ISRAEL
INNOVATION.
Two years to turn an idea into a company. And it is not a work permit.
The gate is not an immigration officer. It is an incubator: an approved “landing pad” must accept you and say so in writing before the Israel Innovation Authority will even look at your file.
B/2
Visa Type
residence, not work
2 Yrs
Maximum Stay
then convert or leave
2 Yrs
Experience Required
in the field of the idea
100%
Of R&D In Israel
a condition, not a preference
A Recommendation,
Not A Visa.
Israel’s technology sector is roughly a fifth of its GDP, and the Innovation Visa exists to pull founders into it. Announced as a pilot in 2017, the current procedure was approved in 2024 together with the Population and Immigration Authority.
Understand the decision chain before anything else, because almost every misdescription of this route starts here. The Israel Innovation Authority does not issue visas. It evaluates your project and, if it approves, writes a recommendation. PIBA issues the visa. And before either of them will act, a landing pad has to have accepted you.
The Authority also runs the funding programmes a founder here would use — Ideation (Tnufa) at idea stage, the technological incubators above it — and, with the Ministry of Defense, a set of dual-use programmes that are outside the scope of this page.
Five Stages,
In This Order.
Each stage produces the input for the next one. Skipping to the immigration question is the most expensive mistake available on this route: without a landing pad’s letter there is no file to submit.
Win a Landing Pad
Pitch your project to an approved supporting framework — an incubator or accelerator the programme calls a "landing pad". It must issue a formal letter confirming it will host and support you for the duration of your stay in Israel.
Without that letter nothing downstream starts. This is the real gate, not the immigration desk.
Apply to the Innovation Authority
File with the Israel Innovation Authority: business plan, CV, the landing pad letter, and a declaration of the financial means to cover your living costs for the whole stay. A professional evaluator assesses the project and a committee decides.
You must have at least two years of experience in the field of the idea you are proposing.
Recommendation, Not a Visa
Approval produces a formal recommendation letter to the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA). The Innovation Authority does not issue visas and never has — it recommends. PIBA decides.
Read every offer that claims otherwise as a warning sign.
PIBA Issues the B/2
Apply at an Israeli consulate abroad, or — if you are visa-exempt on entry — inside Israel within 30 days of arrival. PIBA issues the B/2 Innovation visa for a period of up to two years.
Spouse and children under 18 do not get innovation visas: they apply separately for B/2 tourist visas, extendable to match your stay.
Build, Then Convert
All R&D must happen inside Israel. If the project matures into a product or a stable company, apply for the B/1 expert work visa at least three months before your current visa expires — recognised as an Expert by that company, as employee or shareholder.
B/1 is where a work permit finally appears. B/2 never was one.
What They Are
Actually Asking For.
Not Israeli
The applicant must be neither a citizen nor a resident of Israel.
Two Years In The Field
Documented experience relevant to the idea you are proposing, and the capacity to carry it forward.
Real Technological Novelty
A high level of technological innovation, a workable feasibility plan, and a project that genuinely needs professional and logistical support to become a product.
Commercial Reach
Significant commercial potential, global markets in particular, on a path that ends in an industrial company established in Israel.
Two conditions sit outside that grid and are missed more often than any of them. All research and development must be carried out inside Israel. And you must file a declaration of the financial means to support yourself for the whole stay — the landing pad contributes nothing towards your living costs.
The Twelve
Landing Pads.
This list is from 2017. It was published when the programme was announced as a pilot, and no newer official source we could find restates it. It is printed here with its date because that is the honest way to print it — take it as a starting point for your own enquiry with the Innovation Authority, never as today’s roster.
Tel Aviv Global
A department of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, not a standalone body.
Samurai Incubate
Japanese seed investor, active in Israel.
TechForGood
Environmental and social impact ventures.
The Trendlines Group
Agritech, food tech and medical devices.
MATI Haifa
SME development centre for Haifa's economy.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
University-linked commercialisation.
Lighthouse
Shared workspace with founder support.
TheHive by Gvahim
Non-profit; integrating skilled newcomers.
Alon MedTech Ventures
Medical technology.
Terralab Ventures
Early-stage venture investor.
Kitchen Hub
Food tech incubator.
Initech
Digital product development.
What a landing pad gives: workspace, technological infrastructure, administrative, business and logistical support, mentorship, and a route into the local ecosystem and its investors. What it does not give: money to live on.
Four Different Things
People Keep Confusing.
Your own means, the idea-stage grant, the incubator programme, and what you owe back are four separate questions with four different answers.
No published figure
The rule asks for a declaration showing you can cover your living costs for the entire stay. Israel publishes no minimum. Any dollar figure you have been quoted is somebody's estimate, not a threshold — and the landing pad contributes nothing towards it.
Up to NIS 200,000
80% of an approved budget capped at NIS 250,000 per application. Prototype, IP protection and patent attorneys, early business development, materials and components, subcontractors and consultants, exhibitions. Explicitly NOT salaries and NOT overheads.
Up to NIS 3.5m
A different, larger programme: up to 85% of an approved budget over an operating period of up to two years, with the host incubator putting in the remaining 15%. You risk no capital of your own — and the incubator takes a substantial stake, reported as high as 50%.
Royalties only
The Innovation Authority shares the development risk and takes no share of the upside. Repayment is due only if the project reaches commercial sales, and then only as a royalty. No bank guarantee, no equity to the Authority, and nothing owed if the venture fails.
Tnufa is money to build the product, not money to live on — salaries and overheads are explicitly excluded. Budget for both separately, or the gap turns up in month three.
Who Cannot
Use This Route.
Israel designates certain states as enemy states — Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq among them — and its law bars the Interior Minister from granting citizenship, residence permits, or permits to enter and stay to their citizens. A humanitarian exception exists; its quota is very small and its subject matter has nothing to do with entrepreneurship or investment.
A second nationality does not automatically resolve this. The restriction attaches to citizenship of a designated state, not to the document you travel on, and we found no official source saying dual nationals are outside it. There may also be consequences under the law of the other country — Iranian law and the Iranian passport itself prohibit travel to Israel.
If any of this describes you, take the question to an Israeli immigration lawyer. Treat any adviser who answers it confidently without seeing your file — or who sells you this route as a migration pathway — as a warning sign. Our Persian guide at /fa/israel says the same thing at greater length, because its whole readership is affected.
The Ones That
Actually Get Asked.
Is the Innovation Visa a work permit?
No, and this is the single most common misunderstanding. B/2 is a residence and visit permit. The holder may not enter an employer–employee relationship with an Israeli company or draw a salary from one, and must work on the approved project only. The work permit arrives later, if at all, as the B/1 expert visa.
How long does it last?
Up to two years. It is meant to be the window in which a technological idea becomes a product or a company — not a settlement route in itself.
Who actually decides?
Three bodies in sequence. A landing pad must accept you and put that in writing. The Israel Innovation Authority then evaluates the project and, if it approves, issues a recommendation. The Population and Immigration Authority issues — or refuses — the visa. Only the third of those is an immigration decision, and only the first is something you can work on directly.
Is the list of twelve landing pads current?
We could not confirm that it is. The list circulating everywhere — Tel Aviv Global, Samurai Incubate, TechForGood, Trendlines, MATI Haifa, Hebrew University, Lighthouse, TheHive by Gvahim, Alon MedTech, Terralab, Kitchen Hub, Initech — comes from the 2017 pilot announcement, and no newer official source we found restates it. Treat it as a starting point for your own enquiry with the Innovation Authority, not as today's roster.
How much money do I need to show?
There is no published minimum. The requirement is a declaration demonstrating the financial resources to cover your living costs throughout your stay. Estimates circulate — commonly $15,000 to $50,000 a year — but they are practitioners' figures, not a rule, and we do not repeat them as one. Israel is an expensive country and the declaration is assessed against real costs.
Does the landing pad pay me anything?
No. It provides workspace, technological infrastructure, administrative, business and logistical support, mentorship, and access to the local ecosystem and investors. It does not fund your living costs, and acceptance carries no commitment to pay you anything at all.
Can Tnufa money pay my salary?
No. Salaries and overheads are explicitly excluded. Tnufa is money to build the thing, not money to live on — budget accordingly, or you discover the gap in month three.
Can my family come with me?
A spouse and children under 18, yes — but not on innovation visas. They apply through the ordinary route for B/2 tourist visas, which can be extended to run alongside your permit for its full duration.
What happens at the end of two years?
If the project has become a product or a stable company, you may apply for the B/1 expert work visa: you must be recognised as an Expert by that company, as an employee or as a shareholder continuing to develop it. File at least three months before your current visa expires. PIBA decides, on a recommendation from the Chief Scientist's office. B/1 carries a work permit, which B/2 never did.
Can nationals of any country apply?
No. Israel designates certain states as enemy states — Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq among them — and its law bars the Interior Minister from granting entry or residence permits to their citizens, outside a narrow humanitarian exception with a very small quota that has nothing to do with entrepreneurship. Holding a second nationality does not automatically remove the restriction, which attaches to citizenship rather than to the passport you travel on. If this describes you, take the question to an Israeli immigration lawyer and treat any adviser who answers it confidently without seeing your file as a warning sign.
Not sure this is
your route?
We do not file Israeli innovation visa applications, and we will say so plainly rather than sell you an introduction. What we do is founder-side work on the routes we can actually run — and telling you honestly which of them fits.