Can I arrange a live-in caregiver for my elderly parent in Israel while I live abroad?

The call usually comes after a fall. A daughter in London or Toronto has flown in twice in six weeks, her father cannot manage the stairs alone any more, and someone at the hospital has said the words "ovedet zara" without explaining what follows. What follows is a licensing process, not a hiring decision, and the family member abroad has no standing in it at all.

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Detailed Answer

Israel treats live-in care as a controlled immigration channel. The nursing branch (anaf hasiud) permit is issued by the Population and Immigration Authority to the person who needs the care, on evidence of dependence in daily activities, and it is granted whether or not that person receives the National Insurance long-term care benefit. Income too high for the benefit is one of the recognised eligibility categories, which matters for parents with a foreign pension. Once the permit issues, the family cannot recruit privately or bring in a relative from abroad on a tourist visa. Placement runs exclusively through a licensed private bureau (lishka pratit), which matches a worker, handles the visa, and remains the point of contact if the arrangement breaks down. Bureau fees are capped and are charged both to the employer and, separately and at a regulated level, to the worker.

Your parent, not you, is the employer. That is the point families abroad misread. The obligations are real and enforceable in an Israeli Labour Court: a written contract in a language the worker understands under Section 1C of the Foreign Workers Law 1991, medical insurance and suitable accommodation arranged and paid for by the employer, annual leave, sick pay, pension contributions under the general expansion order, and severance at one month's wage for each year of employment under Section 1 of the Severance Pay Law 1963. Live-in caregivers sit outside the Hours of Work and Rest Law 1951, following the Supreme Court's ruling in HCJ 1678/07 Gluten, so there is no overtime entitlement, but there is a mandatory weekly rest of 25 consecutive hours, and failing to provide it is where most family claims begin. From abroad you can fund all of this and manage it in practice, though the paperwork needs an Israeli address and an Israeli signature, so either your parent signs while still competent or you hold a notarised and apostilled power of attorney. If capacity is already in doubt, the route is guardianship or a continuing power of attorney rather than a POA, an issue covered in our answer on becoming guardian for an elderly parent in Israel from abroad.

In Practice: The employment permit is issued by the Permits Unit of the Population and Immigration Authority and typically takes 3 to 8 weeks, with placement through a licensed bureau adding a further 4 to 12 weeks. The employer must give a written contract in a language the worker understands under Section 1C of the Foreign Workers Law 1991 and pay at least the national minimum wage, NIS 6,443.85 per month from April 2026, before the pension, severance accrual, insurance and accommodation costs that bring the real monthly outlay for a private employer to roughly NIS 8,000 to 9,500. Where the parent qualifies for the National Insurance long-term care benefit, part of that is offset.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• Your parent's cognitive state is deteriorating and no power of attorney exists. Once capacity is lost, only a court-appointed guardian or a validly registered continuing power of attorney can sign the employment contract, and a guardianship application from abroad runs several months.
• The caregiver leaves suddenly, or the bureau replaces one worker with another. Severance, unused leave and the deposit of unpaid entitlements crystallise on the day employment ends, and a family that pays nothing on departure often faces a Labour Court claim two or three years later.
• You are paying the wages from your own foreign account. Israeli tax and National Insurance reporting attaches to the employer of record, and routing money through the wrong person creates both a labour exposure and an unnecessary question from your parent's bank about the source of funds.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We handle the permit application and the bureau contract on your parent's behalf, put the employment terms in writing so a later claim has nothing to attach to, and where capacity has already slipped, take the guardianship route instead.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.