Staying in Israel After the Year: Your Options

Start with your legal status

What you're allowed to do, and what you may be required to do, depends on your legal status in Israel.

If one of your parents is or was an Israeli citizen, you may already be considered a citizen, with army obligations, whether or not you hold an Israeli passport. The Mahal program's site, for example, puts anyone with a parent born in Israel, or a parent who made aliyah before the child turned 18, in a separate category with different rules. Get this checked with an Israeli consulate or the army before you extend your stay.

This guide was checked in October 2026 against the official pages listed in the sources. Rules on army service change often. Treat everything here as a starting point and confirm with the office that handles it.

Studying for a degree in English

Israeli universities and colleges offer some full degrees taught in English, mostly through their international schools. Israel's Council for Higher Education, the government body that oversees higher education, approves these programs and has a program search on its site. Fields, admission rules and tuition vary by institution, so check each one directly.

• Ask how the degree is viewed back home if you may return for graduate school or a licensed profession.
• If you make aliyah, look at the Student Authority, part of the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, which gives tuition help to new immigrants who live and study in Israel. You have to apply each year. For the 2026-2027 academic year, gov.il lists November 10 as the deadline for new first-semester students.

Making aliyah

Aliyah (עֲלִיָּה) means immigrating to Israel and becoming a citizen under the Law of Return, the law that sets who qualifies. Two organizations officially assist.

• The Jewish Agency for Israel handles eligibility. Its site says you open an aliyah file online, then have a personal interview with your original documents, and that the process usually takes three to six months depending on how quickly you supply documents.
• Nefesh B'Nefesh assists people making aliyah from North America with guidance before and after the move.
• Families from the UK, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere start with the Jewish Agency, which says it works in dozens of countries.

Army service

There are two broad routes, depending on whether you become a citizen.

If you make aliyah, you're drafted like other new immigrants. The Nefesh B'Nefesh Lone Soldiers Program, run with Friends of the IDF, supports immigrants serving without family in Israel before, during and after service. It says clearly that it helps people who are drafting and doesn't recruit. Its site explains that length of service is set by your "age of arrival," which the army works out from your entries, exits and lengths of stay, not only your aliyah date. So time on your program can count. Ask with your exact dates.

If you don't make aliyah, Mahal is the track for volunteers from abroad who are eligible under the Law of Return. Mahal's site lists an 18-month service for people within set limits of time spent in Israel, and a standard length of 32 months for men and 24 for women otherwise. For someone who entered as a tourist, the count starts at age 16: up to 12 months in Israel, or up to 18 months if the time was in a recognized program such as a yeshiva or seminary. The army does the official count, and Mahal says eligibility is confirmed only after you arrive.

Hesder for students from abroad

Hesder (הֶסְדֵּר) is an arrangement that combines yeshiva study with army service. Mahal's site describes a Mahal Hesder track for non-citizens of 21 months in total: 17 months of active service and 4 months of unpaid yeshiva study. You register through the hesder yeshiva where you study. Nefesh B'Nefesh says participants must be 18 to 21 and can't have spent more than 18 cumulative months in Israel.

For new immigrants, Nefesh B'Nefesh describes a longer hesder program of 32 to 44 months overall. Your yeshiva's office is the place to start.

National service

Sherut leumi (שֵׁרוּת לְאֻמִּי), national service, is a year or two of full-time volunteering in places like schools and hospitals. It's the common alternative to the army for religious women. Nefesh B'Nefesh describes three ways in:

• As a new immigrant, after getting an army exemption, which can only be obtained once you've made aliyah.
• As a non-citizen over 18, on a volunteer visa valid for 12 months. No exemption is needed, but you need proof you're eligible for aliyah, private health insurance in Israel and an Israeli bank account.
• As an Israeli citizen who doesn't live in Israel, which also requires an army exemption.

You sign up through a coordinator at one of the service organizations. That page was last updated in March 2023, so confirm the details.

What to do next

1. 1Write down your status: citizenship, your parents' citizenship, your visa and its end date, and every date you've entered and left Israel.
2. 2Pick the one or two options you're serious about and contact the official office for each.
3. 3Talk it through with your parents before you sign anything. Several of these choices are hard to undo.

Common questions

Can I serve in the army without becoming a citizen?

Yes, through Mahal, if you're eligible under the Law of Return and meet its conditions. Mahal's site sets limits on time already spent in Israel, and the army makes the final count.

One of my parents is Israeli. Does that change things?

Very likely. You may already be a citizen with army obligations, and different rules apply. Get official advice from an Israeli consulate or the army before staying longer.

Can a woman from abroad do national service without making aliyah?

Nefesh B'Nefesh lists a route for non-citizens over 18 on a 12-month volunteer visa, with conditions such as proof of aliyah eligibility and private health insurance. Confirm current rules with them.