a proof of account. It may be a copy of passbook or a formal statement including your account number and IFS Code). You can deposit NIS or USD and INR will be transferred to your beneficiary account in India at the exchange rate on the specific day. Remittance up to $ 2000 will cost you $15 per remittance and anything above $20.The amount of remittance will be restricted to $5000 per calendar month with maximum amount of $3000 in one instance (equivalent amount in case of NIS). Please note that the branch is closed on Fridays and Saturdays. If you deposit Shekels, note that SBI will charge the buy rate for dollars to convert it to dollars, so it may prove better if you directly deposited dollars.

As of Dec 2016, this was the contact person in SBI. Avnit Eliyahu, Assistant Vice President Operations, State Bank Of India - Tel Aviv Branch, Diamond Exchange - Shimshon Bldg, PO Box -163, 3 Jabotinsky St., Ramat-Gan 52520, ISRAEL, Tel : +972(0)3-7565405, Fax :+972(0)3-6005377, E-mail : avpops.israel@statebank.com.

The bank is located very close to the Tel Aviv - Center/Savidor station, within walkable distance, on the Ramat Gan side.

Recently more people have been using www.rewire.to for remittance. Its easy, quick and more transparent since you are given the rate of conversion unlike SBI. If you have a Leumi bank account, ask them to activate online transfer within Israel since it requires you to transfer money to their Hapoalim bank account.

7. How to get a SIM card? How much would that cost?

There are two options, prepaid and postpaid. Unlike in India, postpaid is the cheaper option here. A prepaid SIM card costs about 100 shekels and there are a variety of options (<100). You can get an Orange prepaid card from the postoffice inside Technion. If you choose postpaid, you will need a credit card first. Go to the appropriate place (e.g. BUGs shop in Grand Canyon mall), choose a company (e.g. Golan) and get the plan you want. Should take ~10 mins. Expect to pay 30-40 NIS a month. Keep a copy of your passport with you.

8. How to find accommodation in Haifa?

Like anywhere, you should book a long-term stay only after seeing it in person. Short-term stay would be arranged by Technion in one of the guest houses in the campus. Your host may or may not cover these. The cost of the stay at these places is same as an economy hotel (45-60$ per night), but with better service of course. You can search for long-term stay using several Facebook communities, some of them are in Hebrew but translator works just fine. Almost always, it requires at least one year lease (you might be inheriting only a portion of it) and some security deposit, like ~5000 NIS. You can pay the rent in forward-dated cheques. Another way is to request your bank for a standing order on a stipulated date every month. For this, you need to have the owner’s bank details to be submitted to your bank.

You can scout for apartment meetings that you would have scheduled before coming to Israel. Let the owner know that you can sign the cheques no sooner than a week (bank won't give you checks before that). Also, Technion can pay for your security deposit. There are a number of housing resources you can check online for off campus housing. Some of the online sites can be found here - http://postdocs.technion.ac.il/housing-resources/. Facebook groups like Technion International, Haifa Young English Speakers, Living in Haifa provide reasonable information about day-to-day activities, apartment availability, and other social stuff. For the postdocs, contacting postdocs@int.technion.ac.il will help in finding apartments etc.

Again, for graduate students, it is usual to get a dorm on campus. A student guide assigned to you before arrival will have the key and show you around. There are dorms for both singles and married people. You'll apply for them when you submit your formal application to the Technion graduate school. Please have a look at the site https://graduate.technion.ac.il/en/home/. Since 2018, dorms have been restricted to 3 years for PhD students. Make sure you confirm the duration of stay.

9. What about health insurance?

People usually take an online insurance from India for a short duration when they travel to Israel for the first time. Once you're here, you will meet Einat@yedidim.co.il (Phone: +972(0)545297775) in the International School, which she visits every week on certain days. She will explain the policies available from Harel Yedidim; most Indians have the prestige policy. You can learn all about the premium among other things from her.

10. Is anyone else travelling at the same time? Is there a way I can join them?

You can send a mail to technion-indians [at] googlegroups.com, and check if there is someone coming from India around the same time.

11. How do Indians generally manage food there? Are there any Indian stores around? What all groceries do I need to bring from India?

Managing food is no problem. You will most likely have to cook and you get the basic stuff like dal, rice, vegetables etc. plus there are some canteens serving vegetarian food (if you are non-veg, then you are in for a treat!). You get several Indian spices, snacks, and fresh vegetables in a market area in Hadar in Haifa. Specifically, the East West shop there (very close to the last stop of 19) has several spices, snacks etc. and the Ethiopian shop has all sorts of dal, rice, and so on. Its easy to reach Hadar directly by buses, for instance, 19 from Technion.

It is common in Haifa to have a non-existent cooking setup in a studio apartment. (e.g. a single hot plate kept over a small platform in a room with no ventilation is described as a kitchen by some real-estate agents!) So make up your mind if you will cook. Bring a pressure cooker, which will come in handy. Flat bottom utensils will be more useful. A lot of apartments often have gas burners but mostly hot plates are the norm. Eating out is expensive, though portions are fairly large.

12. Where do I buy groceries from?

Lots of people travel a lot of distance for doing their shopping. Prices are higher than in most countries for similar products (e.g. supermarkets can be at least 3 times cheaper in Germany than in Israel). Home-delivery from supermarkets is approx 25 NIS and on some minimum purchase. Almost all such shops will be closed on Saturday. Some may have half day on Friday. There is an Indian store in Haifa as was mentioned in the last answer above for groceries, which is suitable mostly for stuff that you don’t get elsewhere. Remember to stock up before Friday afternoon. Nearly everything closes till Saturday afternoon.

13. Are there restaurants in and around the campus? Do you get vegetarian food in Israel?

There are multiple cafes and restaurants inside Technion. They are usually more reasonably priced than restaurants outside. You can get “CIBUS” activated on your student card at the Student Union. This gives discount at a few places inside Technion in the range 10-15%. Like public transport, most cafes and restaurants are closed during Shabbat (Friday afternoon - Saturday afternoon). On other days, you can take public transport to almost anywhere even through the night, though the night buses (200, 208) have limited frequency. The most popular and cheapest street food is falafel (vegetarian) and costs ~ 15 NIS. A lot of places are “Kosher”, which is a religious dietary certification. This means that if you are vegetarian, there are always options for you.

14. Can I get the contacts of some people who are staying in Technion/have stayed at Technion so that I can get in touch with them personally?

You can send a mail to technion-indians [at] googlegroups.com.

15. How much cash to carry from India?

If you don’t manage to get any prepayment or loan, budget to spend at least 3000 NIS a month. Bring foreign exchange accordingly, although international cards should work. You can bring money in USD or Euro and change a little at the airport for your immediate needs. Later you could go to the exchange in Ziv neighbourhood near Technion, for example.

16. Do people understand English in Technion?

Inside Technion, most people will speak at least decent English. Outside, it might be rarer. In general people are very helpful and you can easily manage in English.

17. Are there places near the campus for sightseeing?

The campus itself is quite green and there are some close-by parks too (e.g. Nesher park, Bahai Garden) and of course the beach itself. You can rent a bicycle and go around the beach, though not in the campus which is too uneven to be comfortable for biking (look at Google maps to see how much exactly).

18. How to get discount on public transportation in Haifa?

To avail discount on buses and Israel railways, you need to get a letter from Katalan Ayellet (for post-doctoral students) saying that you are a student of Technion for this academic session (just tell her you want to get Rav Kav card done, she will provide you with the letter). With that letter, your Technion I.D., and your passport, you should go to Egged office inside the Hof Hacarmel bus station. Show them your documents and they will immediately issue you a Rav Kav card with your photo on it (they will click your photo on the spot). It is also available at Lev Hamifratz bus station. For graduate students, the letter can be obtained from levana@dp.technion.ac.il and for postdocs from kayellet@technion.ac.il.

19. Is it easy to get a job in Israel?

In general, its very hard for a foreigner to get a job in Israel be it in academics or in a company.

20. How do I get my passport renewed?

To get your passport renewed you will have to go the embassy in Tel Aviv. One way of reaching there is to take the train to Tel Aviv Center/Savidor and then take bus no 10 from the bus station outside the train station. Get down on Ben Yehuda at the Gordon street stop. Walk down Gordon street until you get to Hayarkon, take a right and the embassy is just a couple of buildings down. Note that it takes about 3 hours from Technion to the embassy so plan accordingly. Also the counters close at 11:00 AM for applications. Carry exact change. New passport is 305 shekels.

The website is very unreliable. While forms can be redone on the spot (except the one you need to fill online and print http://www.passport.gov.in/nri/), documents will need to be arranged before hand. Documents like marriage certificate are not accepted without Apostille. If you need to change your address, unless you have Aadhar, you will need two proofs of address. Electricity bills etc in your father's name will be accepted as address proof. They need 6 5x5 photographs, which will be much cheaper to get in India.

21. What are the common bus numbers used for transportation?

22. Travelling to Israel

There are many flights to Israel from India. El Al is the only direct flight from Mumbai, though it is not recommended for Indians and Air India the only direct flight from Delhi as of May 2019. There are many one stop flights from Mumbai and Delhi and you can choose them based on luggage requirements and cost. Make sure you check Indigo's website as well. They have a codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines so you may get a cheap flight on Indigo's website. All flights are to Tel Aviv.

Be careful booking European airlines to Tel Aviv. Even if costs are low there are 4 countries in Europe that require transit visa even if you stay inside the airport for the stopover. They are France, Germany, Czechia and UK. So if your flight stops at any of these countries, you have to pay extra in terms of a transit visa that has to be applied for before flying and may take its own time. People have had bad experiences with this so make sure you are prepared with all requirements before leaving.

In case you are coming for more than a few months, you can buy one way tickets on most airlines. But make sure you confirm with the airline. People have had bad experiences with some airlines such as Egypt Air where they insisted on a round trip ticket at the airport even with a 1 year visa. That can prove very costly.