A practical guide for employers and foreign experts: employment permits, B/1 visas, expert pay, the hi-tech track, the 63-month cap, and refusals. We can help.
An Israeli company that wants to employ an engineer, researcher, technician or manager from abroad cannot simply bring them over. Employing a foreign expert requires two separate approvals: an employment permit, issued to the employer under section 1יג of the Foreign Workers Law, 5751-1991, followed by a B/1 visa and residence-and-work permit, issued to the expert personally under the Entry into Israel Law, 5712-1952. This is set out in clause א.4 of Procedure 5.3.0041 (the procedure for handling applications for an employment permit and a residence-and-work permit for foreign experts), most recently updated in September 2025.
The order of steps is not optional. Both the permit and the visa must be obtained before the expert arrives in Israel, even if the expert is a citizen of a country exempt from a prior visa requirement (clause א.5); as a rule, a switch from another type of permit to a B/1 expert permit will not be approved while the person is already staying in Israel (clause א.6). The expert may enter and leave only through Ben Gurion Airport (clause א.8), and may work only for the employer that applied for the permit, and only in the type of work for which the permit was granted (clause ט.1).
The Procedure defines a "foreign expert worker" as an employee with unique expertise not available in Israel, whose employment the competent authority has decided to allow at its sole discretion, taking into account, among other things, government decisions and labor-market characteristics (clause א.2). The definition does not ask whether the employee is outstanding, only whether that expertise is unavailable here.
A permit will be granted only in one of the categories listed in clause ג.4 of the Procedure: a manager, senior representative or position of trust at a foreign or international company (up to two per company, subject to a recommendation from the Foreign Trade Administration); a senior staff member of a foreign airline or shipping company; a researcher in a European Union framework program; and a medical resident or specialist physician at a hospital, together with a recommendation from the Ministry of Health.
"Expert salary" is an ordinary wage equal to at least twice the average wage in the economy for a salaried position, and the competent authority may require a higher wage in sectors where ordinary pay is higher. No amount may be deducted from it for housing, and the value of options or shares does not count toward it. An employment agreement is also required, with a lawyer's confirmation that its terms comply with labor law, and a fundamental condition for the permit's validity is that the salary be paid into a bank account in Israel that carries no power of attorney in favor of a third party.
Procedure 5.3.0043 (the procedure for handling applications by hi-tech and cyber companies to employ and regularize the status of foreign experts in Israel), edition 4, updated in May 2025, sets out favorable arrangements for companies recognized by the National Authority for Technological Innovation as a technology-intensive company. That recognition is examined with the Innovation Authority in parallel with the application.
A recognized company that has committed to pay expert salary throughout the employment period, and that is seeking the expert for research and development or for unique expertise supporting a product it is developing, is entitled to expedited processing: as a rule, the application will be decided within six business days of receiving the Innovation Authority's response, without a hearing before the advisory committee. An extension application must be accompanied by an accountant's report confirming that expert salary was paid during the past permit year.
The Procedure also opens a quota of up to 500 permits for employing foreign academic graduates and foreign students in hi-tech professions, without a requirement to pay expert salary. A graduate of an Israeli institution of higher education may be employed on this basis within three years of completing the degree; a foreign student will be employed part-time alongside their studies, and the permit will be granted until the expected date of completing the degree or for up to three years, whichever comes first — and ending the studies bars continued employment, except under a permit as an expert earning expert salary.
"Family members" under the experts' Procedure are a spouse and minor children up to age 18 (clause ה.1). Their stay will be permitted only if the expert was recognized under one of the categories in clause ג.4: under the expert-salary track, only where the employment was permitted in a field requiring higher academic education; under the manager or position-of-trust category at a foreign or international company, it may generally be permitted (clause ה.2).
In hi-tech the arrangement is broader. An expert earning expert salary, a manager, or a senior employee in a position of trust at a company recognized by the Innovation Authority may apply, for their spouse, for a permit of the type "B/1 General – Spouse of a Hi-Tech Expert." The practical effect: the spouse's employer is exempt from needing an employment permit, and the spouse may work for any employer in Israel without a requirement to earn expert salary. The application is filed at the bureau serving the company's area, with both spouses present, together with a declaration of the couple's relationship, Form Ash/3, a valid passport, a certificate of good conduct and health insurance, and the permit's validity expires together with the expert's permit. Note that this arrangement was established as a temporary provision valid until 1 March 2026, so the version of the Procedure in force at the time of filing should be confirmed.
Not every need justifies the full track. Procedure 5.3.0040 governs expedited handling of an application to employ a foreign expert who is a citizen of a country exempt from a visitor-visa requirement, invited for a temporary, passing assignment requiring special expertise, for a period not exceeding 90 days in a calendar year. Such applications will generally be decided within six business days; the expert enters under the permit and may work immediately upon entry, and the digital work permit is issued after an application filed within two business days of arrival.
The boundaries of this track are strict. The permit will not be extended beyond the period fixed in the Procedure, and there is no switching to another employer, another field or another status during the stay; anyone seeking to employ the expert for a longer period must file an application under Procedure 5.3.0041 only after the expert has left Israel. An application filed for someone already staying in Israel on a tourist permit will be rejected outright, and the fee will not be refunded.
Clause ח.6 of Procedure 5.3.0041 states the rule: the foreigner's work permit will not be extended beyond 63 months from the date of first entry into Israel on a B/1 visa and work permit. This expresses the concept underlying the Entry into Israel Law, under which a foreign worker comes for temporary employment only (section 3א(ג) of the Law).
The exception is set out in section 3א(ג1) of the Law: the Minister of the Interior may extend the permit for periods of up to one year each, if satisfied that special and exceptional circumstances of contribution by the foreign worker to the economy, the market, culture, sport or society exist, after consulting the Minister of Finance and with the agreement of the Minister of Labor. Case law has described this section as "an exception to an exception": there is no cap on the number of extensions, and the burden of persuasion rests on the applicant even after years of renewals. It has also been held that the focus of the section is the interest of the State of Israel, not the personal interest of the foreigner.
In practical terms, an application to extend an ordinary permit is filed no later than 60 days before it expires (clause ח.2); for the exceptional application, the version of the Procedure quoted in case law required filing six months in advance, together with evidence of the contribution.
A refusal is not the end of the road, but applying to the wrong forum costs time and money. The rule that has emerged in case law: when the core of the dispute is the employment permit under the Foreign Workers Law, jurisdiction lies with the District Court sitting as the Court for Administrative Affairs, by way of an administrative petition (item 12(4) of the First Schedule to the Administrative Affairs Courts Law, 5760-2000). When the core of the dispute is the visa and permit under the Entry into Israel Law, jurisdiction lies with the Appeals Tribunal for immigration matters, whose judgment may be appealed to the District Court within 45 days.
There is an important qualification to this rule. Where the application is for an exceptional extension beyond 63 months, it has been held that the center of gravity lies in section 3א(ג1) of the Entry into Israel Law, so jurisdiction belongs specifically to the Appeals Tribunal, even where a permit-renewal application and a visa-extension application are heard together. In such proceedings an interim order may be sought to allow the expert to keep working pending the decision, and such orders have indeed been granted.
Adm. Appeal (Jerusalem) 29646-01-26 (25 Aug 2026) dealt with an industrial company that sought to extend the employment of two experts beyond 63 months. It was held that even an indirect contribution — by the employee to an individual employer, in whose absence the economy as a whole could be harmed — could in principle fall within the section. However, the appeal was dismissed: the employer did not argue that the expertise itself was rare, only that it was difficult to recruit alternative experts because of the war in the country of origin — and difficulty in recruiting is not the same as uniqueness of expertise. The decision also expressed the view, in the absence of binding precedent, that the duty to consult the Minister of Finance applies even when the Minister is inclined to reject the application, but found that this duty had been met.
Adm. Petition (Jerusalem) 1459-05-26 (18 Jun 2026) is the other side of the coin. The same employer sought a permit for three new experts, and the application was refused, among other reasons, in light of legal proceedings the company had pursued and a general concern connected to the experts' citizenship. The petition was granted: giving weight to a citizen's earlier resort to the courts is an extraneous and improper consideration, and a general concern lacking a factual basis and an individual examination is neither reasonable nor proportionate.
Adm. Appeal (Jerusalem) 49629-05-24 (24 Apr 2025) dealt with an expert whose permit had been renewed for about 12 years, six of them under section 3א(ג1). The State's appeal was granted: a refusal to renew a permit is not the revocation of an earlier decision but a new decision, on which the burden rests on the applicant.
Finally, in Appeal (Jerusalem) 2957-22 (14 Sep 2022) an appeal by a company whose application for a permit to employ experts had been refused was dismissed, on the ground that the Appeals Tribunal lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to hear a decision made under the Foreign Workers Law. In the same spirit, the Tribunal recently reaffirmed the rule that "an Israeli citizen has no vested right to employ any particular foreign worker" (Appeal (Jerusalem) 2810-26 (7 Sep 2026)). It follows that a case should be built around the reasonableness of the decision, not around a claim of entitlement.
The edition of Procedure 5.3.0043 in our possession (4th edition, published 21 Mar 2022, updated on the page on 11 May 2025) still provides, both in clause ו.2.ב and in the scope-of-application chapter, that the arrangement for granting a general B/1 licence to the spouse of a hi-tech expert is established as a Temporary Order valid until 1 Mar 2026, "so long as it has not been amended or extended." That date has passed, and no updated edition of the procedure or publication directing its extension has been located by us; nor has any decision of the Appeals Tribunal or of an administrative forum referring to the arrangement after that date been located. Accordingly, the arrangement should not be relied upon as currently valid without individual verification with the Permits Division of the Foreign Workers Administration. It should be clarified that, even under the wording of the procedure itself, the expiry of the Temporary Order does not affect the validity of a general B/1 licence already granted to the spouse of a foreign expert.
Our office guides employers, hi-tech companies and foreign experts through the entire chain: identifying the appropriate category and meeting the expert-salary conditions, building the employment-permit application and its evidentiary file, handling the B/1 visa and family members' status, and preparing ahead of time for extension applications — including the exceptional application beyond 63 months, which requires a genuine evidentiary foundation rather than general statements. When a refusal is received, we first examine which forum and deadline apply, act where appropriate to seek interim relief, and focus on the flaws recognized in case law: lack of individual examination, an insufficient factual basis, extraneous considerations, and disproportionality.
As a rule, the work permit will not be extended beyond 63 months from the date of first entry into Israel on a B/1 visa and permit, as set out in clause ח.6 of Procedure 5.3.0041 and section 3א(ג) of the Entry into Israel Law. Section 3א(ג1) of the Law allows further extensions of up to one year each, in special and exceptional circumstances of contribution to the economy, the market, culture, sport or society, after consulting the Minister of Finance and with the agreement of the Minister of Labor. There is no cap on the number of extensions, but the burden of proving the circumstances rests on the applicant in every renewed application.
It is an ordinary wage equal to at least twice the average wage in the economy for a salaried position, and the competent authority may require a higher wage in sectors where ordinary pay is higher. No amount may be deducted from this wage for housing or related payments, and the value of options or shares does not count toward it. A fundamental condition for the permit's validity is that the salary be paid into a bank account in Israel that carries no authorization or power of attorney in favor of a third party.
Under the hi-tech track, an expert earning expert salary, or a senior employee at a company recognized by the Innovation Authority, may apply for their spouse for a "B/1 General – Spouse of a Hi-Tech Expert" permit, which allows the spouse to work for any employer in Israel without an employment permit and without a requirement to earn expert salary. The permit expires together with the expert's permit. This arrangement was established as a temporary provision valid until 1 March 2026, so the version of the Procedure in force should be checked before filing.
The answer depends on the core of the decision. A refusal concerning the employment permit under the Foreign Workers Law is challenged by an administrative petition to the District Court sitting as the Court for Administrative Affairs, whereas a decision concerning the visa and permit under the Entry into Israel Law is subject to an appeal to the Appeals Tribunal. An important exception is an application for an extension beyond 63 months: there it has been held that the center of gravity is section 3א(ג1) of the Entry into Israel Law, so jurisdiction lies with the Appeals Tribunal. A Tribunal judgment may be appealed to the District Court within 45 days.
As a rule, no. The Procedure provides that the employment permit and the work permit must be obtained before the expert arrives in Israel, and that, as a rule, a switch from another type of permit to a B/1 expert permit will not be approved while the person is already staying in Israel. Even under the expedited track for short periods, an application filed for someone already staying in Israel on a tourist permit will be rejected outright, and the fee will not be refunded. Moving to a longer employment period requires the expert to leave Israel first.