Relocation of a young specialist to Israel

In Israel, it is difficult to find a family with no repatriates in different generations. As Israeli politician, Sofa Landwehr, put it, without repatriates there would be no State of Israel. The country is interested in the influx of new citizens, especially young professionals.

To encourage repatriation, programs have been developed and implemented here that provide olim hadashim with a wide range of rights, opportunities, and privileges in various fields. About what programs are there to support specialists and what benefits they can expect after moving to Israel, we will tell in detail later.

To move, you need to do the following:

• Find and properly execute documents confirming the right to repatriation;
• Sign up for an interview at the Israeli Embassy and pass a consular check;
• Get a repatriate visa;
• Contact the Jewish Agency “Sokhnut” to choose the most suitable repatriation program for a qualified specialist.

Specialist Support Programs

For a comfortable and successful absorption, it is important that the state takes care of household, financial and other issues in the first months of stay in the country. This is possible if you take part in one of the support programs that exist in Israel for young people:

• Ulpan Etzion;
• Ulpan Kibbutz;
• Tech & The City;
• Youth projects in Tel Aviv;
• Kinneret in Tiberias;
• Academic program Beersheba;
• Master’s degree in bioengineering;
• TAKA;
• MASA and others.

Ulpan Etzion

The program is designed for young professionals with higher education aged 22-35 years. Here they try to free the repatriates as much as possible from everyday worries, so that they can engage in an intensive study of Hebrew, Jewish culture and Israeli society.

Ulpans are created by the Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption. The course of study is 5 months, with the possibility to stay for another 3 months to improve the knowledge of Hebrew.

During their stay in the ulpan, repatriates are provided with meetings with specialists in employment and professional retraining. They can get advice from representatives of the Office of Student Affairs and the Ministry of Absorption.

Tech & The City

The program is designed for 5 months. Students will intensively study Hebrew and take a professional course “Introduction to the world of high technologies.” It is read in English. During the training, meetings with experts in the field of Hi-Tech are organized.

Requirements for participation in the program:

Age – 22-35 years.
Higher education – 1st or 2nd academic degree.
Confirmed right to repatriation.

Participation in the program is paid.

Academic program Beersheba

It is supported by the SCE Academic College of Engineering (Beersheba).

Conditions for participation in the program:

Age 21-30 years.
Higher professional education. You need to have a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree in the exact sciences (mathematics, physics, and so on), engineering, IT technologies.
GPA—80 out of 100 or 4 out of 5.
Good knowledge of English.

The program is designed for 3 academic years. To move to the second year, you must have a high score for the first year of study. At the end of the 3rd year of study, the student receives a Master of Science degree in software engineering.

Master’s Degree in Bioengineering

This is an interesting new project for couples without children and single professionals aged 21 to 30. The program is designed for 3 years of study. To become a participant, you need to have a diploma of higher education in the field of bioengineering and exact sciences with an average score of at least 85.

TAKA

This is a program to prepare Jewish youth for education in one of the higher educational institutions in Israel. Depending on the city, the training course can last from 5 to 10 months. The age of participants is up to 30 years.

MASA

MASA is not one program, but a whole complex of projects in various directions. This includes professional training courses, internships, intensive Hebrew studies, remote work opportunities and much more. There are more than 160 programs in total. The stay in Israel for program participants is subsidized.

Young people between the ages of 18 and 30 may qualify for a grant. The scholarship is issued free of charge without any obligations for the participants, except for the requirements for compliance with the rules of the MACA project.

Assistance to immigrant scientists

Assistance is provided by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration through the Center for Integration in Science. The Ministry takes part in the partial financing of salaries for repatriate scientists, transferring the necessary funds directly to the employer.

Repatriates with a scientific degree or higher education should immediately contact the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration for help, as there are other programs for them to help them quickly integrate into the Israeli scientific environment:

• Providing grants for research;
• Participation in the Kamea-bet program. It is applied to repatriates who can become teachers in higher educational institutions;
• Funding for doctoral studies.

Absorption Basket

One of the forms of material support for new repatriates is payments from the “absorption basket” (sal klita). This is assistance from the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, intended for settling in the initial stage of moving to the Israeli state. The basket includes cash aid. In addition, repatriates can also take advantage of housing subsidies.

► If a repatriate leaves Israel, payments from the “absorption basket” cease. They can be renewed upon return to the country.

► The number of payments from the absorption basket is determined depending on the composition of the family and the age of its members. For example, a young married couple without children will receive a total of NIS 35,276. A couple where the spouses are near retirement age receive a basket of 43,405 shekels, and a family where the husband and wife are pensioners are assigned 29,225 shekels. That is, the amount of sal klita payments will not depend on the type of activity of the new immigrant, the level of his professional knowledge or academic education.

► Repatriates receive their first cash payment directly at the airport. Assistance is provided for 6 months. Payments are divided into 6 payments in equal amounts.

Benefits for young professionals

Young professionals can expect to receive privileges and benefits due to repatriates. In particular, taxation provides a grace period of 10 years, when olim hadashim cannot pay income tax and not submit a declaration on income received from non-Israeli sources.

To find out the full range of benefits and privileges, new immigrants should contact an absorption advisor, as the main assistance is provided through the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.