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Together, we'll repair Israel's Aliyah and absorption system

The State of Israel needs a revolution in its approach to Aliyah and absorption, with the goal of making the integration process for new immigrants and returning residents simple, accessible, and respectful.

B’Yachad’s national plan to reform aliyah and integration presents a comprehensive vision that includes dramatically reducing bureaucracy, quickly and effectively integrating new immigrants into employment in their professions, providing appropriate housing solutions, and strengthening communities and social support networks throughout the country.

What's the problem?

Jabotinsky formulated the Five Mems – the five basic needs the state must guarantee every citizen: mazon (food), ma’on (housing), malbosh (clothing), morah (education), and marpe’ah (healthcare).

But a person does not make aliyah to Israel simply to survive. Someone who arrives with a profession wants to work in it. Someone who arrives with a culture wants it to be recognized, not to be asked to leave it behind in their suitcase. And someone who has chosen to build their life here wants to feel that they belong, not like a guest.

In practice, many new immigrants are forced to contend with cumbersome bureaucracy, language difficulties, and barriers to employment. Doctors, engineers, and teachers who come to Israel struggle to find work in their professions even as the economy needs them, and their years of professional experience often go unrecognized. Young people struggle to build careers and futures here. Those who make aliyah later in life may reach retirement without sufficient financial security and face a greater risk of loneliness. And sometimes, obtaining a single approval means making three separate trips to the same government agency.

The revolving door turns the other way as well. Doctors, engineers, researchers, and hi-tech professionals, both veteran Israelis and new immigrants, build careers abroad and do not return. Everyone who leaves takes a profession, a family, and a future with them.

What's the solution?

Together, we will reform aliyah and absorption from the ground up. We will not merely absorb new immigrants – we will integrate them. We will shorten the process for recognizing degrees and professional experience so that new immigrants can work in their professions within months rather than years, and those who want to open a business will not find themselves mired in regulation.

We will restore conversion authority to community rabbis so that those who want to join the Jewish people will not have to wait years in line. Older immigrants will be able to age with dignity and will not be left on their own, while immigrants who serve will receive the support they deserve. And we will pave the way for young immigrants to stay in Israel.

Doctors, engineers, and teachers will return to their professions, precisely where their country needs them most. For senior citizens, we will set government employment targets, provide incentives to employers, and establish employment centers and professional training programs throughout the country.

Aliyah does not end at Ben Gurion Airport. Successful absorption happens when a person is working in their profession, building their life here, and feels that this is their home.

Agree? Join us!

Our plan

Cutting Through Bureaucracy: One Address for Every New Immigrant

We will establish an integrated digital and face-to-face service system that will centralize the absorption process for new immigrants – both in their dealings with government ministries and local authorities. We will adopt the “just ask once” principle: documents that have already been submitted to one government authority will not need to be submitted again, and eligibility for benefits and services will be identified and those benefits provided proactively wherever possible.

We will make information and services accessible in multiple languages, allow new immigrants to track the status of their applications, and establish binding timelines for processing them. Many absorption procedures will be able to begin even before arrival in Israel.

Because someone who has chosen to move to a new country should not have to begin their life here by battling bureaucracy.

Working in Your Profession, Not Just Working

We will significantly shorten the process for recognizing academic degrees, professional qualifications, and experience acquired abroad by having a single track, uniform requirements, and binding processing deadlines.

We will work to expand recognition of qualifications from countries abroad and create targeted supplementary training tracks, while maintaining Israel’s professional standards. We will combine professional Hebrew-language instruction with training and job placement as well as connect new immigrants with professions facing shortages in the Israeli economy, including medicine, engineering, and teaching.

At the same time, we will make our reforms for reducing bureaucracy in opening and running businesses accessible to immigrant entrepreneurs.

Young Olim: Building a Future Here

We will make it easier for young olim to build independent lives, careers, and families in Israel. We will enable eligible olim to participate in our national housing program, which includes long-term rental apartments at a 30% discount from market rates.

We will develop professional training and job placement programs, expand assistance for immigrant students, and work to remove barriers to higher education.

We will also strengthen the integration of children and families: we will make information and services in the education system accessible to immigrant parents, strengthen Hebrew-language instruction and academic and social support for children of olim, and combat discrimination.

A sense of belonging is not created only at work or at school. We will allocate NIS 10 million to arts, cultural, and theater initiatives specifically for olim, and strengthen programs that connect olim with their communities and Israeli society through culture, sports, volunteering, and shared activities.

It is not enough for young people to come to Israel. We will make sure they have good reasons to stay.

Taking Care of Our Lone Soldiers — Even After Their Service

Thousands of lone soldiers, including olim who came to Israel to serve the country, have taken and continue to take part in its defense. Our commitment to them does not end on the day they are discharged.

We will ensure that they can easily access the benefits to which they are entitled under our Servicemembers Law, including benefits for housing, transportation and education, in accordance with their eligibility. We will expand assistance with integration into higher education and professional training, and advance living stipends for discharged lone soldiers who need them.

We will create a continuum of support from military service into civilian life, including assistance with housing, employment, and accessing their rights and benefits. We will also provide dedicated support for lone reservists, so that reserve duty does not interrupt their efforts to build their civilian lives.

Conversion Without the Wait

We will decentralize the Rabbinate’s authority, reduce bureaucracy, and provide a Zionist solution for olim and soldiers. We will support a Mamlachti Orthodox conversion process in accordance with Jewish law, while also granting conversion authority to community rabbis.

We will create a tailored conversion track for soldiers who were prepared to sacrifice their lives for the country, and for olim who came to Israel under the Law of Return, while maintaining halakhic standards but without the monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate.

This means restoring powers that community rabbis held in the past – not privatizing conversion.

(For more, see the Religion and State Plan.)

Providing a Financial Safety Net for Senior Citizens — Including Olim

We will link the old-age pension to changes in the average wage in the economy, rather than to changes in the Consumer Price Index, in order to prevent its value from eroding.

At the same time, we will increase benefits on a sliding scale for approximately 350,000 senior citizens, so that every senior citizen with an income below 10,000 NIS will receive an increase. Those with the lowest incomes will receive the largest increase, with their benefits doubling.

In addition, we will expand eligibility for municipal tax and electricity discounts for senior citizens.

(See the Aging with Dignity plan.)

Aging with Dignity and Not Being Left Alone – Rethinking Aging

Loneliness is the silent challenge facing senior citizens, particularly among the immigrant population.

We will advance recreational and volunteer initiatives and back local authorities in establishing affordable community centers. We will set government employment targets, provide incentives to employers, and expand dedicated employment tracks within the civil service.

We will expand employment centers nationwide and promote job placement, professional training, and entrepreneurship, alongside expanded digital literacy training. We will also implement a national plan to combat loneliness, combining community-based, healthcare, and social welfare responses.

Bringing Talent Home and Encouraging Aliyah Among Diaspora Jewry

Israel must be, and always will be, a refuge from antisemitism. But we want Israelis and Jews from around the world to choose to live here first and foremost because it is the best place to live, work, and raise a Jewish family.

We will expand the “Returning Israelis Desk” model from our healthcare plan into a national initiative to bring Israelis who’ve left for abroad home and encourage aliyah among skilled professionals. We will proactively identify doctors, researchers, engineers, technology professionals, and entrepreneurs around the world and support their integration into Israel, including with professional licensing, employment, and family absorption.

We will work to remove the barriers preventing them from returning or making aliyah, and ensure that Israel is a Jewish, democratic, liberal, and prosperous country that offers a promising future for both their careers and families.