Before you start

A decision on which of the three routes applies before you commit to anything — they share no paperwork and no timetable
For aliyah: original birth and marriage certificates and grandparents' records proving Jewish lineage, filed with the Jewish Agency or Nefesh B'Nefesh before you fly
For a B/1: a named Israeli employer willing to sponsor. You cannot apply for yourself
For family unification: an Israeli lawyer engaged early. This route is documentary, adversarial and long, and self-filing is a poor idea
An apostilled police clearance certificate from your home country, plus a passport with substantial remaining validity and an approved ETA-IL if you are visa-exempt

Step-by-step

1
Establish your route
Aliyah eligibility extends to a child, grandchild or spouse of a Jew under the 1970 amendment to the Law of Return. It is, by construction, not available to the Arab majority of Nazareth or to a foreigner marrying into it — which is why the practical residency question in this city is usually the third route rather than the first.
OnlineWho: You
2
Aliyah: approve the file before you fly
The Jewish Agency, or Nefesh B'Nefesh from North America and the UK, pre-screens your lineage documents. Pre-approval is what makes citizenship near-automatic on landing.
OnlineWho: You, with the Jewish Agency or Nefesh B'NefeshCommonly 2–6 months
3
B/1: the employer files
Your employer applies to PIBA for permission to employ you. The expert track requires them to pay at least twice the average Israeli wage — from 1 January 2026 the average wage is ₪13,566, so the bar is ₪27,132 a month gross — plus private medical insurance. The figure is reindexed every January.
Via employerWho: Your employerSeveral weeks to a few months
4
Family unification: expect a graduated, multi-year procedure
A foreign spouse of an Israeli citizen enters a staged process at the Interior Ministry, moving through temporary permits before any permanent status, with periodic evidence of a genuine shared life. Spouses who are residents of the West Bank or Gaza are additionally restricted by the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, first enacted as a temporary order in 2003 and re-enacted in March 2022 after a lapse. Get current advice: this statute has been amended, allowed to expire and revived, and guidance written even two years ago may be wrong.
In personWho: You and your Israeli spouse, with a lawyerYears, not months
5
Visitor: ETA-IL, then a B/2 with no work rights
Most Western nationals get up to 90 days visa-free but must hold an approved ETA-IL before boarding. The B/2 permits tourism and business meetings only.
OnlineWho: YouETA-IL approval usually within about 72 hours

Documents you’ll need

Passport with substantial remaining validity
Aliyah: original lineage documents for you, your parents and grandparents, plus a rabbinical letter where required
B/1: employer sponsorship and PIBA approval, a contract meeting the salary threshold, proof of private health insurance
Family unification: marriage certificate legalised for use in Israel, plus continuing evidence of a shared household
Apostilled police clearance certificate
ETA-IL approval for visa-exempt visitors

Things most newcomers don’t know

In Nazareth the immigration question is usually family unification, not aliyah — and it is a different world.

Every general guide to moving to Israel is written around the Law of Return, which is unavailable to a non-Jewish foreigner marrying a Nazarene. The graduated family-unification track is slower, discretionary, evidence-hungry and — where the spouse is a resident of the West Bank or Gaza — narrowed further by a specific statute. Reading aliyah guidance and assuming it approximates your case is the single most expensive mistake available here.

Source: Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) 5763-2003, re-enacted March 2022; PIBA family procedures

The expert salary bar is indexed, so verify it against this January's figure.

The threshold is defined as twice the national average wage rather than a fixed number, and it moves every January. From 1 January 2026 the average wage is ₪13,566, making the bar ₪27,132 a month gross. Offers negotiated against last year's figure can fall under the line and sink the permit, and the fee is not refunded on refusal.

Source: PIBA foreign expert procedure

Nazareth's tech branches are subsidiaries, which matters for sponsorship.

Microsoft, Amdocs, Broadcom and Salesforce all have Nazareth offices, but they are branches of companies headquartered elsewhere in Israel or abroad. The sponsoring entity on a B/1 is the Israeli legal entity, and its HR and immigration handling may sit in Ra'anana or Herzliya rather than in the office you would actually work in. Ask, before signing, which entity employs you and who files the permit.

Source: community-reported, corroborated across the Nazareth branch offices

Aliyah paperwork is filed abroad; everything else is filed in Israel.

The Jewish Agency and Nefesh B'Nefesh screen a lineage file in your country of origin before you fly, and that pre-approval is the whole mechanism. B/1 and family-unification files, by contrast, run through Israeli offices on Israeli timetables and Israeli opening hours — which, in the Nazareth area, means the Israeli working week of Sunday to Thursday, not the city's own rhythm.

Source: Nefesh B'Nefesh; PIBA

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming aliyah is open to anyone relocating to Israel — it is strictly ancestry- or spouse-of-a-Jew based.
Applying aliyah guidance to a family-unification case, which shares none of its timetable, evidence burden or certainty.
Relying on pre-2022 writing about the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, which lapsed in 2021 and was re-enacted in March 2022.
Working or freelancing locally on a B/2 visitor stamp. There is no digital-nomad visa.
Bringing photocopies or un-apostilled lineage, marriage and police documents.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.