The step-by-step plan for Israel

In this step you see which route you have. With Israel that doesn't depend on your income, but on who you are.

Who are you?	The route	Visa needed?	Healthcare in Israel
Israeli, also with a Dutch passport alongside	returning as a returning resident	no	after a waiting period of at most six months, or straight away after redeeming it
Jew, child or grandchild of a Jew, or their spouse	aliyah under the Law of Return	an immigrant visa through the Jewish Agency	from your registration with a health fund
Partner of an Israeli	the procedure at the Population and Immigration Authority	cohabiting: first a B/1 permit, then A/5; married: to be checked	with A/5 once Bituach Leumi recognises you as a resident; with B/1 not
Employee of an Israeli employer	a work visa	yes, through your employer	no: with a B visa you're not a resident
Retiree or person of independent means, without one of these ties	no route	—	—

Four things to know straight away:

• A route on a pension doesn't exist. The visa types Bituach Leumi names, and the services of the embassy in The Hague, have no visa for whoever wants to live only on a pension or wealth.
• As a tourist you come with an ETA-IL. That's an electronic travel authorisation, compulsory since 1 January 2025. It costs 25 shekels, about 7 euros, and you get an answer within 72 hours. You may stay with it for up to 90 days, and it's valid for up to two years. Whoever stays longer needs a visa. If you hold Israeli nationality or permanent residence status, with a valid Israeli identity number, you need no ETA-IL.
• Your passport must still be valid for at least three months on arrival.
• The travel advice. On 16 October 2026 NederlandWereldwijd gives the advice of 24-09-2026: colour code red for the border areas between Israel and Gaza, Lebanon and Egypt, and for the occupied Golan Heights. For the rest of Israel colour code yellow applies. See step 1.4.

In this step you see what emigrating to Israel does to your tax, your AOW and your healthcare. Two treaties help, but not for everything.

The tax. The Netherlands and Israel have a tax treaty from 1973. According to the Belastingdienst table of January 2026:

Income	Who may tax	Treaty article
AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA, WW	Israel	24 (other income)
Occupational pension and annuity	Israel	20, paragraph 1
Pension from government service, such as ABP	the Netherlands	21, paragraph 1
Rent from a house in the Netherlands	the Netherlands	immovable property

How Israel taxes that income itself is in step 3.3.

The AOW. Israel is one of the 36 countries with which the Netherlands has a social security treaty. The Netherlands exports the AOW there in full. Whoever goes alone keeps the AOW for a single person. Mind the boundary: the SVB names Israel "met uitzondering van Gazastrook, Westelijke Jordaanoever, Oost-Jeruzalem, Golan" (except the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan).

Healthcare. Israel isn't on the list of treaty countries for healthcare. So there's no CAK. Your Dutch basic insurance stops when you deregister. In Israel every resident is insured, through a health fund, the kupat cholim. When you get into it depends on your route. See step 3.1.

Your AOW build-up stops. Whoever lives outside the Netherlands is usually no longer insured. Every year until your AOW age then costs 2 percent of your later AOW. You can insure yourself voluntarily with the SVB. The application must be in within one year.

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.

In this step you choose where you'll live. With Israel you do that with two maps side by side: that of the travel advice and that of the treaties.

The travel advice. NederlandWereldwijd writes, last changed on 24-09-2026 and still valid on 16-10-2026, that the colour code of the travel advice is red for the border areas between Israel and Gaza, Lebanon and Egypt, and that colour code red also applies to the occupied Golan Heights. For the rest of Israel colour code yellow applies. For East Jerusalem NederlandWereldwijd refers to the travel advice for the Palestinian Territories.

The treaties. They don't apply everywhere:

• The SVB names Israel as a treaty country for the AOW "met uitzondering van Gazastrook, Westelijke Jordaanoever, Oost-Jeruzalem, Golan".
• The Belastingdienst writes that the tax treaty doesn't apply to residents of territory occupied by Israel.

If you live in such an area, the steps on the AOW and tax in this plan don't apply to you. Then check with the SVB and the Belastingdienst before you look for a house.

At every place also look at the nearest hospital, at the office of your health fund, and at a shelter: NederlandWereldwijd asks you to look for a shelter "onmiddellijk" (immediately) when the air raid siren sounds.

In this step you see what the move will cost you, and you decide together whether Israel suits you.

The costs. The application itself is small on most routes. The money is in the move by sea, the first months of rent, and for a returning Israeli possibly redeeming the waiting period for healthcare. See the calculator.

The conversation. Three things to see together:

• Each person's route. A route applies per person. If one of you is Israeli, the other needs a ground of their own. See step 2.8.
• Nationality. If you make aliyah, your Dutch nationality can be lost, and sometimes that of a minor child too. Read step 1.3 together.
• Military service. If children come along, or one of you is young enough, ask beforehand what the Israeli army expects of you. If you're Israeli, you regularise your status at the embassy in The Hague. If you make aliyah, it depends according to the Jewish Agency on your age on arrival and your family situation, and the army decides. More is in the step for your route.

Choose the day you want to leave. The plan counts back from that date: when your file must be open, when your documents must be in and when you deregister.

Count two clocks. An aliyah file usually takes three to six months, according to the Jewish Agency. And a certificate of conduct for a work visa is valid for six months.