Issue · October 2026 · everything a nomad needs, city by city

Nomadzine

The visa · Israel

Israel

Israel has no digital-nomad visa. Remote workers of most nationalities enter on a 90-day visa-free stay backed by the ETA-IL electronic travel authorisation, then either leave or apply in person for an extension that is discretionary and usually short. The only routes that actually permit work are the working-holiday visa for a handful of nationalities aged 18 to 30, the employer-sponsored B/1 expert visa, and immigration under the Law of Return, to which the headline tax breaks are attached. The one thing to know before travelling: working remotely on a visitor stay is not expressly permitted anywhere in published rules, and the British and other governments warn that working without permission can end in detention and deportation.

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The routes

Researched 10 September 2026 · rules as of September 2026 · as published, not legal advice

  1. Temporary stay

    Visitor stay (B/2) with ETA-IL, extended in country

    אשרת ביקור ב/2 (B/2 visitor visa); אישור כניסה אלקטרוני ETA-IL

    Remote workers from the roughly 96 visa-exempt countries who want to base in Israel for up to three months and are prepared to leave or seek a discretionary extension after that.

    Income floor
    None published for entry. Extension applicants are asked to show means of support; no figure is published.
    Duration
    Up to 90 days per visit. The ETA-IL itself is valid for two years or until the passport expires, whichever is first, and allows multiple entries. Extensions beyond 90 days are granted at the discretion of the Population and Immigration Authority; applicant reports describe typical grants of about 30 days.
    Cost
    ETA-IL NIS 25 (non-refundable, card payment). Extension fee reported as NIS 175 by one Israeli law firm and about NIS 195 by another source; the figure is disputed between sources. Nationals of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are reported to be exempt from the extension fee for stays of two to twelve months.
    Processing
    ETA-IL: apply at least 72 hours before departure per Foreign Ministry guidance. Extension: by appointment at a Population and Immigration Authority office; no statutory time is published.
    Eligibility
    Passport from a visa-exempt state; passport valid at least 90 days beyond arrival; purpose limited to tourism or business visits. Extension requires a reason for staying and evidence of funds, and is not guaranteed.
    Work rights
    No work rights. Published rules permit tourism and business visits only; remote work for a foreign employer is not expressly addressed in law. The UK government warns that working in Israel without proper permission can lead to detention and deportation. Applicant accounts describe remote work for foreign clients as a tolerated grey area with no active enforcement, but frequent re-entries attract questioning.
    Dependants
    No dependant category; each family member needs their own ETA-IL and enters on their own visitor stay.
    Leads to
    no
    Apply
    ETA-IL online at the Population and Immigration Authority entry portal before travel; extensions in person at a Population and Immigration Authority (Ministry of Interior) office in Israel, by appointment, or at an Israeli mission abroad.

    Documents Passport valid for at least 90 days after arrival · ETA-IL approval obtained online before travel · For an extension: completed extension form submitted in person · For an extension: evidence of financial means and reason for the longer stay · Onward or return travel evidence is commonly requested at the border

    Official page →

  2. Working holiday

    Working Holiday Visa

    אשרת חופשת עבודה (Working Holiday visa)

    Nationals aged 18 to 30 of Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan who want a year in Israel with the right to take casual local work; the only route that lets a young remote worker legally earn while there.

    Income floor
    Evidence of adequate funds for accommodation and the stay is required; no published minimum figure was verified for this edition.
    Duration
    12 months from the date of entry; no extension.
    Cost
    Consular fee applies; the amount was not verified for this edition.
    Processing
    Reported at four to eight weeks, varying by nationality and consulate.
    Eligibility
    Nationality from a country with a bilateral agreement; age 18 to 30 (the range varies by agreement); the main purpose must be holiday and travel, with work secondary; full travel and health insurance for the whole period; clean police record; some countries face annual quotas.
    Work rights
    Local employment permitted with any employer, but for no more than three months with each employer; the stay must remain primarily a holiday.
    Dependants
    None; the visa is personal and cannot be extended to a partner or children.
    Leads to
    no
    Apply
    Israeli embassy or consulate in the applicant's home country.

    Documents Passport valid at least one year · Completed application form · Two passport photographs · Bank statements for the last 90 days · Return flight reservation or proof of funds for return · Travel and health insurance policy covering the full period · Police clearance certificate under three months old · Itinerary and motivation letter

    Official page →

  3. Other route

    B/1 Expert Work Visa

    אשרת עבודה ב/1 למומחים זרים (B/1 work visa for foreign experts)

    Remote workers who decide to take a local job with an Israeli employer willing to sponsor them at expert-level pay; not usable for freelancing or for a foreign employer.

    Income floor
    Salary of at least ILS 24,758 per month for assignments over three months (about twice the national average wage), set from 1 January 2024; for assignments of up to three months the minimum wage, then ILS 5,571 per month, applies. The Authority adjusts these periodically.
    Duration
    Permit and visa issued for up to one year at a time and renewed annually while the employer holds a valid permit.
    Cost
    Government processing fees of ILS 12,410 per EY from 1 January 2024. Israeli law firms cite a NIS 10,680 visa fee plus a NIS 1,420 annual permit application fee for 2026, non-refundable if refused. The totals differ between sources.
    Processing
    Permit Department decisions reported at 45 to 60 days, then consular visa issue; the Work Permit Unit was operating at reduced capacity in March 2026.
    Eligibility
    Employer-sponsored only; the employer applies for the permit, pays the expert salary threshold, provides private medical insurance and bears legal responsibility for the worker.
    Work rights
    Local employment for the sponsoring employer only.
    Dependants
    Spouses and children may accompany on B/2 dependant status; details of dependants' work rights were not verified for this edition.
    Leads to
    no
    Apply
    Employer applies to the Population and Immigration Authority Permit Department in Israel; the worker then collects the visa at the Israeli consulate abroad.

    Documents Employer permit application and justification of expert status · Employment contract at or above the expert salary threshold · Passport valid for the visa period · Police clearance and medical documentation as requested by the consulate · Employer-provided private medical insurance · Passport photographs and application form

  4. Residence

    Immigration under the Law of Return (Aliyah, oleh visa)

    אשרת עולה (oleh visa) under חוק השבות (Law of Return)

    Remote workers who are Jewish or have a Jewish parent, grandparent or Jewish spouse; the only path that gives immediate residence, work rights and the special tax regimes.

    Income floor
    none
    Duration
    Immediate citizenship for those recognised as olim; a temporary resident (A/1) status is also available for those who want to defer.
    Cost
    No fee is published for the oleh visa itself.
    Processing
    Not verified for this edition; timelines vary by consulate and case.
    Eligibility
    Entitlement under the Law of Return, proven by documentation of Jewish ancestry or marriage; security and health checks.
    Work rights
    Full: employment, self-employment and remote work for foreign clients.
    Dependants
    Spouse and minor children are included.
    Leads to
    Citizenship on immigration, or temporary residence first via A/1 status.
    Apply
    Israeli consulate or the Jewish Agency abroad; Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Population and Immigration Authority in Israel.

    Documents Proof of eligibility under the Law of Return · Passport · Birth and marriage certificates as applicable · Police clearance where requested

Without a visa, by passport

The stay you get on arrival, and whether working remotely on it is tolerated

  • EU / EEA / Switzerland90 days, ETA-IL required before travel (NIS 25, valid two years)Tourism and business visits only. Remote work for a foreign employer is not addressed in published rules; reported as tolerated but unenforced, and working without permission can lead to detention and deportation. Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg nationals are reported to be exempt from the extension fee.
  • United KingdomUp to three months, ETA-IL required (NIS 25, valid two years, covers a 90-day visit)The UK government states that working in Israel without proper permission can result in detention and deportation taking several months. Remote work is not expressly covered; reported as a grey area.
  • United States90 days, ETA-IL required (NIS 25)Same visitor conditions; remote work for a foreign employer is not expressly permitted, reported as tolerated but legally grey.
  • Canada90 days, ETA-IL required (NIS 25)Visitor conditions only; remote work not addressed in published rules, reported as grey.
  • Australia90 days, ETA-IL required (NIS 25); working-holiday visa available for ages 18 to 30Remote work on the visitor stay is grey; the working-holiday visa is the legal route to earn locally.
  • IndiaVisa required; eVisa-B2 available online for up to 90 days, fee NIS 100Visitor visa conditions apply; no work rights and remote work not expressly permitted.
  • Brazil90 days, ETA-IL required (NIS 25)Visitor conditions only; remote work grey as for other exempt nationals.
  • South Africa90 days, ETA-IL required (NIS 25)Visitor conditions only; remote work grey as for other exempt nationals.
  • Japan90 days, ETA-IL required (NIS 25); working-holiday agreement signed 28 April 2023Remote work on the visitor stay is grey; the working-holiday route permits local work for a year.
  • TurkeyVisa required, issued without charge at Israeli missionsVisitor visa conditions; no work rights.
  • ColombiaVisa required since 2 May 2025 (exemption cancelled)Visitor visa conditions; no work rights.

Tax

When the country starts counting you as its taxpayer

Residency trigger
Residence turns on the centre-of-life test, supported by two rebuttable presumptions: presence of 183 days or more in a tax year, or 30 days or more in the year and 425 days or more across that year and the two preceding years. Someone below both day counts can still be resident if family, home, work and economic ties point to Israel. New immigrants and veteran returning residents may elect a one-year acclimatisation period of non-residence by notifying the Tax Authority within 90 days of arrival.
Special regime
Two regimes exist and both attach only to new immigrants (olim) and returning residents after ten years abroad, not to foreign visitors or work-visa holders. First, a ten-year exemption on foreign-source income and capital gains; for those becoming resident on or after 1 January 2026 the exemption from reporting that income was abolished by an amendment passed on 2 April 2024, so foreign income must be declared even though it stays exempt. Second, the Law for Encouraging Immigration to Israel and Return Thereto (Temporary Provision), 2026, approved by the Knesset on 30 March 2026, gives olim and veteran returning residents who first became resident between 5 November 2025 and 31 December 2026 a 0 per cent rate on Israeli-source income from personal services in 2026 and 2027, then 10 per cent in 2028, 20 per cent in 2029 and 30 per cent in 2030, capped at NIS 1 million of annual income.
Social security
Residents pay National Insurance at 1.04 per cent on the first ILS 7,703 of monthly income and 7 per cent above that, capped at ILS 51,910, plus health tax of 3.23 per cent and 5.17 per cent on the same bands; self-employed residents pay under separate rate tables. Non-resident employees pay reduced National Insurance of 0.1 per cent and 0.87 per cent and no health tax. A visitor working remotely for a foreign employer has no Israeli payroll and is outside the system; whether bilateral social-security conventions and certificates of coverage apply was not verified for this edition.
Treaties
Israel has a wide treaty network; the country list was not confirmed from the page opened. Where a treaty exists, employment and business income is normally taxable in the residence state unless the work is performed in Israel for a resident employer or through a fixed base. Without a treaty, Israel gives a unilateral credit for foreign tax, limited to the Israeli tax on the same income by category, with unused credit carried forward five years. Foreign residents cannot claim that unilateral relief.

Practicalities

Bank account
Israeli banks generally open accounts only for residents, including olim and holders of residence permits; non-residents are usually declined or offered restricted accounts. Visitors rely on foreign cards and fintech accounts.
SIM registration
Every SIM, including tourist prepaid SIMs sold at the airport, is registered to the buyer's passport and a copy is taken.
Health insurance
The state health system covers residents who pay health tax; non-residents are not covered and must hold private insurance. The working-holiday visa requires full travel and health insurance for the entire period, and B/1 employers must provide private medical insurance.
Extending the stay
Extensions of a B/2 visitor stay are applied for in person at a Population and Immigration Authority office by appointment, with evidence of means and a reason for staying; fee reported at NIS 175 to about NIS 195; grants are discretionary and reported at about 30 days.
Tax number and residency election
New immigrants and veteran returning residents who want the one-year acclimatisation period must notify the Tax Authority within 90 days of arrival. Visitors have no filing obligation unless they become resident.
Overstay and refusal
Working without permission can bring detention and deportation. Refusal of entry at the border is reported to carry a five-year bar; a formal deportation order is reported to carry a ten-year entry ban, with the length of the unlawful stay weighed in later applications.
ETA-IL validity
Two years or until passport expiry, multiple entries, each stay up to 90 days; a new passport means a new ETA-IL.

Israel for remote workers: a 90-day visitor stay, no nomad visa, and a tax system built around immigrants rather than visitors

What exists, and what does not

Israel has no visa for remote workers, and none has been published as of September 2026. Government ministries have been reported to discuss one, but nothing has reached the gazette. Remote workers therefore travel on the same 90-day visitor stay as tourists, obtained by visa-exempt nationals through the ETA-IL electronic authorisation that has been compulsory since 1 January 2025 and costs NIS 25 for two years of multiple entries.

The published purpose of that stay is tourism or business visits. The law is silent on working for a foreign employer from a laptop in Tel Aviv, and applicant accounts describe it as tolerated without enforcement. The UK government's travel advice is blunter: working in Israel without the proper permissions can end in detention and deportation. The grey area is real, but the downside is not trivial.

Two routes carry actual work rights. The working-holiday visa gives nationals aged 18 to 30 of Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan a year with the right to take jobs of up to three months each. The B/1 expert visa is for those who take a local job at roughly twice the average wage, ILS 24,758 a month from 2024, with the employer carrying the application. Neither suits a contractor serving clients abroad. The fourth route, immigration under the Law of Return, is available only to those with Jewish ancestry or a Jewish spouse, and it is where all the tax incentives sit.

What applicants report about the process

Entry is usually straightforward with an approved ETA-IL, though border officers question travellers about purpose and onward plans, and repeated re-entries after 90-day stays are reported to attract scrutiny. Border runs to reset the clock are described as increasingly risky rather than routine.

Extensions are the weak point. They are applied for in person at a Population and Immigration Authority office by appointment, with proof of means and a reason for staying. The fee is reported at NIS 175 by one Israeli law firm and about NIS 195 by another; grants are discretionary and commonly about 30 days. Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg nationals are reported to be exempt from the fee.

The security situation shapes processing. In March 2026 the Authority automatically extended all visas expiring between 22 February and 31 March by three months, and the Work Permit Unit was operating at reduced capacity. Expert-visa decisions were being reported at 45 to 60 days in normal conditions.

Tax: the breaks belong to immigrants, not visitors

Israeli tax residence follows the centre-of-life test, with presumptions at 183 days in a year, or 30 days in a year and 425 days over three. A remote worker who stays under those counts and keeps home, family and economic ties abroad is normally outside the net, though the Tax Authority can still argue residence on the facts.

The two headline regimes are restricted to new immigrants and returning residents after ten years abroad. The long-standing ten-year exemption on foreign-source income continues, but those becoming resident from 1 January 2026 must now report that income under an amendment passed in April 2024. The newer measure, approved by the Knesset on 30 March 2026, gives arrivals in the window from 5 November 2025 to the end of 2026 a 0 per cent rate on Israeli personal-services income for two years, then 10, 20 and 30 per cent through 2030, capped at NIS 1 million a year. A foreign national on a visitor or work visa qualifies for neither.

Social contributions follow the same line. Residents pay National Insurance and health tax on Israeli income; non-resident employees pay small National Insurance rates and no health tax; a visitor with no Israeli payroll pays nothing into the system and gets nothing from it, so private health cover is essential.

Money and daily practicalities

Banks open accounts for residents and permit holders and generally decline non-residents, so visitors run on foreign cards and fintech accounts. Every SIM is registered to a passport, including airport prepaid SIMs. Overstays are treated seriously: refusal of entry is reported to bring a five-year bar and a deportation order a ten-year ban.

The practical shape of a legal remote-work stay in Israel is therefore a 90-day visit, private insurance, no local income, and an exit before the stamp runs out. Anyone wanting longer has to fit one of the narrow categories or wait for a nomad visa that does not yet exist.

Researched from gov.uk · israel-entry.piba.gov.il · embassies.gov.il · embassies.gov.il · gov.il · ey.com · taxsummaries.pwc.com · taxsummaries.pwc.com · taxsummaries.pwc.com · timesofisrael.com · the authority