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Introduction of the Blog and WA group guidelines

  Welcome to the first TAU International Volunteering and Support blog! This blog has been created to give complementary information to the graduated students of TAU and to create a community where we can share thoughts and information. This blog is NOT affiliated or supported by Lowy TAU international school or any of the TAU administrative bodies. This blog is meant to be an informal tool where people can be updated, alongside the Researchers and Scholars in TAU: the peers community , and the PhDs and  group and the informal word-of-mouth. Each PhD student or post-doc is more than welcome to approach and participate in the creation of this blog, acting as a volunteer (with a little basic commitment) but also as an user, where they can collect any sort of information. All of the content posted on this blog is under the responsibility of the person who wrote it and posted it. UPDATE 06.11.23  Guidelines for the WhatsApp group  1.Respect & Kindness: Treat all memb...
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Banks issues and tips

First time coming to Israel

If you are about to land or just landed in Israel, it is wise to get from your country a few hundred shekels. If you can't get them, you might want to get a sum of dollars and then change them in Israel at a change service (consider the transaction fees!)

Alternatively, at the arrival lounge of Ben Gurion Airport there are a few ATMs where you can get a sum of Shekels while waiting for a bank account. Similarly, there are ATMs and Banks scattered around the city if you wish to get some money later. 

No matter what, one of the most urgent things to do in Israel is to open a bank account

Choosing the bank

What it is needed:

  • TIN number (what is a TIN number?)
  • Passport
  • Home country ID number
  • you might be required to show proof of acceptance at the university and financial means to sustain yourself in Israel before you get your first scholarship/salary
  • Extra documents, such as your entry permit (the blue ticket you got in the airport at your arrival), or maybe the driving license.

Names of the most popular banks:

Bank Discount

https://www.discountbank.co.il/DB/private

Useful info:

  • to transfer money outside Israel it is necessary to go personally to the bank branch you were assigned, provided with the SFIFT code.

Bank Hapoalim

https://www.bankhapoalim.co.il/he

Bank Leumi

https://english.leumi.co.il/

First International Bank

www.fibi.co.il

Mizrahi-Tefahot

www.mizrahi-tefahot.co.il

Bank OneZero (digital bank)

https://www.onezerobank.com/en/

Israel Post office

https://israelpost.co.il/en/postal-bank/postal-bank-the-foreign-workers-bank/

Pieces of advice

Each of these banks, except for OneZero, First International Bank, have at least one office/branch around the university (Ramat Aviv Neighborhood).

Remember that for many services you should be able to attend in person, talking directly with the employees. Calls are hard to deal with (especially when language barriers come across, although most employees do speak English).

In some branches, it is possible or required to book an appointment with the bank through the website or the apps.

The Israel Postal Office Bank is less known in the community, so ask around who has an account and how these people feel with this service.

Advice for closing the account for Leumi bank: whereas you have a Leumi bank account and need to close it down, it is possible to do it abroad. In particular, you need to get some specific information on the procedure by reaching out Leumi Bank in Shuster center (Aba Akhime'ir Street,  close to the campus) and talk with an employee, who should be able to give you all of the necessary papers.

The Israeli ID number given to you

Since we are not Israeli citizens regularly subscribed to the state services and administration, we don't have the ID number (associated to the identity card) but we can overcome this issue in two ways:

  • Legally, the bank will issue a random code that can be used as ID in the financial/formal matters
  • For things like subscriptions, recording, gym fees etc, less formal and less stringent, you can use the ID number of the student card, which is made - typically for the foreigners - of the numerical digits of  your passport plus two extra random numbers, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the code. 



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