Skip to content

Aliyah profile

Licensed professional (health, law, accounting, psychology)

The short answer

Licensing is the hardest wall in the evidence. In the recent stories, professionals who started recognition before moving (a GP with Health Ministry recognition months before landing, a paediatrician licensed at arrival through NBN’s MedEx route) were working within months. Those who expected to sort it out after landing waited, changed careers or stalled. Start the file before you move, and line up bridge income for the gap.[1][2][3][4]

Confirm thisBased on: 2 recent stories with recognition started before the move and several without; State Comptroller licensing data.

Who this is

Your work needs an Israeli licence: medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, law, accounting, psychology or another regulated field. Until the licence comes through you cannot practise.

Share of arrivals:

Not published as a group. Physicians alone: 541 doctors arrived in 2025, about 2.4% of olim, and immigrants received 469 of 2,429 new Israeli medical licences in 2023 (19%).[5][3]

Confirm thisBased on: The 2025 physician count comes from press coverage of the Ministry’s annual report.

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

3 of the recent English medical stories filed before moving. In the 1 tier A story, a 2024 paediatrician did a month of hospital observation before arriving and planned to keep part-time practice income abroad.[2][12]

Early patternBased on: 1 tier A story; pre-filing seen in 3 of the recent English medical stories.

Timeline

With the file done before aliyah, working within the first months is realistic; without it, plan for most of a year.[1][2][9]

Early patternBased on: 3 stories.

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

Still unlicensed at month 12, or a licensing exam failed twice.[13]

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

Tier BOne of the two

What matters most

The licence timeline is your cushion requirement. Count months of runway against a realistic licence date, and line up a bridge job that uses your skills without the licence.[13][8]

Confirm thisBased on: Tier B failure cases where income or cushion ran out during licensing.

Timeline

In 2 supporting stories (2022 arrivals) with no filing before the move, recertification ran through most of year one.[9][4]

Early patternBased on: 2 supporting stories.

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

Your runway is shorter than the time to licence and you have no bridge income.[13]

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

Tier CNeither

What matters most

Get an income that does not need the licence first and pursue the licence in parallel. The Ministry’s retraining voucher and your absorption counsellor exist for exactly this.[14][13]

Confirm thisBased on: Voucher rule from NBN; the sequencing is our reading of the failure cases.

Timeline

Expect the licence to take longer than your benefits last; plan the bridge job for month 3, not month 6.[8][15]

Confirm thisBased on: Licensing durations in the register against the six-month basket.

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

No income at month 6 and the licence still more than six months away.[13]

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

What success looks like

Months 0 to 3

  • A licence at arrival is possible when the file is done beforehand: a paediatrician with about 35 years’ practice received his licence with his identity card at arrival through NBN’s MedEx route (2024).[2]

    Early patternBased on: 1 story.

  • The trap is applying to hospitals before the Israeli licence is issued: a nursing graduate was told by a hospital to apply only once she held it (2023).[6]

    Early patternBased on: 1 story.

  • Government decisions in 2024 and February 2025 moved licensing files before aliyah and eased some professions (a "New Oleh CPA" licence, shorter internships); implementation was pending when reported, and law was excluded.[7][8]

    Confirm thisBased on: Press reports of government decisions; post-reform timelines are not published.

Months 3 to 12

  • A French GP who obtained Health Ministry recognition a few months before moving started work at Clalit about five months after arrival (2024), after a medical ulpan.[1]

    Early patternBased on: 1 story.

  • Without a head start, recertification fills much of year one: a nurse and a physician who arrived in 2022 were still recertifying at seven to eight months, the physician with a hospital job lined up.[9][4]

    Early patternBased on: 2 supporting stories (2022 arrivals).

  • How long licensing takes is disputed: the Ministry gave an average of 18 to 24 months in 2024, while a 2025 report said 6 to 12 months or longer. It varies by profession.[8][7]

    Confirm thisBased on: Two conflicting press accounts; definitions likely differ.

Months 12 to 24

  • Working in field, or a deliberate switch. A Johannesburg dentist (2023) chose not to relicense and found a new career as a kindergarten teacher that he loves.[10]

    Early patternBased on: 1 story.

  • The stall: a gynecologist with 21 years’ experience (2022) was told to redo a three-year residency and had no clear licensing path at 16 months.[11]

    Early patternBased on: 1 supporting story (2022 arrival).

Real risks, and how it goes wrong

  • Leaving over the licence: nearly 300 of the 800+ doctors who arrived from the former Soviet Union in 2022 had left by July 2023, according to an advocacy group quoted in the press.[11]

    Confirm thisBased on: Advocacy figure reported by the press; method not published.

  • Hebrew is the second gate: professional medical conversation in Hebrew was hard even for a physician with a hospital job lined up, and in 2022 a Moscow doctor could not get an ulpan place at all because of the teacher shortage.[4][16]

    Early patternBased on: 2 supporting stories plus Knesset data on ulpan waiting lists.

  • A promise that does not materialise: a nurse who arrived during the war in 2023 was offered an expedited licence that never came, and two years later was not working as a nurse.[17]

    Early patternBased on: 1 story.

  • Older exam data shows how high the wall was before the reforms: about 70% of olim failed the dentistry theory test and about 90% the practical (2016), and 80% failed the pharmacy exam before a 2017 law replaced it.[8]

    Confirm thisBased on: Dated press and advocacy figures, background only.

People who arrived recently

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

Arrived 2023 to 2026

  • A French general practitioner specialising in sleep medicine, with three children

    Arrived 2024 · Starting tier: not stated in the source · At the time: Thriving (About two years in)

    Planned for five years, did ulpan from Paris and obtained Health Ministry recognition a few months before moving. Started at Clalit about five months after arriving. Her eldest found the move into high school hard.

    Read the source: Ynet

  • A New Jersey paediatrician with about 35 years’ practice, following his children

    Arrived 2024 · Starting tier: Tier A · At the time: Too early to tell (At arrival)

    Received his Israeli licence at arrival through NBN’s MedEx route after a month of hospital observation beforehand, bought an apartment in Jerusalem and planned to keep working part of the year in his US practice.

    Read the source: The Jewish Link, September 19, 2024

  • An American nurse who arrived days after October 7

    Arrived 2023 · Starting tier: not stated in the source · At the time: Steady (Two years in)

    Landed with poor Hebrew while most government offices were closed. An expedited nursing licence she was offered did not materialise, so she packed kits for soldiers instead of nursing. Still adjusting two years in, she would not change the decision.

    Read the source: The Jerusalem Post, October 9, 2025

  • A dentist from Johannesburg, about 35, who came alone

    Arrived 2023 · Starting tier: Tier B · At the time: Thriving (Nearly three years in)

    Lived on an ulpan campus and planned a year without work. After October 7 an ulpan friend brought him into an English-speaking kindergarten; he chose not to return to dentistry and is now studying early-childhood education.

    Read the source: Oleh at Large (YouTube), November 6, 2025

Supporting examples: arrived 2020 to 2022

  • A gynecologist from Moscow with 21 years’ experience, married with twin sons

    Arrived 2022 · Starting tier: Tier B · At the time: Struggling (Sixteen months in)

    Was told by the Health Ministry to redo a three-year residency, got conflicting answers from officials and waited months for an ulpan place. Her husband’s job kept the family afloat; at 16 months she had no clear licensing path.

    Read the source: The Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2023

Where the system makes this harder

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

  • B01Licensing in the health professions

    In 2023 the Ministry of Health issued 2,429 new medical licences, up from 919 in 2012. 469 of them (19%) went to immigrants who completed their studies abroad. State Comptroller of Israel, 2024-07

    Who owns the fix: Ministry of Health, Medical Professions Licensing Division. Read the full entry

  • B04Hebrew access: ulpan places, waiting lists and teachers

    In January 2023, 3,677 olim were waiting for an ulpan place, 1,849 of them in Tel Aviv and the Centre. Knesset Research and Information Center, 2023-01-15

    Who owns the fix: Ministry of Education, Adult Education Division (runs the ulpanim and employs the teachers). 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.[8][18][19]

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

For licensed professionals the other country is the source of every document the Israeli licence needs, and possibly a practice you keep running part-time.

Read the page for where you are coming from

  • The former Soviet Union: Olim from the former Soviet Union: credential recognition and the medical licensing route.
  • France: French olim: diploma and profession licensing.
  • 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.

  • International Medical Aliyah Program (IMAP)

    Licensing route information for physicians and other medical professionals, run with the Ministry of Health.

  • 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.

  • Qualita

    The umbrella body for French-speaking olim, with a network of associations.

  • GvahimSubsidised, not free

    Career programme for skilled olim, including a tech track; eligibility is confirmed at an intro meeting. Heavily subsidised, not 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.

  • Yad L'Olim

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

Aliyahu tools that help

Sources

  1. [1]Interview with a French physician after aliyah (French-language section). Ynet
  2. [2]Report on a paediatrician making aliyah. The Jewish Link, September 19, 2024
  3. [3]Regulation of clinical training for doctors. State Comptroller of Israel, July 1, 2024
  4. [4]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)
  5. [5]Coverage of the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration 2025 annual report. The Jerusalem Post, June 28, 2026
  6. [6]Article on helping medical professionals make aliyah. The Jewish Standard, April 22, 2023
  7. [7]Government plan for faster professional licensing for olim. The Times of Israel, February 17, 2025
  8. [8]Aliyahu Research: Barriers Register v0 (22 entries, public sources only). Aliyahu Research, October 15, 2026
  9. [9]Q&A with an oleh nurse. The Jewish Link, June 22, 2023
  10. [10]Oleh at Large: Aliyah Stories, interview episode. Oleh at Large (YouTube), November 6, 2025
  11. [11]Article on immigrant doctors from Russia. The Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2023
  12. [12]Aliyahu Research: 27 English-language stories of 2018 to 2026 arrivals. Aliyahu Research, October 15, 2026 (Aliyahu Research file, not yet published)
  13. [13]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)
  14. [14]Voucher program for olim and returning residents. Nefesh B'Nefesh
  15. [15]Sal klita (absorption basket) explainer and calculator. Nefesh B'Nefesh
  16. [16]Ulpan teachers and waiting lists (Eti Weissblai). Knesset Research and Information Center, January 15, 2023
  17. [17]Article on arriving during the war. The Jerusalem Post, October 9, 2025
  18. [18]Survey of olim banking problems and a High Court petition (Economic Integration Org, non-random sample). The Times of Israel Blogs, June 25, 2024
  19. [19]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