Visa policy of Israel

Visitors to Israel must obtain a visa from one of the Israeli diplomatic missions unless they come from one of the visa exempt countries. From August 1, 2024 all visitors from visa exempt countries have to obtain ETA-IL prior to enter Israel. ^[1]
All visitors must hold a passport that is valid for 6 months after the date of departure from Israel. ^[2]

Visa policy map

Visa exemption

ETA-IL: Electronic Travel Authorization

ETA-IL is required for the following nationals for short-term visits of a maximum stay of 90 days for tourism, business, short study programs (up to 90 days), and Culture/Sport (up to 30 days). From August 1, 2024, visitors from visa-exempt countries must obtain ETA-IL before entering Israel. The ETA-IL would cost 25 ILS and be valid for 2 years or until the passport expires. ^{[3] [4]}

All European Union member states 1   Albania   Andorra   Argentina   Australia 2   Bahamas   Barbados   Belarus 2   Belize   Botswana   Brazil   Canada   Chile   Colombia   Costa Rica   Dominica 2   Dominican Republic   Ecuador   El Salvador   Eswatini   Fiji   Georgia   Grenada   Guatemala   Haiti   Honduras   Hong Kong   Iceland   Jamaica   Japan   Lesotho   Liechtenstein   Macau   Malawi   Mauritius   Mexico   Micronesia   Moldova 3   Monaco   Mongolia   Montenegro   Nauru   New Zealand   North Macedonia   Norway   Palau   Panama   Papua New Guinea   Paraguay   Peru   Philippines   Russia 2   Saint Kitts and Nevis 2   Saint Lucia   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines   San Marino   Serbia   Singapore   Solomon Islands   South Africa 2   South Korea   Suriname    Switzerland   Taiwan   Tonga   Trinidad and Tobago   Ukraine   United Arab Emirates   United Kingdom   United States 2   Uruguay   Vanuatu

_{1 - German citizens born before January 1, 1928 need a visa which will be issued for free if one was not a member of the Nazi party or involved in crimes committed during the time of the Nazi Germany. ^[5]
2 - Visa exemption does not apply to official passport holders, e.g. American government officials. Russian official passport holders require confirmation from the Israeli government.
3 - Visa exemption only applies to holders of biometric passports.}

Date of visa changes

Unknown: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, El Salvador, Germany, Grenada, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Macao, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Palau, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Suriname, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City 1 October 1956: South Africa [6] (?) 8 December 1964: Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands [7] 1 April 1966: Denmark, [8] Iceland, [9] Finland, [10] Norway [11] and Sweden [8] 17 September 1966: Ecuador [8] 10 October 1966: Colombia [8] 1 June 1967: Liechtenstein and Switzerland [12] 4 March 1968: Jamaica [13] 1 May 1968: Peru [14] 5 July 1968: Costa Rica [14] 31 July 1968: Dominican Republic [14] 22 December 1968: Austria [15] 28 March 1969: Greece [16] 1 April 1969: Trinidad and Tobago [16] 13 August 1969: Mauritius [16] 18 September 1969: Barbados [17] 28 December 1969: France [18] [16] 1 January 1970: Philippines [19] [16] 1 March 1970: Lesotho [16] 29 July 1970: Eswatini [20] 1 October 1971: Japan [21] 8 September 1972: Guatemala [22] 15 December 1972: Fiji [23] 18 November 1974: Haiti [24] 16 May 1977: San Marino [25] 7 November 1984: Malawi [26] 21 December 1987: Dominica [27] 1 March 1994: Portugal [28] 31 July 1994: Spain [29] 15 May 1995: Vanuatu [30] 24 May 1995: South Korea [31] 19 July 1996: Czech Republic [32] 18 February 1997: Mongolia [33] 14 July 1997: Panama [34] 2 September 1997: Slovakia [35] 10 July 2000: Saint Lucia [36] 29 August 2000: Brazil [37] 26 March 2001: Micronesia [38] 11 May 2001: Latvia [39] and Lithuania [24] 7 October 2001: Estonia [40] 3 October 2005: Singapore [41] 15 July 2007: Bulgaria [42] 1 March 2008: Romania [43] 6 April 2008: Honduras [44] 27 July 2008: Albania [45] 20 September 2008: Russia [46] 28 September 2010: Nauru [47] 28 September 2010: Serbia [48] 2 September 2011 [49] /9 February 2011: [50] Ukraine 10 August 2011: Taiwan [51] 27 November 2011: Belize [49] 18 April 2014: Georgia [47] 26 November 2015: Belarus [52] 8 September 2016: Botswana [47] 24 January 2017: Papua New Guinea 29 January 2017: Solomon Islands [47] April 2017: Tonga [53] 1 July 2021: United Arab Emirates 1 February 2024: Kosovo Canceled: n/a: Nicaragua [54] August 2014: Bolivia [55] (was applied from August 1972) n/a: Central African Republic [56]

Visa is not required for nationals of Egypt for stays up to 14 days if entering through Taba and visiting up to Beersheba only. ^[57]

Holders of Palestinian Authority passports can obtain their visa on arrival in order to continue their journey to the Palestinian territories.
Holders of a confirmation issued by the Israeli Ministry of Interior, traveling in a group of 10 or more, can obtain a visa on arrival (not applicable to nationals of Jordan).

Future changes

•   Kosovo - Israel agreed on visa exemption (ETA-IL) for the citizens of Kosovo. ^[58]

Reciprocity

Israeli citizens can enter visa free or receive a free visa on arrival to all of the countries that Israel gives visa free access to except Australia. Previously, Israeli citizens seeking entry into the United States required a visa in advance, however Israel has been designated into the Visa Waiver Program on September 27, 2023 ^[59] and Israeli citizens could begin applying on October 19th, 2023. ^[60]

In return Israel grants visa free access to most countries that gives Israelis visa free access but Israel requires a visa for passports from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jordan (with confirmation), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nicaragua, Samoa, Seychelles, Thailand, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

Non-ordinary passports

Visa free access for diplomatic and service passports All European Union member states 1   Albania   Andorra   Argentina   Azerbaijan   Bahamas   Bahrain   Barbados   Belize   Bosnia and Herzegovina   Botswana   Brazil   Burkina Faso   Canada   Chile   China   Colombia   Congo   Costa Rica   Dominican Republic   Ecuador   El Salvador   Eswatini   Fiji   Gabon   Gambia   Georgia   Grenada   Guatemala   Guyana   Haiti   Honduras   Hong Kong   Iceland   India   Jamaica   Japan   Kazakhstan   Lesotho   Liechtenstein   Macau   Madagascar   Malawi   Mauritius   Mexico   Micronesia   Moldova   Monaco   Mongolia   Montenegro   Morocco   Nauru   New Zealand   Nicaragua   North Macedonia   Norway   Palau   Panama   Papua New Guinea   Paraguay   Peru   Philippines   Saint Lucia   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines   San Marino   Serbia   Sierra Leone   Singapore   Solomon Islands   South Korea   Suriname    Switzerland   Thailand   Togo   Tonga   Trinidad and Tobago   Turkey   Ukraine   United Arab Emirates   United Kingdom   Uruguay   Vanuatu Visa free access for diplomatic passports   Armenia   Gambia   Kenya   Liberia     Nepal   Rwanda   South Africa   Vietnam

|

In addition to countries whose citizens are visa-exempt (unless otherwise stated), holders of diplomatic and official/service category passports of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, China, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, India, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Moldova, Morocco, Myanmar, ^[61] Nicaragua, Niger, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Togo, Turkey and Venezuela, and of diplomatic passports of Armenia, Kenya, Liberia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Rwanda and Vietnam do not require a visa for a maximum stay of 3 months (unless otherwise stated). ^[62]

Holders of diplomatic or service category passports of Australia, Belarus, Dominica, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, South Africa and United States require a visa. Russian diplomatic and service category passports require confirmation from the government before a visa can be issued. ^[62]

History

Israel and Democratic Republic of the Congo signed visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and service passports on 19 November 1963 and 14 April 1964, came into force on 28 July 1964. Date of cancellation is unknown. ^[63]

Israel and Liberia signed visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and service passports on 17 July and 3 August 1961, came into force on 1 November 1961. Date of cancellation is unknown. ^[64]

Israel and Tanganyika signed visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and service passports on 16 and 17 September 1963, came into force on 17 September 1963. Date of cancellation is unknown. ^[65]

Israel and Bolivia signed visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and service passports on 10 and 16 August 1972, came into force on 16 October 1972. Date of cancellation is unknown. ^[66]

Israel and Dominica signed visa exemptions for diplomatic and official passport holders in December 1987. Date of cancellation is unknown. ^[67]

Israeli passport stamps

Israeli visa

Gate Pass

Visitors with a passport stamp from Israel are not allowed to enter a number of countries because of the Arab League boycott of Israel.

Some countries, e.g. Austria, Canada, Germany, Russia, UK and the USA allow their citizens to hold two or more passports of their country to circumvent such travel restrictions, but some countries (including Austria and Germany) also restrict or forbid the holding of passports of two countries, i.e. dual citizenship.

However for the past several years, stamps are no longer used at Ben Gurion airport (since January 15, 2013) and also land border crossings with Jordan. Instead, entry and departure records are printed on small slips of paper, which include the name of the traveller, the photo read from the epassport, the date, the visa status, and other details.

The slips also include a 2D barcode which is used as a Gate Pass ^[68] to pass through the gate out of the passport control hall.

E-Visa

The Israeli Population and Immigration Authority plans to introduce an E-Visa for foreigners from countries that require a visa in advance and can't apply for ETA-IL. ^[69] The Israeli Population and Immigration Authority plans an E-Visa pilot in which India should be the first country in the pilot. ^[70]

Confirmation required

Holders of national and official passports of the following countries require a confirmation from the Israeli Foreign Ministry before a tourist visa is issued. ^[57]

Afghanistan   Bahrain 1   Egypt 2   Indonesia   Iran   Iraq   Jordan   Kuwait

Lebanon   Libya   Malaysia   Mauritania   North Korea   Oman   Pakistan   Qatar

Russia 3   Saudi Arabia   Somalia   Sudan   Syria   Tunisia   Yemen

_{1 - Only for ordinary passport holders.
2 - Except for stays up to 14 days if entering through Taba and visiting up to Beersheba only when visa is not required.
3 - Only for official passport holders.}

Visitor statistics

Most visitors arriving to Israel were from the following countries of nationality: ^{[71] [72] [73] [74] [75] [76] [77] [78] [79]}

Country	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
United States	810,500	149,100	200,500	969,400	898,000	778,600	672,100	637,200	622,100	622,800
France	235,500	41,500	56,000	367,500	346,000	308,700	293,000	300,100	298,600	315,500
Russia	162,900	14,400	56,000	318,100	316,300	330,500	284,600	414,700	555,900	603,100
Germany	151,100	16,500	50,300	289,000	262,600	218,200	180,100	197,800	194,200	254,000
United Kingdom	177,900	32,400	44,100	235,400	218,000	198,500	197,100	197,900	180,100	217,100
Ukraine	71,500	14,100	24,600	135,400	137,400	146,800	164,500	138,000	132,400	134,500
Poland	41,000	2,300	45,200	156,900	151,800	97,400	54,300	66,200	77,200	89,200
Italy	82,700	7,000	25,100	190,700	150,600	107,700	88,000	91,200	120,100	173,100
China	6,600	1,700	11,400	142,800	104,500	113,600	85,900	47,400	33,000	25,500
Romania	50,300	2,000	24,800	121,100	106,900	82,000	59,900	45,100	44,700	36,700
Canada	62,100	10,000	15,600	95,800	91,900	80,600	69,900	66,700	66,200	70,700
Netherlands	42,300	5,500	15,300	91,000	83,100	64,000	51,400	49,400	51,800	57,100
Spain	53,800	5,300	16,300	104,700	77,700	64,400	46,200	43,500	47,300	52,600
India	30,800	3,600	8,000	65,100	70,500	58,000	44,800	39,300	34,900	40,000
Brazil	64,800	2,300	13,500	82,100	62,700	56,700	35,500	43,900	51,900	56,400
South Korea	12,700	800	17,100	60,400	45,100	39,700	27,800	22,300	21,700	28,100
Total	2,675,000	396,500	831,500	4,551,600	4,120,900	3,613,163	2,900,020	2,799,346	2,926,676	2,961,701

See also

• Israel portal

• Visa requirements for Israeli citizens
• Israeli passport
• Israeli identity card
• Israeli permit system in the West Bank

References

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External links

• Media related to Visas of Israel at Wikimedia Commons
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel
• Map of border crossings of Israel