- Ways to apply
- Law of Return (a Jew, or the child or grandchild of a Jew, and their spouses)
- Dual citizenship
- Kept, however you apply
Each answer assumes none of your ancestors became a citizen of another country before their child was born. Below is what changes each answer.
On this page›
- 01Who qualifies
- 02Dates that matter
- 03Through your mother
- 04Keeping your citizenship
- 05Ways to apply
- 06The documents
- 07What it takes
- 08Where the records live
- 09Places that changed countries
- 10Law changes
- 11Other options
- 12Sources
Who qualifies, generation by generation
LIKELY
Can you claim Israeli citizenship through a parent?
Law of Return
As the child of a Jewish parent you have the right to immigrate to Israel and acquire citizenship, and your spouse comes with you.
What would settle itWhether the family intends to live in Israel, at least initially, since citizenship is acquired through immigration rather than from abroad.
What changes the answer
LIKELY
Can you claim Israeli citizenship through a grandparent?
Law of Return
As the grandchild of a Jew you have the right to immigrate to Israel and acquire citizenship, and your spouse comes with you. Citizenship follows immigration; it is not granted to people who stay abroad.
What would settle itWhether the family intends to live in Israel, at least initially, since citizenship is acquired through immigration rather than from abroad.
What changes the answer
UNLIKELY
Can you claim Israeli citizenship through a great-grandparent?
Law of Return
The Law of Return reaches the child and grandchild of a Jew, not the great-grandchild, unless someone closer in your family is Jewish.
What would settle itWhether a parent or grandparent is Jewish, which puts you within section 4A.
The dates that matter
- 2025
Claiming through your mother or grandmother
Israel’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.
Dual citizenship with your home country
You keep your citizenship.
On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.
Every way to apply, and the law behind it
- LIKELY
Through a parent
- LIKELY
Through a grandparent
The law
- Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh. Law of Return, 5710-1950, s.1 and s.4A (rights of family members: child and grandchild of a Jew, and spouses), s.1 ↗
- The rights under this Law are vested in a child and a grandchild of a Jew and in their spouses. Law of Return, 5710-1950, s.1 and s.4A (rights of family members: child and grandchild of a Jew, and spouses), s.4A ↗
- The Minister of the Interior may refuse an oleh’s visa to a person with a criminal past likely to endanger public welfare; the Supreme Court upheld such a refusal of Meyer Lansky. Law of Return s.2(b)(3); Lansky v. Minister of the Interior, HCJ 442/71, IsrSC 26(2) 337 (1972) ↗
- A 2025 bill to delete the grandchild clause was voted down 18-54 at its preliminary reading on 9 July 2025. Times of Israel, 9 July 2025: bill to limit the Law of Return shot down ↗
- The rights of a Jew under this Law are vested in a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, and the spouse of a child and of a grandchild of a Jew. Law of Return, 5710-1950, s.1 and s.4A (rights of family members: child and grandchild of a Jew, and spouses), s.4A ↗
What would settle an unsure case
- Whether the family intends to live in Israel, at least initially, since citizenship is acquired through immigration rather than from abroad.
- Whether a parent or grandparent is Jewish, which puts you within section 4A.
The documents, as the rule lists them
Law of Return
Through a parent or grandparent
- Proof of the Jewish ancestor (a rabbi’s letter, community records, or documents such as a ketubah or Jewish burial record)
- Birth and marriage records linking each generation
- Evidence that the qualifying Jewish ancestor did not convert to another religion; a July 2025 bill to remove the grandchild clause was defeated 18 to 54
Most countries also want proof that your ancestor didn’t become a citizen somewhere else before their child was born: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter saying there isn’t one.
What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides
Law of Return
- Time
- 3–6 months from application to the oleh visa, then citizenship on arrival.
- Cost
- About $200–500 in documents and translations. The process itself is free.
- The hard part
- Documenting Jewish ancestry to the Jewish Agency’s standard: a parent’s or grandparent’s Jewish marriage certificate, synagogue record or a rabbi’s letter.
- Who decides
- The Jewish Agency, then the Israeli consulate.
- The first record
- Proof of a Jewish parent or grandparent, from Family papers, the synagogue, or a rabbi’s letter. Open a file with the Jewish Agency (Nefesh B’Nefesh in the U.S.); they list exactly which documents they accept. jewishagency.org ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- Online with Nefesh B’Nefesh (U.S. and Canada), which passes the file to the Jewish Agency; the Jewish Agency’s Global Service Center for other countries. After approval the Israeli consulate issues the aliyah visa. office list ↗
- How
- Online; you appear in person
- Fee
- No fee
- Decision
- 3–18 months
What goes in the file (12)›
- Passport valid at least one year beyond the planned aliyah date
- Long-form birth certificate, apostilled
- Civil marriage, divorce or death certificates as applicable, apostilled
- Proof of Judaism: rabbi’s letter (and for a Jewish father or grandfather, their birth certificate and their parents’ marriage certificate)
- Supporting statement (reasons for aliyah and plans)
- Recent colour family photograph
- Waiver of confidentiality (one per family)
- Health declaration (one per adult)
- Entry/exit form covering seven years
- Proof of living outside Israel
- Personal status affidavit, notarised and apostilled (valid six months)
- Criminal background check (FBI Identity History Summary, apostilled; valid six months)
What goes wrong (6)›
- Citizenship is not granted abroad. It follows immigration: the oleh receives Israeli citizenship on arrival, and a family that does not move does not get it.
- The Jewish Agency says three to six months if documents are ready; Nefesh B’Nefesh plans on 8–10 months of paperwork before the flight and 8–18 months overall.
- The process itself is free; Nefesh B’Nefesh arranges one-way flights for North American olim.
- The NBN online file is opened with an email address (a new login code is sent each visit) or a Facebook, Google or Yahoo account. After submission the family gets a personal page to upload documents, see what is still missing, track the file, reach its Aliyah Advisor and book the flight.
- Great-grandchildren are outside s.4A unless a closer ancestor is Jewish. A July 2025 bill to drop the grandchild clause was defeated 18–54; a fresh bill was filed afterwards and should be watched.
- From GB, AU, NZ, ZA, BR, AR: files open with the Jewish Agency’s Global Service Center (online at the.jewishagency.org), not Nefesh B’Nefesh; UK olim also work with the Jewish Agency directly.
source ↗
Fees are each office’s published fee, converted to U.S. dollars.
Where each record lives, and how to ask for it
other
A rabbi of a recognised synagogue or temple affiliated with a rabbinical organisation (for North America), who writes the proof-of-Judaism letter
The family’s own congregation, or the congregation where the Jewish parent or grandparent was a member, married or was buried. For patrilineal or grandparent lines the letter names the Jewish father or grandfather.
- Ask
- In person, in English
- Fee
- 0 USD
- Takes
- 1–13 weeks
Good to know (3)›
- The letter must be on official letterhead, written within the past year, signed in ink (digital signatures are not accepted), and say how the rabbi knows the applicant.
- Supporting evidence the Jewish Agency accepts: a ketubah, bar/bat mitzvah certificate, burial of a parent or grandparent in a Jewish cemetery, synagogue or Jewish-organisation membership, or any document showing a parent or grandparent was Jewish.
- The qualifying Jewish ancestor must not have joined another religion; a ketubah is not accepted as the civil marriage record.
source ↗
birth
The civil registrar of the place of birth of the Jewish parent or grandparent (a U.S. state vital records office, or the European civil or Jewish metrical registers for an immigrant ancestor)
For patrilineal or grandparent claims the Jewish Agency may ask for the Jewish ancestor’s birth certificate and their parents’ marriage certificate to link the rabbi’s letter to the applicant. European Jewish registers are indexed by JewishGen and national archives.
- Ask
- Online, in English
- Takes
- 2–17 weeks
Good to know (2)›
- Long-form birth certificates listing both parents are required; hospital certificates are not accepted. U.S. records need an apostille; Canadian records a chain authentication.
- Documents in English, French, Russian or Hebrew need no translation; others need notarised English or Hebrew translations.
source ↗
marriage
The civil registrar where each marriage in the chain took place (civil marriage, divorce and death certificates as applicable)
- Ask
- Online, in English
- Takes
- 2–17 weeks
Good to know (1)›
- A ketubah or a get is not sufficient, nor is a marriage licence: the civil certificate, apostilled.
source ↗
death
The Jewish cemetery or burial society (chevra kadisha) holding a parent’s or grandparent’s burial record, as supporting proof of Jewish identity
The cemetery where the ancestor is buried; JewishGen’s worldwide burial registry (JOWBR) finds the cemetery.
- Ask
- By email, in English
- Takes
- 1–13 weeks
Good to know (1)›
- JewishGen is a nonprofit index, not a government record; the cemetery’s own letter or plot record is what goes in the file.
source ↗
other
FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (Identity History Summary), apostilled by the U.S. Department of State
- Ask
- Online, in English
- Fee
- 18 USD
- Takes
- 1–6 weeks
Good to know (1)›
- Valid for six months; time it so it is still valid at the interview and the visa. Federal documents are apostilled only by the State Department’s Office of Authentications (about $20).
source ↗
Translations
- Into
- Hebrew or English
- Who may translate
- No translation needed
- About
- $0–$50 a page
Documents in English, French, Russian or Hebrew are accepted as they are. Anything else needs a notarised English or Hebrew translation.
source ↗
The passport
- Where
- Population and Immigration Authority office in Israel, booked on govisit.gov.il, paid with an Israeli card. New olim get an exit letter for the first three months, a teudat ma’avar (laissez-passer, up to five years) from 90 days, and a first passport (up to five years) only from the 366th day after aliyah, if they spent enough of that year in Israel.
- Fee
- About $87
- Time
- 12–14 months
source ↗
Places on old papers that lead to Israel
If your family’s records name one of these, Israel’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.
Recent and pending changes
Already in the rule
We re-read the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person checks the rule before we update anything here.
If descent doesn’t reach you
One residence program leads to Israel without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.
Every source on this page
3 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing, then the bills and rulings we follow.
- LawLaw of Return, 5710-1950, s.1 and s.4A (rights of family members: child and grandchild of a Jew, and spouses) · s.1; s.4A
- LawLaw of Return s.2(b)(3); Lansky v. Minister of the Interior, HCJ 442/71, IsrSC 26(2) 337 (1972)
- LawTimes of Israel, 9 July 2025: bill to limit the Law of Return shot down
- RecordsFamily papers, the synagogue, or a rabbi’s letter: Proof of a Jewish parent or grandparent
- RecordsAliyah application (Nefesh B’Nefesh online file for the U.S. and Canada; the Jewish Agency’s digital file elsewhere)
- RecordsJewish Agency interview with the regional aliyah emissary (shaliach), arranged by the Jewish Agency once the uploaded file is reviewed; the aliyah visa appointment follows the approval email
- RecordsOther records: A rabbi of a recognised synagogue or temple affiliated with a rabbinical organisation
- RecordsDeath records: The Jewish cemetery or burial society
- RecordsThe passport: where, the fee and the wait
- WatchKnesset plenum record, 9 July 2025: vote on the Law of Return (Amendment – Family Members’ Rights) Bill, 18 for, 54 against
- WatchKnesset: bill P/25/3171
- WatchKnesset: bill P/25/6176, tabled 20 October 2025
Not legal advice. Every answer comes from the country’s own laws and is tested against real cases. Where the law isn’t clear, we say “possible” rather than guess.