Diaspora & Migration · 45 stories · Updated Sep 11, 2026
The economics of moving to Israel: finding work, relocating wealth and navigating financial obligations across borders.
Lead storyIsraeli banks for olim compared: account setup, US citizen paperwork, Zakaut mortgages and the 75% loan-to-value limit, with facts sourced to Nefesh B'Nefesh and the banks.
Read →21,900 olim arrived in Israel in 2025 from 105 countries, according to the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. The headline figure is roughly one-third below 2024.
The decline is misleading. Strip out Russia and the picture inverts. Non-Russian aliyah rose 23.6% year over year, and 81% since 2023.
By origin: Russia at roughly 8,300, down 57% from 19,500 the prior year. France at 3,300, up 45%. The United Kingdom at 840, in its second consecutive year of growth. North America at 4,150 through Nefesh B'Nefesh — the highest annual figure in four years, up 12%.
The pipeline behind those numbers is steeper than the arrivals. Per Nefesh B'Nefesh, application files opened during 2025 reached 13,389 — roughly 50% above the 2022 base.
The cohort is also younger and more professional than prior waves. About one-third of 2025 olim were aged 18 to 35. Among Nefesh B'Nefesh arrivals, the average age was 31. 93 physicians arrived through the International Medical Aliyah program.
Layered onto these demographics is a new financial architecture. In March 2026, the Knesset Finance Committee approved a five-year income-tax exemption for new olim. The 10-year foreign-source exemption remains intact. The combined package is the most aggressive aliyah tax framework Israel has enacted.
The Olam covers it as cross-border migration intelligence — country by country, statute by statute, tracker by tracker.
Deeper coverage tracks inside Aliyah & Wealth Migration
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In March 2026 the Knesset approved a five-year income-tax exemption for new olim — capped on a sliding ceiling and paired with the existing 10-year fo…
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