Travel Advisories

The United Arab Emirates does not maintain diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, and therefore does not generally recognize Israeli passports for the purposes of entry into the country.

The UAE has permitted Israeli passport holders to enter the country for certain events, and in a letter to the editor published in The Washington Post, UAE to the United States Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, in connection with the UAE's decision to admit an Israeli tennis player to participate in an international tournament, wrote:

"The decision to issue the permit is in line with the UAE's commitment to a policy of permitting any individual to take part in international sports, cultural and economic events or activities being held in the country, without any limitation being placed on participation by citizens of any member country of the United Nations."

Due to restrictions on the type of visa that NYU students are able to obtain in Australia, at this time, participation in semester-long programs at NYU Sydney is limited to students holding passports from the following countries:

• Passport holders from the US, Argentina, Austria, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Peru, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, or Vietnam are eligible to study at NYU Sydney with a Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462).
• Please note that the Australian government currently limits the number of applications from the countries eligible for the subclass 462 visa except for the United States, so it is possible that a “cap” for your country may have already has been met. Citizens of many countries listed will also need to meet certain education requirements in order to be eligible for the visa. Please review the education section on this page to confirm your eligibility.
• Passport holders from Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan, and the UK are eligible to study at NYU Sydney with a Working Holiday visa (subclass 417).
• Passport holders from New Zealand who are not permanent residents of Australia are eligible to apply for the free Special Category visa (subclass 444). This can be done upon arrival in Australia and will allow you to work and study in Australia for as long as you remain a citizen of New Zealand.
• Passport holders from Australia do not need to apply for any additional immigration permission to study at NYU Sydney.

Australian Work and Holiday and Working Holiday visas are typically only granted to an individual once in their lifetime. In some rare cases, you may apply for the visa a second time, however, the requirements for this visa are usually not applicable to students who have previously studied in Australia. These visas are only available to those under the age of 30, and while these visas are valid for a period of one year, only four months may be spent studying, which effectively limits most students to one semester at NYU Sydney.

Given the complexities of the visa process for those studying at NYU Sydney, we strongly encourage those considering it to consult with NYU’s Office of Global Services.

In March 2017, the Israeli Knesset passed into law Amendment 28 to the Entry into Israel Law, 1952, which denies entry into Israel to foreign nationals (except those holding Israeli permanent residency permits) who have issued public calls for a boycott of the State of Israel, worked for or acted on behalf of groups or organizations that have done so, or otherwise committed to participating in such a boycott.

Following the passage of the amendment, the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority published Criteria for Preventing the Entry into Israel of Boycott Activists (July 24, 2017), which states (English translation below, but the original Hebrew is available online):

Denial of entry will be imposed against both activists in organizations identified according to the parameters above and against independent activists who fall under one of the following categories:

1. People with senior or significant positions in the organizations (i.e., chair or board members) [NB – The list of 20 organizations published by Israeli’s Strategic Affairs Ministry, in January 2018, is listed below.]
2. Key activists - people who undertake concrete, consistent and continuous actions to advance boycotts within the framework of key de-legitimizing organizations or independently
3. Institutional actors (such as mayors) who advance boycotts in an active and continuous manner
4. "Agents of" - activists who come to Israel on behalf of one of the key de-legitimizing organizations. For example, an activist who come to Israel to participate in a delegation on behalf of key a de-legitimizing organization.

The amendment and the publication are contrary to the spirit of open access that NYU espouses. Although no members of the NYU community have to date been denied entry to study at NYU Tel Aviv, Amendment 28 could have an impact on individuals’ plans to do so.

American organizations:

• AFSC (American Friends Service Committee)
• AMP (American Muslims for Palestine)
• USCPR (US Campaign for Palestinian Rights) 
• Code Pink
• JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace)
• NSJP (National Students for Justice in Palestine)

European organizations:

• AFPS (Association France Palestine Solidarité)
• BDS France
• BDS Italy
• ECCP (European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine)
• FOA (Friends of Al-Aqsa)
• IPSC (Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign)
• Palestinakomitee Norge (The Palestine Committee of Norway)
• Palestinagrupperna I Sverige (Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden)
• PSC (Palestine Solidarity Campaign)
• War on Want
• BDS Kampagne

Other groups:

• BDS Chile
• BDS South Africa
• BNC (BDS National Committee)

The United States has entry restrictions that affect nationals from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela (though only in limited cases), and Yemen.

Student (F and M) and exchange (J) visas are still technically available to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen, although there has been a significant decrease in visas issued to national of those countries over the past year. Whether this is due to the "enhanced screening and vetting requirements" that were introduced along with the ban, or to other factors, is not clear at this time.

The ban on Venezuelan nationals only applies to those who are seeking to enter the US on B-1, B-2, or B-1/B-2 visas, and are officials of Venezuelan government agencies who are involved in screening and vetting procedures, or their immediate family members.

Note regarding NYU’s Los Angeles Program

Current NYU students on F-1 visas whose home campus is New York will be able to study in Los Angeles beginning in Fall 2019.

Students with NYU Abu Dhabi or NYU Shanghai as their home campus, and who are not US nationals or permanent residents, will be able to spend a semester at the Los Angeles program following U.S. government approval of F-1 study there.

While the University hopes to receive approval in time for the Fall 2019 semester, Abu Dhabi and Shanghai students should be prepared to exercise other options pending further notice.