Hasidic Student Almost Misses His Wedding Over British Immigration Snafu
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(JTA) — British immigration officers detained for three days a haredi Orthodox citizen of Israel and the United States who arrived in the United Kingdom to marry a citizen of that country.
Yosef Goldenberg of Los Angeles, who is studying in Israel, arrived Thursday at London’s Heathrow Airport carrying his American passport en route to his wedding Monday in Newcastle even though his request for a special marriage visa had been denied, Arutz 7 reported Tuesday. Goldenberg was hoping to enter as a tourist but was barred from doing so because he had already applied unsuccessfully for the marriage visa.
He was finally allowed to enter the United Kingdom following intervention by Israel’s interior minister, Aryeh Deri, who had heard about Goldenberg’s case and asked British authorities to give him a concession so he would make it to his own wedding to Yael Naomi Maimren of Gateshead, near Newcastle.
“I personally guarantee that within 10 days of the wedding, the bride and groom will leave England and move to Israel,” Deri wrote to British officials, according to Arutz 7.
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