In a recent policy shift, the Tel Aviv Municipality has stopped issuing business licenses to Eritrean citizens even if they hold Israeli work visas.

The municipality has recently rejected several requests by Eritrean migrants to obtain permits to open businesses, despite the fact that they held all other required permits, including certification by the police and fire departments, as well as by the city’s engineering department and its environmental authority.

The city explained the rejections on the pretext that it only grants business licenses to people holding work visas, when the duration of these visas extends to the entire length of the business permit's duration. Tel Aviv's business licenses are given for one year, whereas Eritrean citizens need to renew their visas every four months, effectively baring Eritreans from obtaining business licenses.

In an interview with Haaretz, several Eritreans holding work visas for Israel claimed that they invested tens of thousands of shekels in setting up a business and acquiring all the necessary permits in order to meet all the requirements made by the city and other authorities. They said that no one told them at the outset or during the whole process that the city wouldn’t grant them a license in any case. On the contrary, the city made demands on them for obtaining such licenses and even charged them with licensing fees. Only at the end of the process, after all the required permits were obtained, did the city inform them of the new. Some of the applicants even received orders to close their businesses under different pretexts.

One Eritrean citizen, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Haaretz that he opened a grocery store in Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood 18 months ago, with tens of thousands of shekels invested in the venture. During a violent demonstration last May, his store windows were smashed and his grocery was looted. He received no compensation and was forced to invest many more thousands of shekels in rebuilding his business. He applied for a permit and made changes to the store in order to meet the city’s requirements and obtaining the necessary certification. But to no avail, his application was turned down. “I was told that there was a new law saying that anyone with a work visa valid for less than a year could not get a license,” he told Haaretz. He added that only a week prior, the city had sent him to obtain further permits. “How can they do that? It’s wrong. If they had told me in advance I wouldn’t have wasted all my money.”

Elhanan Meshi, head of the Tel Aviv Municipal Business Licensing Department, confirmed that this applicant had all the other required permits but that his request for a business permit was still turned down. “Since the Attorney General issued a directive not to grant licences to people without valid visas,” he wrote, “the municipality's legal department decided not to issue licences to people whose work visas don’t correspond to the licensing periods. We can therefore not complete the licensing process.”

Another business owner, Maheri Bardag, has been in Israel for six years. Five years ago, with the help of family and friends, he opened a bar-restaurant in the Tel Aviv neighborhood Neve Sha’anan. He has a valid license for his business until the end of this year. A year and a half ago he also opened a small grocery store on Salame St.. He applied for a license and invested tens of thousands of shekels in upgrading the store. The city refused to grant him a license for this business, since his work visa is only valid for four months. He is now worried that the city won’t renew the license for his restaurant as well. “Only God knows if I’ll be able to start something new,” he says in frustration.

Barhana, who asked that to be identified only by first name, opened a grocery store in the city's Hatikva neighborhood a year ago, but had to close it following a court injunction. He applied for a license, contracted an engineer and adapted the structure according to the city’s demands. A month ago the city instructed him to shut down within 48 hours. Only then did he find out that he needed to apply for special dispensation, since the building had previously been used for residential purposes. The grocery is under lock and key since then, even though he keeps paying rent and property taxes. In the meantime he learned that the city will not give him a license in any case, since his work visa is valid for only four months. “So far I’ve spent what I had left in my pockets. I have a wife and two small children. I can’t live like this anymore.”

Attorney Eran Brenner, who represents seven Eritrean business owners, is preparing an administrative petition to be filed with the courts against the Tel Aviv Municipality, for refusing to grant them business licenses. “The city comes for repeated inspections, making more demands for changes and improvements. Then, cynically, illegally and immorally, when the business owner should be rewarded for his efforts and investment, he is suddenly given a curt notice, in Hebrew, informing him that no license will be issued.” According to Brenner, city enforcement action against businesses owned by African migrant has become very aggressive in recent months. The city and police have conducted several raids, closed businesses and confiscated equipment. “I have no doubt that this is happening because of the upcoming municipal elections,” Brenner told Haaretz.

Israel granted 2,000 work visas to Eritrean citizens who arrived here by the end of 2007, complying with recommendations made by the UN Refugee Agency. The handling of asylum seekers was then transferred from the UN to the Ministry of Interior, who decided to re-examine the refugees’ entitlement to these visas. The Ministry then determined that 1,000 of the applicants were Ethiopians and not Eritreans, and annulled their work visas. One thousand Eritreans still hold work visas, which they must renew every four months. In addition, the Olmert government decided in 2008 to grant temporary resident status to 500 migrants from Darfur, allowing them to work in Israel.

“It’s sad to see all the authorities united in their harassment of asylum seekers, in an effort to fulfill [former Interior Minister] Eli Yishai’s wish to make their lives so miserable that they will leave,” says Sigal Rosen, coordinator of public policy at the Hotline for Migrant Workers, an NGO's advocating for the rights of African refugees in Israel. “This is contrary to what is written in the United Nations Convention on the status of refugees, which specifically states that conditions should be made easier for migrants to open new businesses. In Israel, instead of making it easier, it is made almost impossible. These are rulings that the public cannot comply with. People will continue to use their services and their businesses will continue to operate. They will simply go underground, operating out of sight of inspectors, on the upper floors of buildings.”

Tel Aviv Municipality officials responded by saying that they are “left to deal with tens of thousands of illegal migrants on our own, including having to contend with the opening of unlicensed businesses. We are working to achieve the right balance which will benefit all citizens. Clarifying the procedures for granting business licenses has nothing to do with elections and was initiated following the Attorney general’s decision last month, in which he stated that a foreign citizen without a work visa will not be able to get a work permit. The city is vigorously trying to ease the hardships of residents in its southern neighborhoods, at an investment of over NIS 1 billion, devoted to infrastructure improvement and improved law enforcement, by installing security cameras and instating patrols in the area.”