Skip to content

Aliyah profile

Family with teenagers

The short answer

Teens can make it, but this is the hardest family shape in the evidence: Hebrew-medium school at an age when grades count, dropout above the Israeli-born rate and the army ahead. In the few recent stories, families that did well chose the school deliberately, moved as a unit and kept income steady. Recent evidence on teens is thin, so read the patterns below as early.[1][2]

Confirm thisBased on: Knesset dropout data plus fewer than 5 recent stories that mention teens.

Who this is

You are moving with at least one child of about 12 to 17. Their school, their Hebrew and the army or national service ahead shape the move as much as your work does.

Share of arrivals:

Not published. Children under 18 were 22% of 2025 olim (4,831 of 22,423 records), and no age split inside that group is published.[3]

What to do, by starting point

Not sure which tier you are in? Three yes or no questions on the profiles page will tell you.

Tier ASecured income and a cushion

What matters most

Use the security for the teen’s fit: the right school, Hebrew tutoring and an honest family conversation about army or national service before you move.[2][1]

Confirm thisBased on: Dropout data plus school choices in recent stories.

Timeline

In the few recent stories that mention teens, the first school year was a transition year, whatever the grades before.[2]

Early patternBased on: Year-one difficulty in the few recent stories that mention teens (fewer than 5).

Warning sign to watch (a threshold we are still testing)

A teen refusing school or in persistent distress for three months or more.[8]

Early patternBased on: The family marker in our proposed outcome measure; not yet validated. Drawn from 23 documented failure cases.

Tier BOne of the two

What matters most

Stable income comes first, because a teen adjusts worse when parents are in survival mode. Check that the school actually delivers the Hebrew hours immigrant pupils are entitled to: the Ministry does not monitor it.[1][5]

Confirm thisBased on: Knesset research on Hebrew hours plus 1 story of a stretched single income.

Timeline

In the 2 recent teen-family stories, the household ran on a single income for much of year one.[5][4]

Early patternBased on: 2 stories.

Warning sign to watch (a threshold we are still testing)

At month 6 the household income does not cover costs and a teen is struggling at school.[8]

Early patternBased on: Proposed threshold; not yet validated. Drawn from 23 documented failure cases.

Tier CNeither

What matters most

Municipal help, boarding schools and youth programs exist for this. In 1 family (2021), the municipality helped place a teen in a boarding school after a lost half-year.[7]

Early patternBased on: 1 supporting story (2021 arrival).

Timeline

In 1 returned family (2021), the teen waited while the family settled and lost about a year and a half of schooling; nationally, immigrant pupils drop out of secondary school at about twice the native rate.[7][1]

Early patternBased on: 1 story plus national dropout data.

Warning sign to watch (a threshold we are still testing)

A teen out of any school or program for more than a month.[8][1]

Early patternBased on: Our proposal, based on the dropout data. Drawn from 23 documented failure cases.

What success looks like

Months 0 to 3

  • In both recent teen-family stories that describe it, the school was chosen deliberately: a single mother of five (2025) placed her teenage daughter in a school that teaches in English with Hebrew lessons, and a father from Moscow (2023) secured a selective-track place for one of his two school-age children on the last day of registration.[4][5]

    Early patternBased on: 2 stories.

Months 3 to 12

  • Immigrant pupils drop out of secondary school at about twice the rate of Israeli-born pupils (2.8% against about 1.2% to 1.4%, school years 2020/21 to 2021/22).[1]

  • A hard social start can surface in year one: in the 2023 Moscow family one child had a hard time at school; staff responded seriously and it eased.[5]

    Early patternBased on: 1 story.

Months 12 to 24

  • Success looks like a teen in the right track, with Hebrew good enough for school, heading for national service, the army or study. A family that arrived in 2021 saw its daughters go on to national service, art school and the army.[6]

    Early patternBased on: 1 supporting story (2021 arrival).

  • The failure mode is lost school years: in another 2021 family, a teenage daughter spent a year and a half with little learning, and the family left Israel in January 2024.[7]

    Early patternBased on: 1 supporting story (2021 arrival, returned).

Real risks, and how it goes wrong

  • Dropout and lost years: immigrant pupils leave secondary school at about twice the native rate, and the Ministry’s immigrant-pupils division had one supervisory post and no data on Hebrew-hour use.[1]

  • The family split across countries: an older child staying abroad, or a parent commuting, pulls the household two ways. Two of the recent teen-family stories involve an adult child who stayed behind.[4][5]

    Early patternBased on: 2 stories.

  • A stretched single income: the 2023 Moscow father said his family’s single income was not enough, that he had been underpaid without a payslip and repeatedly cheated by service providers.[5]

    Early patternBased on: 1 story.

  • Emotional strain is common and support is under-used: among 2022 olim from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus surveyed at about 18 months, 54% needed support for themselves or someone close and 26% used any.[9]

People who arrived recently

Summaries in our words, with a link to each source. No quotes.

Arrived 2023 to 2026

  • A divorced mother of five from Toronto, arriving with an adult daughter and a teenage daughter

    Arrived 2025 · Starting tier: Tier B · At the time: Steady (Two and a half months in)

    Had teaching work through a longtime acquaintance and was holding three jobs two and a half months in, with no time yet for ulpan. Her teenage daughter attends a school that teaches in English with Hebrew lessons and was reluctant at first but adapting.

    Read the source: Oleh at Large (YouTube), December 11, 2025

  • A father from Moscow, a former import-export specialist, with two school-age children

    Arrived 2023 · Starting tier: Tier B · At the time: Steady (About two years in)

    Relatives housed the family at first. He took manual work within a month and became a machine operator; one child won a place in a selective track, the other had a hard social start before things eased. He says one income is not enough and that he was underpaid and cheated more than once.

    Read the source: Alexey Shenker (YouTube), August 7, 2025

Supporting examples: arrived 2020 to 2022

  • A truck driver in his mid-40s from Russia, with a daughter in eighth grade

    Arrived 2021 · Starting tier: Tier C · At the time: Left Israel (Left after about two years)

    Arrived with a few thousand dollars and no housing booked. His professional licences were not recognised, a landlord-employer withheld wages and his teenage daughter lost about a year and a half of schooling. The family left in January 2024.

    Read the source: Alexey Shenker (YouTube), January 5, 2026

  • An orthodontist from New Jersey with four children aged 13 to 19

    Arrived 2020 · Starting tier: not stated in the source · At the time: Thriving (About two years in)

    Bought a home in Beit Shemesh before arriving, moved as a family before the eldest would have gone alone and works part-time in her profession. Calls Hebrew the hardest part.

    Read the source: The Jewish Link, December 22, 2022

Where the system makes this harder

From the Aliyahu Barriers Register. Each barrier has an office that owns the fix.

  • B07Immigrant children at school: Hebrew hours, payments and dropout

    About 54,800 immigrant pupils were enrolled in Israeli schools in 2023. Knesset Research and Information Center, 2023-02-21

    Who owns the fix: Ministry of Education (immigrant pupils division, supervision and control). Read the full entry

  • B06Emotional and mental health support

    Among olim from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus who arrived after the 2022 invasion and were surveyed in July and August 2023, 54% said they or someone close to them needed emotional or mental support, but only 26% had used public or private support. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, 2024-12

    Who owns the fix: Ministry of Health (mental health services, delivered through the health funds). Read the full entry

Held back from Register v0

Also documented in our research, but not yet published in the Register because the key facts do not meet its publishing bar.

Your other country

Aliyah does not close your file in the country you left. Tax, social security and pensions, passports and professional licences, bank accounts and money transfers (including from Russia and Belarus under sanctions) and the family you leave behind all carry on there. Some of it also changes what you receive here: what you declare to Bituach Leumi and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration about foreign income, pensions and support from family can change the benefits they pay. We add the rules country by country as we check them, below. For everything else, check your own case with the body that pays the benefit and read your origin page.[11][12][13]

Confirm thisBased on: General framing from Barriers Register entries B08, B11 and B16; no country-specific rule is stated.

With teenagers the other country often means an older child who stays, exam and school records to carry over and a child’s second citizenship to keep or not.

Read the page for where you are coming from

  • The former Soviet Union: Olim from the former Soviet Union: documents, recognition and banking.
  • France: French olim: diplomas, banking and tax after the move.
  • North America: US and Canadian olim: what continues on that side, starting with tax filing.

Free and low-cost help first

Start here before you pay anyone.

  • Yad L'Olim

    Personal help and advocacy with health, education, army and bureaucracy problems. It describes its services as free.

  • Your Ministry absorption counsellor and municipal olim coordinator

    Every oleh has a counsellor at the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, and most absorbing cities have an olim coordinator. Ask them which local benefits and services apply to you.

  • Nefesh B'Nefesh

    Aliyah guidance for olim from North America and the UK, employment advisors, a job board and the MedEx licensing route for medical professionals.

  • The Jewish Agency for Israel

    Runs the aliyah process for most countries outside North America and the UK, and operates absorption centres and Ulpan Etzion.

  • ERAN emotional first aid

    A free, anonymous emotional support line. Use it early, not only in a crisis.

Aliyahu tools that help

Sources

  1. [1]Immigrant pupils in the education system. Knesset Research and Information Center, February 21, 2023
  2. [2]Aliyahu Research: 75 published stories of 2020 to 2026 arrivals (46 arrived 2023 to 2026). Aliyahu Research, October 15, 2026 (Aliyahu Research file, not yet published)
  3. [3]Record-level data on every oleh, 2015 to 2025 (Aliyahu analysis of the 2025 file, 22,423 records). Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, data.gov.il, October 15, 2026
  4. [4]Oleh at Large: Aliyah Stories, interview episode. Oleh at Large (YouTube), December 11, 2025
  5. [5]Interview episode (Russian). Alexey Shenker (YouTube), August 7, 2025
  6. [6]Q&A with an oleh who succeeded on a second attempt. The Jewish Link, February 8, 2024
  7. [7]Interview episode with an oleh who returned (Russian). Alexey Shenker (YouTube), January 5, 2026
  8. [8]Aliyahu Research: 23 documented cases of failed or stalled aliyah, with proposed warning signals. Aliyahu Research, October 15, 2026 (Aliyahu Research file, not yet published)
  9. [9]The integration of immigrants from Ukraine and Russia, first measurement 2023 (RR-020-24, n = 320). Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, December 1, 2024
  10. [10]Q&A with an oleh orthodontist. The Jewish Link, December 22, 2022
  11. [11]Aliyahu Research: Barriers Register v0 (22 entries, public sources only). Aliyahu Research, October 15, 2026
  12. [12]Survey of olim banking problems and a High Court petition (Economic Integration Org, non-random sample). The Times of Israel Blogs, June 25, 2024
  13. [13]Old-age insurance. National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi)

Checked October 15, 2026. All profiles

Aliyahu Research: the method, the open data and the Barriers Register