Bethel Finance: Most illegal migrants come through the airport

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The billions of shekels Israel is spending on building a fence along the border with Egypt to stop the problem of illegal migrants from Africa will not solve the problem. The 2011 report from the Ministry of Interior's Immigration and Population Authority found that 95,000 foreigners entered Israel during the year on tourist visas that have expired.

There are 54,497 illegal migrants that have entered Israel from Egypt while there are 74,778 migrants in Israel with work visas, and a further 14,118 migrants whose work visas have expired.

Of the 95,000 foreigners whose tourist visas have expired 47.8% are from the former Soviet Union. Ministry of Interior officials believe that a large proportion of these illegal aliens are legal Russian-speaking immigrants' relatives who are not entitled to residency rights. The number of illegal migrants whose tourist visas has expired has fallen 6.5% since 2009.

The Immigration and Population Authority is still most concerned about the illegal migrants arriving from Egypt. Their number, which stood at 37,300 at the end of 2010, saw 150% more new entries last year than the previous year. In November and December 2011 alone 8,000 illegal migrants arrived from Egypt. In the past few years, 80% of the illegal migrants from Egypt come from Sudan and Eritrea. The rest come from countries like Gabon, Turkey, Moldavia and Georgia.