How to Immigrate and Work in Israel as a Nurse? 

Israel work visa for immigrant nurses

The standard Israel visa you need to work as a foreign person in the country is an Israel work visa. Before you are able to begin applying for a work visa, you must get your nursing license from the Ministry of Health. You have the option to learn more about the process from the above section.

After you get the license, you must look for a job offer with an Israeli employer. Why? Because before applying for a work visa, you need a work permit. It’s the authorization to work as a foreign nurse in Israel. Only an Israeli employer can apply for a work permit. You or the foreign nurse can not apply for it. So you must find an employer willing to hire you.

After the employer applies for a work permit and it is issued, you or the foreign nurse can apply to the Israeli embassy/consulate in your home country to receive a work visa. It’s the permission to enter the country.

Related jobs for an immigrant nurse in Israel

Israel requires skilled nurses, and they have paved the way for foreign nurses to move there. There are various places you can work with them and many job positions. These are some of the related positions that you might end up working in Israel.

While looking for a job, you should also have a keen eye on these jobs. 

• Nurse Assistant
• Adult nurse
• Sonographer
• Children’s nurse
• Radiologic Technologist
• Health play specialist
• Clinical Technologist
• Health visitor

Nurses’ Salaries in Israel

Your salary as a nurse in Israel depends on many factors: 

• Your job position.
• The job title you have
• The place you work with.
• Education.
• Work experience
• The city you work in
• Tasks and responsibilities
• Etc.

Sources have mentioned different figures for your salary as a nurse in Israel.

According to the Glassdoor website, the average salary of a nurse in Israel is about ₪6,559 per month.

According to Payscale source, the average salary is about ₪47.43 per hour.

Salary Expert says the average salary is about ILS 194,639 per year. This source says that a nurse with 1-3 years of work experience earns about ₪ 138,052, while a nurse with +8 years of work experience earns about ₪ 241,046.

According to the Average Salary Survey website, the average salary of a nurse is about ILS 251,035 ($61,045).

Best cities to immigrate and work in Israel as a nurse

There are various jobs for a nurse in Israel, and you can find a position with different centers;

• Health funds or plans
• Hospitals
• Clinics.
• Private companies
• Caring facilities

The obvious answer is that there are better and more job opportunities in large cities. The number of people needs more nurses taking care of them and hospitals or clinics. These are the largest cities in Israel, and you can find a job in them easier. 

• Jerusalem
• Tel Aviv
• Haifa
• Petah Tivka
• Rishon-Lezion
• Ashdod

The one other list you should look at is the most popular cities in Israel. These are the cities that might not be that large but people like living in them because of their features, like being by the sea or good weather conditions. You can find a job position in these cities as there are more people or visitors/tourists. These are the most popular cities in Israel: 

1. Acre
2. Herzliya
3. Beersheva
4. Eilat
5. Tiberias

How to immigrate and work in  Israel as a nurse?

This section brings you the procedure you have to follow to immigrate to Israel as a nurse as a foreign person. You’d better read the whole section once to determine if you can fulfill all of the requirements and meet the eligibility principles.

Gathering the supporting documents

You must gather a list of supporting documents and send them to Israeli officials for recognition. They evaluate your application and determine whether you are qualified to work as a nurse in Israel.

Israeli officials have also created an online portal. It’s new, and all the information is provided in Hebrew. They will provide the translation section soon, and you should wait for it. Only Israeli citizens with Israeli ID access the portal.

You have to submit your documents to the preliminary review.

If you are not an Israeli citizen and want to apply for a license, you must send your documents through registered mail to the nursing division.

You must have all of your documents verified, and there are two options to do so: 

1. Get an apostille on the original notarized document
2. Verify them through an ISRAELI notary

You must submit a verified copy of the document plus a copy of the original document. You should keep the original document for yourself and a copy of the verified copies.

This is a list of the documents you must gather: 

1. Medical Licensing – Questionnaire.
2. Form that your school of nursing must complete. All of the nurses who want to move to Israel must complete and send this form.
3. Diplomas.
4. Your official transcript. It must list academic and practical work for all of your;

• course topics,
• grades,
• hours of study

5. Employment Confirmation. It must be from the center you worked with and indicate the start and end date. It must describe your tasks there. Your supervisor/HR representative must sign it, and it must be on the company’s letterhead.
6. Teudat Oleh and Teudat Zehut (if you have them).
7. If you are applying pre-Aliyah, you must send a copy of your passport as well instead of the Teudat Oleh and the Teudat Zehut.
8. Name change certificate if you have it.
9. A valid nursing license.
10. Your BA degree, and if you do not have it, you must submit a high school diploma.
11. You must submit the affidavit if you want to take the licensing exam as a tourist.

If you have completed your education in different education centers, you smut submit an official transcript from each center as well.

You must send all of the documents through mail to the nursing division. The Israeli Ministry of Health Nursing Division assesses your application to make sure you are qualified to work as a nurse in Israel.

You can contact the nursing division for further questions or information.

Nursing Division- Ministry of Health

39 Yirmiahu st.

Jerusalem

9446724

Taking the prerequisite for the licensing exam.

After you send all of the documents, the Israeli officials will begin processing your application and decide on it. If the answer is positive, they will contact you to take a course and exam.

The course gets called a “7-unit course.”You can take it in some nursing schools in Israel or online. After approval by the nursing division, they will send you a letter. It holds the instructions to take the course.

There are different parts to the course:

Part A: An Introduction to the Israeli Health System

You must study the following items before you qualify for the licensing exam: 

• Israeli laws and regulations
• The Israeli health system
• States of emergency and trauma

You can study on your own or meet with your mentor in five meetings. You will get a booklet that holds necessary inforamtion. You must complete the study under the supervision of one of the following hospitals: 

• Wolfson (in Holon),
• Hadassah (in Jerusalem)
• Assaf Harofeh (in Ramle).

After you finish your studies, your mentor will test you and ask questions. You must pay a fee for the study program.

Part B: Professional Training

There are two other courses that you must pass as well: 

• CPR
• Measurement conversion

You could learn and find more information about the above tests with the hospital that you want to take the course with them. This page holds information about User Guide Summary for the Nursing Course/Exam in Israel.

If you have a nursing BA, you do not require to take further studies. But if you need more courses or studies to take the licensing exam, It’s necessary that you must pass the extra courses. Israeli officials will inform you through a letter of the courses you must pass.

Take the nursing licensing exam with Israeli officials

You can take the nursing licensing exam in the following languages: 

• Hebrew
• English,
• French,
• Russian,
• Spanish
• Arabic

You can take the nursing exam in any of the above languages. But if you take it in a foreign language and not Hebrew, you must pass the Hebrew proficiency exam as a precondition for the professional license. You can take the Hebrew exam before or after taking the licensing exam.

You need an Ulpan Daled level to pass the Hebrew exam and it includes technical medical terms. After you take the licensing exam, you have 3 years to take and pass the Hebrew exam.

After you complete the studies from the previous section, the Israeli officials will send you a letter and inform you are qualified to take the exam. You must pay a fee to the post office for the exam. Then, you must request to take the nursing exam and submit it to the Nursing division with the receipt of your payment. Remember that you must apply to them at least one month before the exam date. You can see or check the exam deadlines on the nursing division’s website.

You can contact the nursing division through their phone number (02) 670-5705 or (02) 670-509 or visit their page.

How to register for the licensing exam?

You must register for the nursing licensing exam through the portal, which is just in Hebrew language. You must log in to the Medical Profession’s Online Portal through the username and password that Israeli officials will send you via email or SMS if you are in Israel at the time of application. But let’s say if you do not receive a username or password? In this case, you can contact Kol Habriut.

You must submit these items to register for the exam: 

• personal contact info,
• health declaration
• lack of criminal record declaration

Then you can pick the exam date, and the language to take the nursing licensing exam. Remember you must submit the scanned form of paying the fees for registration.

Get a Hebrew language proficiency certificate

One of the requirements to immigrate to Israel as a nurse and get your license is to have a Hebrew language proficiency certificate. You must have knowledge of the Hebrew language to immigrate to Israel as a nurse. If you take the nursing licensing exam in Hebrew, you do not need a language proficiency certificate or prove your proficiency.

You can prove your fluency in various ways as follows: 

• Take and pass the Bagrut exam in Hebrew with the least required score of 60.
• Take and pass the Ulpan Gimmel exam with the least required score of 70 on your final exam.
• YAEL exam
• Ministry of Education proficiency test.

You can take any of the above exams, and it’s up to your conditions which one is appropriate. You can find more information about them by searching Google for the exam name and finding the pages provided by Israeli officials.

After you take the Hebrew language proficiency exam and send the certificate or pass the exam in Hebrew, the Israeli officials will issue your nursing license. You can work as a nurse in Israel, but you have to pass a few other stages.

Look for a nursing job position in Israel

After you get your license, you must look for a nursing position. You need an Israeli employer to begin applying for a work permit on your behalf so you can work as a foreign person in Israel. Every foreign person who wants to work in Israel needs a work permit. Only Israeli employers can apply for a work permit, so it’s necessary to find a job offer.

You can find a job offer in various ways. The first one is looking for a position through websites that advertise job positions in Israel. This is a list of them: 

• alljobs.co.il
• drushim.co.il
• jobmaster.co.il
• indeed.com
• jobnet.co.il
• Israemploy
• jobs-israel.com/
• www.jobmaster.co.il/
• marksman.co.il/

The second option is to get help from employment agencies or recruiters. This is a sample and only sample list of the companies that connect employees and employees in Israel: 

• Talent Place
• DevsData Tech Talent LLC
• Alcor
• Znojdziem
• Israel IT
• RemoDevs
• Staff Nash
• DNA325
• ALLSTARSIT

The other option is to reach the nursing division of major hospitals or health institutions. You can find a list of the institutions on the Nursing Division of the Ministry of Health website.

Moreover, there are health funds or plans in Israel that you can work in one of them. This is a list of them: 

1. Clalit,
2. Leumit,
3. Maccabi
4. Meuchedet

Health plans provide many services, and among them are: 

• family health care,
• laboratory services
• hospitalization.

You can find a job with mental health services and well-baby clinics in Israel.

Terem is an emergency medical center in Israel with a network of urgent and immediate care clinics. They are distributed in various locations in Israel, and you may work with them if you convince them to hire you.

Apply for an Israeli work permit and a work visa

Every foreign person who wants to work in Israel needs a work permit. So it is with the nurses. The Israeli employer can only apply for a work permit, and you, as a foreign employee or nurse, can not apply for a work permit. This is why it’s essential to find an employer willing to hire you. Look at the previous section to know how to find a job and the options you have.

After you find a job, you must sign an employment contract with an Israeli employer. These are some of the sample items that must be included in the contract: 

1. Job title
2. Job description
3. Role and skill requirements
4. Education requirements.
5. Annual salary
6. Raises, bonuses, incentive opportunities
7. Health benefits (medical, dental, eye care, etc.)
8. Confidentiality, privacy, and responsibility
9. The schedule and employment period

Do not limit yourself to the above options, and you can add other items to your employment contract.

After you are done with the contract, the employer applies for a work permit to the Israeli immigration officials. You, as the foreign nurse, must send him/her some supporting documents. The employer will inform you of this list of documents.

After the work permit is issued, you can apply for a work visa to move to Israel. In case you are already residing there, you might be able to change your status to a work permit. The employer and immigration officials will guide you.

Find more information about Israel’s work permits and its work visa from the Visa Library article.

How to become a nurse in Israel?

If you get your degree from a foreign country, you must apply for recognition of your documents. You must send your degree and other supporting documents. Israeli officials decide whether you can immigrate and work in Israel as a nurse. 

Read the above section to know about the process and requirements. 

Let’s sum up…

Visa Library explained how to immigrate and work in Israel as a nurse in this article. The recognition process, requirements, and the exam you have to pass are explained in detail. This is your guide to becoming a nurse in Israel.

If you have questions, write them down in the comment section. The Visa Library team will answer them.

Frequently asked questions about immigration to Israel as a nurse.