Israel Innovation Visa

Status: active.

The Innovation Visa lets a foreign technology entrepreneur live in Israel for up to 24 months while developing a venture inside a supporting framework approved by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA). The procedure was approved in 2024 together with the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA).

Legally it is a B/2 stay permit. The IIA only recommends applicants; PIBA alone decides whether to issue the visa. An approval carries no grant money.

It is not a digital nomad visa. It covers research and development on a venture based in Israel, not remote work for a foreign employer. Israel has no digital nomad visa, and the Israel country guide covers the options for shorter stays.

The route is for foreign entrepreneurs who want to develop a technology venture in Israel. Every application must name a supporting framework approved by the IIA and include that framework's declaration of support (IIA).

The IIA publishes no age limit, nationality list, education requirement or fixed income floor for this route. Applicants instead declare how they will fund their living expenses for the whole stay.

The route is separate from the IIA's incentive program for foreign high-tech experts hired by Israeli companies. That program has its own rules and leads to a work visa, so its conditions do not apply here.

The IIA lists what an application for a recommendation must contain:

• The name of the approved supporting framework and its declaration of support.
• A declaration of how living expenses will be funded for the whole stay.
• A description of the research and development work planned in Israel.

The IIA publishes no separate checklist for health insurance, police certificates, translations or apostilles. PIBA handles the visa application itself and may ask for further documents at that stage.

The IIA publishes no fee for the Innovation Visa, and no fee specific to this route appears in its procedure. Applicants should confirm any visa fee with PIBA when they file.

The larger cost is living in Israel. Applicants must show how they will pay their own way for the whole stay, though no minimum amount is published. An IIA approval does not come with grant money.

Two steps: an application for a recommendation to the Israel Innovation Authority naming the supporting framework, then, after written approval by the Innovation Authority CEO, a visa application to the Population and Immigration Authority.

1. Secure a supporting framework. The venture must sit inside a framework the IIA has approved, and that framework must sign a declaration of support.
2. Apply to the IIA. The application for a recommendation follows the procedure published on the Innovation Visa page. The IIA reviews applications in the order it receives them.
3. Apply to PIBA. Once the IIA CEO approves the recommendation in writing, the entrepreneur files the visa application with the Population and Immigration Authority, which makes the final decision.

No official processing time is published for either step.

The visa runs for the duration of the venture inside the approved supporting framework, for up to 24 months (IIA).

The IIA publishes no renewal or extension terms beyond that limit, and it does not describe time on the visa as leading to permanent residence.

A founder whose company takes off may later seek a B/1 expert work visa. That is a separate application with its own conditions.

The Innovation Visa carries no special tax regime. Ordinary Israeli rules apply to holders.

Israel's core test of tax residence is where a person's center of life is. Two rebuttable presumptions sit on top of it: spending 183 days or more in Israel in a tax year, or 30 or more days in the year with 425 or more across that year and the two before it (Israel Tax Authority residency rules). Part of a day counts as a day.

A founder who spends most of the two years in Israel will likely meet these tests. Founders should check their position with the Israel Tax Authority and under any tax treaty between Israel and their home country.