Israel · Visa required
Emigrating to Israel
With Israel it isn't your income that decides your route, but who you are. If you hold Israeli nationality, you return without a visa. If you fall under the Law of Return, as a Jew, as a child or grandchild of a Jew or as their spouse, you make aliyah through the Jewish Agency. If you're the partner of an Israeli, your application runs through the Population and Immigration Authority. And whoever goes to work comes with a work visa from their employer. For whoever only wants to live on a pension, there's no route. On the Dutch side the treaties help: the AOW goes along in full, and AOW and occupational pension are taxed in Israel. But there's no CAK, and whoever makes aliyah first decides about their Dutch nationality.
€ 399 one-off · 38 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Four routes: back as an Israeli, aliyah under the Law of Return, as the partner of an Israeli, or with a work visa. No route on a pension alone
- The clock
- An aliyah file usually takes three to six months; an Israeli who was away a long time waits two to six months for healthcare, or redeems it
- Note
- A Dutch person who makes aliyah can lose Dutch nationality. The AOW goes along in full, but not to the areas the SVB excludes. No CAK
Last updated: 16 October 2026
Will your departure date work? Check it in the free step-by-step plan →
Five phases, from your route to your health fund
This journey starts with one question: who are you? An Israeli, also with a Dutch passport alongside, needs no visa. Whoever falls under the Law of Return opens a file with the Jewish Agency. A partner of an Israeli goes through the Population and Immigration Authority, and an employee through their employer. After that the treaties help: the AOW goes along in full, and the 1973 treaty gives Israel the right to tax your AOW and occupational pension. What the brochure doesn't say: aliyah can cost you your Dutch nationality, there's no CAK, and an Israeli who was away a long time waits for healthcare first.
- Orientation
Four routes, two treaties and your Dutch nationality
In this phase you see which route suits you, and what happens to your income, your healthcare and your nationality. Israeli, someone under the Law of Return, partner or employee: each has their own way, and for whoever only wants to live on a pension there's none. The 1973 tax treaty puts your AOW and your occupational pension with Israel and your pension from government service with the Netherlands. The social security treaty lets the AOW go along in full, also for a single person, except in the areas the SVB excludes. And whoever makes aliyah asks, according to the Jewish Agency, for Israeli nationality: first read what that does to your Dutch nationality.Read more
- Your visa
A passport, an aliyah file, a procedure or a work visa
In this phase you arrange your ground to live in Israel. As an Israeli you put your passport, your children's registration and your military service in order at the embassy in The Hague. Under the Law of Return you open a file with the Jewish Agency, with legalised documents and an interview; that usually takes three to six months. As the partner of an Israeli you start the procedure at the Population and Immigration Authority. If you live together without marriage, that's first a B/1 permit and then a temporary A/5 permit. And whoever goes to work first has their employer request approval and then has an interview at the embassy. Your certificates get an apostille: Israel has been party to the convention since 1978.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
An exemption from wage tax, the AOW along in full, and no CAK
In this phase you work through the familiar list, and with Israel it helps. Your AOW and your occupational pension are taxed in Israel: apply for an exemption from wage tax. Your pension from government service stays taxed in the Netherlands, without a tax credit. The AOW goes along in full, also for whoever goes alone. Child benefit stops. There's no CAK: arrange a policy for the time until your Israeli healthcare starts, because an Israeli who was away a long time waits two to six months. And whoever leaves before the AOW age can insure themselves voluntarily within one year.Read more
- The move
The customs rules for your status, and the blood test for the pet
In this phase you move the household goods, the car and the pet. For the household goods and the car the rules of Israeli customs apply, and they depend on your status: request them beforehand. You don't get the bpm back. For the pet the most important step is the rabies blood test in the Netherlands: Israel isn't on the EU list, and whoever has that test done outside the EU waits 90 days for the return journey. On the travel day you have the papers of your route in your hand luggage, and if you travel as a tourist, an ETA-IL of 25 shekels.Read more
- Arrival in Israel
A health fund, your status at Bituach Leumi, and the thirteen years of your passport
In this phase you arrange your health fund and your status after landing. As an oleh you register straight away, at the airport or within 90 days. Bituach Leumi establishes that you're a resident, by the centre of your life. Your healthcare and your contribution depend on it: without income 123 shekels a month in 2026. Your bank, your driving licence, your house and school you arrange with the authorities themselves. And if you have two nationalities, put the thirteen years of your Dutch passport in your diary.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Israel journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 1.3 of your plan
Your Dutch nationality: what aliyah does to it
- Lead time
- an evening of reading; a question to the IND takes weeks
- Costs
- none
In this step you see what your route does to your Dutch nationality. With aliyah this is the question you ask before you open your file.
The rule. Under article 15 of the Dutch Nationality Act an adult loses Dutch nationality "door het vrijwillig verkrijgen van een andere nationaliteit", by voluntarily acquiring another nationality. That happens by itself, and you can't prevent it, says NederlandWereldwijd.
Aliyah. The Jewish Agency calls the aliyah procedure "an official process for requesting Israeli nationality": a request for Israeli nationality. We found no official Dutch statement on aliyah itself. So put your situation to the IND in writing before you apply. Also ask the Jewish Agency whether and when you can decline Israeli nationality, and ask the IND beforehand what that means for your Dutch nationality.
The three exceptions. You keep your Dutch nationality if, when acquiring it, you:
- are married to, or have a registered partnership with, someone with Israeli nationality;
- were born in Israel and live there at the time;
- lived in Israel for at least five years in a row as a minor.
Making aliyah together. The exception for partners only applies if your partner is already Israeli. If you make aliyah together as a Dutch couple, and you become Israeli on the same day, you both lose your Dutch nationality. That is in the guide to the Nationality Act.
Whoever doesn't choose yet. Bituach Leumi describes the A/1 visa: a temporary visa for whoever falls under the Law of Return and hasn't yet decided whether to make aliyah. You get a temporary identity number and a residence permit of up to five years. After that you decide.
Already Israeli and Dutch? Then a different clock applies. If you live outside the EU for thirteen years in a row with both nationalities, you lose your Dutch nationality. Unless in that time you get a new Dutch passport, an identity card or a declaration of Dutch nationality. So put the date of your last passport in your diary. See step 5.8.
Renouncing Israeli nationality is also possible, from the Netherlands, at the embassy. Processing can take up to six months.
What this step rests on
- Dutch Nationality Act, article 15 — loss through voluntarily acquiring another nationality, the exceptions in paragraph 2, and the thirteen years outside the EU
- IND — losing Dutch nationality: the three exceptions and the thirteen years
- NederlandWereldwijd — when do I lose my Dutch nationality
- Jewish Agency — the aliyah procedure is "an official process for requesting Israeli nationality under the Israeli Law of Return"
- Bituach Leumi — the A/1 visa: temporary residence of up to five years for whoever falls under the Law of Return and hasn't yet decided on aliyah
- Embassy of Israel in The Hague — renouncing Israeli citizenship from abroad
- Guide to the Dutch Nationality Act 2003, article 15, section 8.2 — the exception for partners does not apply if two Dutch spouses acquire another nationality on the same day
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Israel.
This is step 1.3 of 38. The other 37 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 38 steps for IsraelEvery step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Israel: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Israel change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, and now and then we send one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
What will your move to Israel cost? Work it out →Also want to know whether your departure date is feasible? Take the departure scan: seven questions, and you see your whole plan in miniature →
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Israel? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Israel starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
In December we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Israel
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Healthcare in Israel: the health fund, the contribution and the waiting period for returneesEvery resident of Israel is insured through a health fund, and pays his contribution to Bituach Leumi according to income. An oleh is insured from registration. An Israeli who lived abroad for a long time waits two to six months, or redeems that waiting period for 16,860 shekels. Israel is not a CAK treaty country: Dutch healthcare stops when you leave.
- The routes to living in Israel: Israeli, oleh, partner or employeeWhether you may live in Israel depends on who you are. An Israeli needs no visa. Anyone covered by the Law of Return makes aliyah through the Jewish Agency. The partner of an Israeli goes through a procedure of years at the immigration service, an employee gets a work visa after approval in Israel. For retirees without such a tie, the official list contains no residence visa.
- Working in Israel: the work visa, the contributions and working for a Dutch employerAn Israeli or oleh may simply work in Israel. Anyone coming without that status needs a work visa, and that is only possible once the Israeli immigration authority has approved the employer's application. In 2026 an employee pays 4.27 per cent in contributions up to 7,703 shekels a month, 12.17 per cent above that. If you work from Israel for a Dutch employer, tax and contributions shift to Israel.
- AOW, pension and tax in Israel: full AOW, and Israel taxesFor the AOW, Israel is a treaty country: a single person also gets the full AOW. The 1973 tax treaty gives Israel the right to tax AOW, company pension and annuities; only a government pension remains taxed in the Netherlands. For olim, the Jewish Agency mentions ten years of exemption on foreign income. In occupied territory, none of this applies.
- Dual nationality and Israel: do you lose Dutch nationality when making aliyah?A Dutch national who makes aliyah and so voluntarily becomes Israeli usually loses Dutch nationality. That does not happen if on that day you are married to an Israeli, were born in Israel and live there, or lived in Israel for five years before turning eighteen. An Israeli with a Dutch passport keeps it, if he renews it within 13 years while living in Israel.
- Car and driving licence to Israel: the olim benefit, and what you deregister in the NetherlandsIn the first three years after aliyah, an oleh may buy a car with less tax, if he already held a permanent licence before aliyah and has a valid Israeli licence. Your Dutch licence is valid in Israel and can be renewed from Israel. Only deregister your car for export once you know which papers Israel asks for.
All 14 articles about Israel
- Your household goods to Israel: three shipments free for olim, and the declaration in the Netherlands
- Taking your dog or cat to Israel: start with the NVWA, and arrange the way back in advance
- Banking and payments in Israel: your AOW in euros, your child allowance in shekels
- The first weeks in Israel: what comes first on each route
- Buying a house in Israel: prices per city, and what an oleh saves
- Renting in Israel: what a home costs, and where you had better not live
- Children and school in Israel: child benefit, Hebrew and military service
- Registration and numbers in Israel: identity number, health fund and population registry
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Israel: 38 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.