By Yoav Noy, Partner |
The Ministry of Economy and Industry has announced this week the Allocation of permits to employ 1,500 foreign workers for industry. Applications under this allocation should be submitted no later than 31 August 2022.
New regulations were established In order to enable the employment of skilled foreign workers in the Israeli industry, which allows the allocation of a quota of 1,500 foreign workers to Industrial companies, at a salary not less than 130% of the average salary in the market (current average salary is currently 10,428 NIS per month).
Permits for the employment of foreign workers to employers in the industrial sector will be issued by the Ministry of Interior in accordance with the recommendation of the Industries Administration in the Ministry of Economy and Industry. The current balance for this allocation is about 1,200 permits.
The permit that will be provided to eligible employees will be valid until December 31, 2023.
Who can apply?
The following cumulative terms have been announced:
- Israeli companies in the industrial sector (in accordance with the definition of the Israeli Statistic Bureau) can submit an application, to employ skilled workers who are in short supply in accordance with the list found in the regulations.
- The permit allowed to the employer will not be more than 10% of local employees employed by the company. For example: in a company that has up to 20 Israeli employees, it will be possible to employ up to 2 foreign employees under this regulation.
- A condition for the validity of the permits to be granted for the employment of foreign workers in group A will be that the employer will pay the foreign worker a wage equal to the average wage for professions in this group, according to the Israeli Statistic Bureau, according to the data published at the end of each calendar year.
In groups B, C, and D, the salary for the foreign workers will not be less than 130% of the average salary in the Israeli market.
Several separate applications can be submitted, for each of the groups according to the procedure:
- Group A – industrial and production engineers and mechanical engineers;
- Group B – among others, engineers, technicians, electricians, welders, mechanics, and those in a similar profession;
- Group C – storage personnel, machine operators, and carpenters;
- Group D – unique knowledge, skills and expertise.
