Post Aliyah Checklist
The Post-Aliyah Checklist: Everything to Set Up, Phase by Phase
From your first week to your first year — the whole absorption, in one place and in the right order.
Aliyah is big, and the to-do list that comes after landing can feel bottomless. The trick isn't to do everything at once — it's to do the right things in the right order. This is the master checklist for your whole absorption, organised in four phases from your first week to your first year, so each step lands when it should.
Three things to know before you start:
Carry your Teudat Oleh (תעודת עולה). Your immigrant certificate unlocks oleh discounts and benefits everywhere — keep it on you.
Book appointments ahead. Most government offices require them; bring every document (plus copies) and a Hebrew speaker if your Hebrew is limited.
Pace yourself. Israeli bureaucracy is slow for everyone — patience and persistence beat trying to rush it.
Each phase below has a companion deep-dive guide (Your First Week, Getting Connected, Banking & Transfers, Your Teudat Zehut, Renting in Israel, Emergency & Healthcare, and more). This checklist is the map; those guides hold the detail.
Phase 1 — The first week
Five foundations gate almost everything that follows, and they have a natural order: phone first, then bank, then the rest. A working number enables the SMS confirmations that the bank and the agencies all rely on.
Misrad HaKlita (Ministry of Aliyah):
Register at your local branch with passport and Teudat Oleh; schedule your absorption-counsellor meeting.
Get your sal klita (absorption-basket) details and the list of benefits and timelines.
Identity, banking, health & phone:
Teudat Zehut — book your biometric appointment (MyVisit / *3450); the card follows by courier in a few weeks. Register your address too.
Bank — open an account (ask for the oleh package) for your Sal Klita deposits; order a debit card and set up the app.
Health fund (kupat cholim) — register with Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet, or Leumit; add family; pick a family doctor.
Phone — get an Israeli SIM (passport is enough) and port your old number if you want.
Phase 2 — The first month: money and home
Bituach Leumi (National Insurance):
Register at your local office with ID, Teudat Oleh, and proof of address; understand your payment schedule.
Apply for child allowances, maternity, or unemployment cover if relevant.
Housing and arnona:
Secure housing and sign the lease (check the standard Israeli terms); pay deposit and first month.
Register for arnona (municipal tax) at the iriya, set up direct debit, and request the oleh discount (hanacha).
Open accounts for electricity, water, and gas, and put them in your name.
Set up a standing order (horaat keva) for each so nothing lapses.
Don't skip the arnona discount: new immigrants can often get a meaningful reduction — but you have to request it, with your Teudat Oleh, at the municipality. It won't be applied automatically.
Phase 2 — The first month: getting mobile
Internet and TV:
Choose your infrastructure and provider, compare packages, and book installation.
Driving licence:
Check whether your licence qualifies for conversion (it depends on your country).
If eligible, visit the licensing office with your original licence, a translation, and passport; if not, register for lessons and the test. Your foreign licence is valid for up to a year meanwhile.
Getting around:
Get a Rav-Kav card (stations, kiosks, or the app) and load fares or a monthly pass; use Moovit for routes.
If you'll drive Route 6 (Kvish 6), register your plate online; set up Pango for parking nationwide.
Buying a car? Research the market and the olim import-tax benefit, get a pre-purchase test, register it, and arrange mandatory + comprehensive insurance.
One time-sensitive flag: licence conversion has a window. Your home licence is generally valid for about your first year — convert within it. The rules and required lessons/tests vary by country of origin, so check your specific case early rather than leaving it.
Phase 3 — The first three months
Hebrew and education:
Register for ulpan (free for new immigrants) via Misrad HaKlita.
Register children for school or gan with their health and school records.
Work, tax and pension:
Register with the employment office if job-seeking; convert professional licences (doctors, lawyers, engineers) if relevant.
If self-employed, register as Osek Patur or Osek Murshe and get a tax number from Mas Hachnasa.
Open a pension/savings account (keren pensia) and set up standing orders for recurring payments.
Community and extras:
Join your local matnas (community centre) and immigrant organisations (Nefesh B'Nefesh, AACI); find your community.
Verify voter registration; sort a military-exemption confirmation letter if over draft age; register pets if you have them.
Get the tax setup right early. Olim receive significant tax benefits — including a ten-year exemption on foreign-source income — but the rules are intricate and worth an accountant's eye. Setting it up correctly from the start is far easier than untangling it later.
Phase 4 — The first year, and onward
Annual rhythms:
File your annual tax return (typically March–April); renew car insurance yearly.
Re-register children for the new school year; renew or replace your lease; update your address if you move.
Integration milestones:
Finish ulpan and honestly assess your Hebrew (take a proficiency test if work needs it).
Build a local support network, learn the holidays and customs, and explore the country region by region.
Know your benefit clocks. Oleh benefits run on different timelines — some last a few years, others (like the foreign-income tax exemption) a full decade. Amounts and durations change, so confirm what applies to you with Misrad HaKlita and an accountant, and don't leave time-limited benefits unclaimed.
Essential apps: Israel runs on your phone
Transport and navigation — Waze (driving), Moovit (public transport), Rav-Kav Online (your travel card), Pango (parking), Kvish 6 (Route 6 tolls), and Gett or Yango (taxis).
Safety and emergency — Red Alert / Tzeva Adom and the Home Front Command (Pikud HaOref) app for alerts and instructions. Install these on day one.
Daily life and payments — Bit and PayBox (the peer-to-peer payment apps everyone uses), Wolt and 10bis (food), the supermarket apps (Shufersal, Rami Levy, Yochananof), and Zap or Pricez for price comparison.
Government, health and banking — your health-fund app (Clalit / Maccabi / Meuhedet / Leumit), My Gov.il, the Misrad HaKlita app, and your bank's app.
If you install just two first, make them Bit and your health-fund app. Bit is how Israelis split bills and pay each other — you'll need it within days — and your health-fund app books doctors, gets prescriptions, and holds your membership card.
Contacts to save, and comforts to build
Save these contacts:
Emergency: 100 police, 101 ambulance, 102 fire.
Your absorption counsellor, your kupat cholim branch, and the local municipality.
Your landlord or building manager, and a go-to electrician and plumber.
Quality-of-life setup:
Get supermarket club cards and pharmacy/petrol loyalty programs — the savings add up.
Find your local services: doctor, dentist, hairdresser, babysitter, post office, pharmacy.
Join a gym or sports club, get a library card, set up Amazon.co.il, and apply for a residents' parking permit (heter hanaya) if you need one.
And keep flashing that Teudat Oleh well beyond the first week — it earns olim discounts on everything from museums to municipal services. It's a small habit that quietly pays for itself again and again.
In closing
This list is long because aliyah is big — but you don't face it all at once. Work it phase by phase: the foundations in week one, money and home in the first month, work and Hebrew and community over three months, and the annual rhythms across the year. Each ticked box is real progress, and the whole thing gets done in time.
If you remember only one thing: carry your Teudat Oleh, book appointments ahead, and start the foundations — phone, bank, health fund, Teudat Zehut, Misrad HaKlita — in your first week. Everything else builds on those.
And whenever a box has you stuck — a document you can't find, an office that won't budge, a benefit you're not sure you qualify for — that's exactly what Olim Advice is here for, free, for every oleh. Procedures, amounts, and benefit timelines change, so confirm current details with the relevant office. B'hatzlacha — and welcome home.
Olim Advice · Free advice for every oleh