What changes financially when you move to Israel?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Israel and the Netherlands apply to your situation: which country may tax you, which schemes exist and how you get insured. With the source, so you can check it yourself.
This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest will appear.
What you have to show
Which financial requirements does the country set before you may stay?
Whoever falls under the Law of Return makes aliyah through the Jewish Agency
The Law of Return gives a Jew the right to immigrate to Israel. Under article 4A that also applies to the child and the grandchild of a Jew, and to their spouses.
There's no income requirement in it. You open a file with the Jewish Agency, with legalised original documents, an interview and a review. That usually takes three to six months. The Jewish Agency calls the application a request for Israeli nationality: first read what that does to your Dutch nationality.
- duration of the file
- usually 3 to 6 months
Health insurance
How do you get insured, and what do you pay for it?
No CAK route: your healthcare runs through an Israeli health fund
Israel isn't on the list of treaty countries for healthcare. That's why the CAK route doesn't exist. Your basic insurance ends on emigration.
In Israel every resident is insured, through a health fund you choose yourself. An oleh is covered from registration. An Israeli who was away a long time waits first. Whoever comes on a work visa isn't a resident and needs a policy of their own.
- CAK
- not applicable
Source: CAK — the treaty countries for health insurance abroad; Israel is missing — checked on 2026-10-16
Read the whole storyAn Israeli who was away a long time waits two to six months for healthcare
If you lived abroad for 18 months or longer and paid no contributions for at least 12 months, you wait for healthcare: one month per year abroad, at least two and at most six.
A month counts as 25 days in a row in Israel. You pay contributions during the waiting period too. Among those with no waiting period are an oleh under the Law of Return, a katin chozer and a child up to 18.
- waiting period
- 2 to 6 months
- one month
- 25 days in a row in Israel
You can redeem the waiting period for 16,860 shekels
With a special payment of 16,860 shekels per person, as of 1 January 2026, you're entitled to healthcare straight away.
That's about 4,850 euros, at the Bank of Israel rate of 16 October 2026. You pay in one go or in up to six equal instalments, even from abroad. Bituach Leumi must recognise you as a resident, though. You only get the money back if you don't come back or turn out not to be a resident.
- redemption per person
- 16,860 shekels (as of 1 January 2026)
- instalments
- at most 6
Without income you pay 123 shekels a month for healthcare
Every resident from age 18 pays a health contribution to Bituach Leumi. Without income that's 123 shekels a month, as of 1 January 2026.
With income you pay a percentage. A self-employed person pays 3.23 percent on the part of their income up to 60 percent of the average wage and 5.17 percent above it; whoever doesn't work but has income pays 5.17 percent. 123 shekels is about 35 euros.
- without income
- 123 shekels a month (2026)
- with income
- 3.23% and 5.17%
What the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW build-up stops when you leave, repair is possible within one year
Whoever goes to live outside the Netherlands is usually no longer insured for the AOW and the Anw. Every year you're not insured, you later get 2 percent less AOW.
This is about the build-up, not the payment. What you built up until your departure stays and goes along in full. If you leave before your AOW age, every year until that age costs 2 percent. With voluntary insurance with the SVB you close the gap. For that you have one year from the moment you're no longer insured. That applies to each member of a couple separately.
- reduction per uninsured year
- 2% of your AOW
- applying for voluntary insurance
- within 1 year
Your Dutch basic insurance ends on deregistration
Your basic insurance stops on the day you deregister. Your Israeli healthcare only starts once you're with a health fund, and sometimes only after a waiting period.
Without the CAK there's no safety net. If you have a waiting period or a work visa, first arrange a policy for the time in between, and only then take steps you can't undo. Make sure there's not a single day between the end date in the Netherlands and your first insured day.
Where this comes from: The list of treaty countries for healthcare (no CAK route), the waiting period at Bituach Leumi and the fixed emigration rule that the Zvw ends on deregistration.
Read the whole storyThis is not tax advice
These are the rules that apply to your situation. What they add up to is not shown here. With Israel the treaties help: the 1973 tax treaty gives Israel the right to tax your AOW, your occupational pension and your annuity, and leaves your pension from government service with the Netherlands. The social security treaty lets the AOW go along in full, also for a single person. There's no healthcare treaty: no CAK, and your Israeli healthcare starts straight away or after a waiting period, depending on your route. The Israel Tax Authority wrote in July 2026 that the exemptions on income from abroad remain. Whether your AOW and pension fall under them and for how long, it doesn't say there. Take this list to a tax adviser who knows both countries.
Still deciding between countries? Put the rules of two or three countries side by side
Then actually doing it
Knowing which rules apply is the first half. The second is applying them in time: in the right order, without missing a deadline, and with your documents at hand.
Every 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.