The US Embassies in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel have been operating at reduced capacity levels for several months due to health concerns about Covid-19. But no clear solution for resolving the backlog crisis has been provided or announced yet. 

US citizens need to have full embassy services restored immediately so they can efficiently access Passport and other Federal Program services. The recently announced allowance for travel to the USA on an expired passport 1 time is helpful, but does not resolve with absolute clarity how the visiting US Citizen should depart the USA when returning to their residence abroad. Therefore, the backlog needs to be resolved immediately, without delay. Many services require appointments, and the current system does not adequately support the demand, causing issues for families with minors who need passports renewed or first time passports. Hindering US citizens from being able to travel to the USA for NON-Emergency reasons (such as visiting family, elderly parents, being able to return to businesses in USA, etc) is an affront to the roughly 300,000 US Citizens residing in Israel. Please act with urgency to restore full and efficient Embassy services in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to ensure US citizens are able to travel to and FROM the USA and access other federal programs without hinderance. More must be done to catch up the backlog, not just kick it down the road by a few months. 

We request an urgent and immediate out-of-the-box solution to resolve the backlog within 30 days so all of our lives can return to normal and we can all receive US citizen services in a humane and efficient manner. So families can be reunited, so businesspeople can travel, so US Citizens abroad can be treated with dignity and respect.