Starting a Business · Israel
How to start a business in Israel as a foreigner (2026)
Israel shaded by its starting a business status
Starting a business in Israel as a foreigner: moderate.
FrameworkCompanies Law, 5759-1999, administered by the Registrar of Companies at the Israel Corporations Authority (Ministry of Justice); tax registration with the Israel Tax Authority and VAT; immigration under the Entry into Israel Law (B/5 investor visa limited to US citizens)
Israel permits 100% foreign ownership of private limited companies with no statutory minimum share capital, and online incorporation through the Registrar of Companies typically takes 3–10 business days once documents are in order. In practice, foreigners face friction from notarization/apostille requirements, the need for a local tax representative, and especially bank-account onboarding which can take 8–12 weeks and is the main bottleneck; the dedicated investor visa (B/5) is available only to US citizens, so most other nationals rely on general work-permit routes.
Key points
100% foreign ownership is permitted; no local shareholder or Israeli-resident director is mandated by the Companies Law, 5759-1999. Non-Israeli applicants submit passport details and a certified copy where Israeli-ID fields appear.
No statutory minimum share capital under the Companies Law, 5759-1999; companies are typically registered with nominal capital (e.g., NIS 100). Israeli banks, however, commonly expect paid-up capital of around NIS 10,000 before opening a corporate account.
Core steps: (1) reserve a Hebrew company name with the Registrar; (2) prepare Articles of Association, founders' declaration and director consents (notarized/apostilled and translated to Hebrew if executed abroad); (3) file online via the Corporations Authority portal on gov.il; (4) register with the Israel Tax Authority for corporate tax and VAT and with Bituach Leumi if hiring; (5) open a corporate bank account.
The Registrar typically processes complete online applications within 3–10 business days; the state registration fee is approximately NIS 2,176 online (NIS 2,645 on paper) in 2026. End-to-end onboarding including banking commonly runs 2–3 months because the bank-account step takes 8–12 weeks.
Israel has no general entrepreneur or 'golden' visa; the B/5 investor visa (introduced 2016) is restricted to US citizens who own at least 50% of an Israeli business and demonstrate substantial investment, income above family needs, and plans to employ Israelis. Other foreign founders rely on B/1 expert work permits.
In the last published World Bank Doing Business 2020 report, Israel ranked 35th overall and 28th specifically for 'Starting a Business', with roughly 11 days to register — placing it in the upper tier globally but behind leading OECD peers.
Timeline - major decisions & events
Under the phased 'Israel Invoices' continuous-transaction-control reform, businesses must now obtain a real-time Tax Authority allocation number for B2B invoices above NIS 10,000 (pre-VAT) to deduct input VAT, tightening compliance obligations for new and existing firms.
Israel Tax Authority (gov.il) ↗Israel increased the standard VAT rate to 18% to fund war-related spending, raising the indirect-tax burden on virtually all newly registered businesses and traders.
PwC Tax Summaries (Israel Tax Authority) ↗The Corporations Authority stopped accepting manual filings; all company registrations, annual reports and changes must now be submitted electronically through the Authority's portal, completing the registry's digital transformation for domestic and foreign companies alike.
Israeli Corporations Authority (gov.il) ↗An Economic Arrangements reform created a simplified status for micro-businesses (turnover up to ~NIS 120,000), letting them report income directly to the Tax Authority via a digital portal instead of filing full annual returns, lowering the entry barrier for sole proprietors.
The Jerusalem Post ↗The Knesset amended the Companies Law and the Digital Communications with Public Bodies Law to mandate electronic filing with the Registrar and to require every company to register an official digital address, providing the legal basis for the 2024 paperless transition.
Barnea Jaffa Lande & Co. ↗The World Bank's final Doing Business report flagged 'Starting a Business' as a relative weakness for Israel, with multiple procedures and fees, context that motivated subsequent digitization of company registration and tax filing.
World Bank ↗The Ministry of Justice consolidated the Companies Registrar and other corporate registries into a single Corporations Authority responsible for registration, supervision and enforcement, centralizing the body that today processes business incorporation.
Israeli Corporations Authority (gov.il) ↗The Knesset passed a comprehensive Companies Law that modernized incorporation and corporate governance, replacing most of the Mandate-era Companies Ordinance and permitting single-shareholder companies, the foundation of Israel's current business-formation framework. It entered into force on 1 February 2000.
Israel Ministry of Justice ↗Israel - other topics
Starting a Business in other countries
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