Opening An Aliyah File
Opening the Tik Aliyah: The Procedural Starting Gun of Your Aliyah
Opening the Tik Aliyah — the formal aliyah file — is the procedural act that begins the immigration process. The birth certificates, marriage certificates, criminal clearances and rabbi's letters are inputs to this file rather than the file itself. From the moment it opens, you have an assigned advisor, a tracking portal, and a place to upload the documents the file requires. The aliyah timeline starts here.
This guide explains where to open the file by country, the recommended timeline, the complete document set, and the apostille-and-translation workflow that runs alongside it.
Where to open the file (by country)
Your country of residence determines which organisation handles the file:
United States & Canada — through Nefesh B'Nefesh, on a joint application covering both NBN and the Jewish Agency. Portal: nbn.org.il/aliyah-application.
United Kingdom — UK residents do not use Nefesh B'Nefesh. They open the file directly through the Jewish Agency UK, working with a local Israel Aliyah Centre shaliach. Contact: 0800-085-2105 / ukquestions@jafi.org.
Australia — through the Zionist Federation of Australia, which coordinates with the Jewish Agency.
South Africa — the formal application runs through the SAZF Israel Centre, with Telfed as the community absorption network in Israel.
Everywhere else — through the Jewish Agency's Global Aliyah Center, which operates twenty-two hours a day, six days a week, in multiple languages.
The partner organisation handles applicant-facing administration; the Jewish Agency holds the underlying authority and, with the Israeli consulate for the visa itself, issues the eligibility decision. The partner is the operating system; the Agency and consulate are the authority.
The recommended timeline: from decision to landing
The recommended interval between opening the file and your planned aliyah date is eight to ten months. This is not a requirement, but it accommodates standard processing, the interview, document review, eligibility approval, the visa application, and the logistics of the move. A workable backwards timeline:
Month 12 — research the route and identify documents needed.
Months 10–12 — begin the criminal-clearance and document workstream (the longest single wait).
Months 8–10 — open the file and submit the initial application.
Months 6–7 — the Jewish Agency / consular interview.
Months 4–6 — eligibility approval and the "Mazal Tov" letter.
Months 3–4 — apply for the aliyah visa (~18 business days).
Months 1–2 — book flights and finalise arrangements.
Month 0 — aliyah; the teudat oleh is issued at the airport.
Why the longest wait sits at the front
The single longest item is the criminal clearance: FBI checks typically take six to twelve weeks, RCMP six to ten, SAPS often eight to twelve, ACRO substantially less. The clearance cannot be hurried past the issuing authority. Start it in month twelve and it is in hand, apostilled and translated, by the time the file is reviewed.
Already in Israel? Shinui Ma'amad
Applicants already physically in Israel — often on a B/2 tourist visa after a pilot trip — have two routes. Shinui Ma'amad (change of status) through the Jewish Agency is the cleaner route for most: the Agency coordinates with Misrad HaPnim on your behalf, with less direct Hebrew bureaucracy. Direct application through Misrad HaPnim is more direct but more Hebrew-intensive. Certain categories — ezrach oleh, katin chozer, and converts whose claim runs through conversion — are required to use the Misrad HaPnim route.
The document set the file must contain
The complete set organises into five categories:
Identity documents for each family member — valid passport (one year of validity past the aliyah date), long-form birth certificate, and Israeli-spec photographs.
Proof of Jewish heritage — a rabbi's letter dated within the past year, lineage documents, and (for converts) the conversion certificate and beit din letters.
Family-status documents — marriage certificate, divorce decree and get where relevant, death certificate where widowed, children's birth certificates, and a personal-status affidavit.
Background check — police clearance from every country lived in for more than one year since age fourteen, apostilled, with a Hebrew translation regardless of original language.
Forms and declarations — health declaration, entry/exit form covering the last seven years, and an information-transfer waiver with the personal statement.
The five steps after opening
Once the file is open, five steps run sequentially: application review (an advisor identifies missing documents through the portal), the interview (a shaliach verifies originals and confirms eligibility), eligibility approval (the "Mazal Tov letter"), the aliyah visa (around eighteen business days at the consulate, valid six months), and flight and arrival (the teudat oleh is issued on the spot at Ben Gurion).
Apostille and translation: the cross-cutting workstream
Every foreign document passes through two independent workstreams. Apostille applies for Hague Convention countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, most of Europe and Latin America); non-Hague countries follow a slower legalisation chain. Translation rules: English civil documents are accepted without translation; other languages translate to English or Hebrew; criminal clearances translate to Hebrew regardless of original language, by a certified translator on the approved list.
The sequence matters: apostille first, then translate. The translator describes the apostille in the translation, which is only possible once the apostille is already on the original. Translating first forces the workflow to be repeated.
Costs and the highest-leverage action
Opening the file involves a nonrefundable administrative fee that varies by country. Beyond that, realistic document costs for a family of four run roughly USD 400–900 (US), GBP 450–600 (UK), CAD 700–1,000 (Canada), or ZAR 3,000–5,500 (South Africa). The single highest-leverage action: start the criminal-clearance workstream in month twelve, not month eight. It is the longest individual wait and the one item that cannot be accelerated.
This article summarises the Olim Advice guide Opening the File*. Open the file iteratively — do not delay in pursuit of a perfectly assembled document set. Eight to ten months out, with clearances underway, is the practical moment.*
Ready to open your file? Join the free Olim Advice WhatsApp community at olimadvice.com — the independent network for Anglo olim making aliyah.