Migrants who have Jewish origin or ties, entering Israel under the Law of Return, are considered permanent migrants and are usually granted immediate citizenship upon arrival. The group of foreign nationals is thus made up mostly of temporary workers, asylum seekers and overstaying tourists. As of 30 June 2017, 216 700 foreign nationals were living in Israel, similar to the figure in June 2016 (217 200).
According to the Ministry of Aliya and Integration, 11 500 permanent immigrants entered Israel between 1 January and 30 June 2017. This is slightly more than in 2016 (+5%), but 13% fewer in comparison with the same period in 2015. Russia was the main origin country, with 3 500 new immigrants (+7%), followed by Ukraine with 3 000 (+5%). France was the third main country of origin (1 200 new immigrants), but flow levels decreased by a third between the first half of 2016 and the same period of 2017. Additionally, 900 US citizens (+12%) emigrated to Israel in the first half of 2017.
The stock of overstaying foreigners, entering on a tourist visa and remaining illegally without a valid visa, has been declining since 2014 and was estimated to be 74 000 at the end of 2016.
The stock of foreign nationals who entered Israel as temporary workers rose again in 2017 and stood at 106 200 in December (+6% compared to December 2016). Among these foreign workers, one in six fell outside the legal temporary work system.
The bilateral agreements signed by Israel with several countries in the past decade contributed to this rise. The total number of temporary foreign workers slightly rose further during the second half of 2017, owing to an increase in the quotas for foreign workers in agriculture and construction and a new foreign day-worker quota for Jordanians employed by the hotel industry in Eilat. A new bilateral agreement was signed with Ukraine in 2016 and with China in 2017. The number of temporary foreign workers in the construction sector is expected to rise sharply in the coming years as Israel has signed a bilateral agreement with China to allow employment of up to 6 000 additional Chinese construction workers. In addition, there is a constant growth in the number of home-based care workers. The number of agricultural workers from Thailand also increased significantly in recent years. In February 2018, the government allowed foreign construction workers and Palestinian building workers working in Israel to work on infrastructure projects. The government also repealed a 2001 rule forbidding access to public construction contracts to companies hiring foreign workers and raised the foreign workers quota in the construction industry by 6 000 (from 16 500). This additional quota is intended for up to 1 000 workers each in up to six foreign companies in the housing sector.
Despite signing Work and Holiday visa agreements with several countries in recent years, the number of such visas issued in Israel remains low. Only 40 were delivered in 2016 and 21 in the first quarter of 2017, most of them to German citizens.
As of December 2017, the number of Palestinian cross-border workers authorised in Israel was approximately 75 000 (6 500 of whom were seasonal workers). This represents a 12% increase in one year. Throughout the years 2015/16, the upward trend from previous years regarding cross-border Palestinian workers in Israel has continued and the number of Palestinian workers reached almost 60 000, of whom 5 700 were seasonal workers. However, for the first time in recent years, in the first half of 2016 there was no change in the percentage of permits being used.
In 2017, Israel introduced an expedited visa application option, the Hi-Tech Visa (HIT), for foreign nationals travelling to Israel to work in an Israeli registered company operating in high tech industries. A spouse of the principal on a HIT visa can also obtain work authorisation by obtaining an Employment Authorisation for Spouse (EAS).
Since 2016, Israel has largely ceased to be a destination for irregular migration from Africa. Irregular border crossings have ended; the number of irregular border-crossers residing in Israel stood at 37 300 on 30 December 2017, its lowest level since 2011, partly due to enforcement measures such as the fence on the Israeli-Egyptian border.
Since the end of 2012 around 21 000 irregular migrants have left Israel voluntary to their country of origin, western countries or to safe third countries, almost 3 400 since the beginning of 2017.
In August 2017, the High Court of Justice stated that an irregular migrant who refuses to be deported to a safe third country should not be held in custody for more than 60 days, but allowed the deportation procedure for irregular immigrants to a third country, provided that the third country is not unsafe.
