I have an old Israeli conviction from years ago. When does it come off my record, and who can still see it?

The conviction people ask us about is usually twenty years old, arose out of military service or a bad year in their twenties, and has sat untouched since they left the country. The law that governed it was replaced. Since 12 July 2022 the Criminal Information and Rehabilitation of Offenders Law 5779-2019 has stood in place of the old Criminal Register and Rehabilitation of Offenders Law 5741-1981, and it changed both how long an entry follows you and, more sharply, who is allowed to ask you about it at all.

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Detailed Answer

Two periods run one after the other. The first is limitation, set for adults by Section 19. Where no term of imprisonment was imposed and there was no earlier conviction, the period is four years; for offences of a sexual or violent character it is five; where there was a prior conviction, or where a prison sentence of up to five years was imposed, it is seven years plus the length of the sentence; above a five-year sentence it becomes ten years plus the sentence. Section 20 sets shorter periods for those convicted as minors. Once limitation has run, the entry has not disappeared, but the circle of bodies allowed to receive it narrows considerably. The second period is erasure under Section 22, which adds a further stretch of roughly four to ten years for an adult depending on the offence and the sentence, and Section 23 does the same for minors. After erasure the person is treated in law as though he had never been convicted. Alongside those clocks sits the power of the President of the State to shorten a limitation or erasure period in an individual case, which is the route people reach for when a period is running long and something concrete turns on it. The bodies entitled to receive criminal information at all are listed exhaustively in Section 11 and its schedule, and they are public and security bodies rather than ordinary employers.

That last point is the one that changed most and the one non-residents most often get wrong. Section 3(b) prohibits any person from demanding criminal information other than in accordance with the Law, and it catches indirect demands as much as direct ones, including an affidavit, a declaration or a written questionnaire at the bottom of a job application. Section 42(a) makes the demand an offence carrying up to one year of imprisonment, rising to two years where it is connected to an employment decision. An Israeli employer, landlord or business counterparty who asks a candidate abroad to produce his own record is therefore committing an offence, not exercising a right, and the correct answer to the request is that the law does not permit it. What you are entitled to do is look for yourself. Section 4(a) gives every person the right to inspect the criminal information held about him. From outside Israel that is not a walk-in errand: the inspection is keyed to an Israeli identity number, the Israel Police maintains the registry, and someone who cannot present themselves in person needs an Israeli representative acting under a specific power of attorney authenticated by a notary and apostilled in the country where it is signed. Israeli notarial authentication of a signature is fixed by regulation at NIS 197 for the first signatory and NIS 77 for each additional one, and an apostille on the Israeli side costs about NIS 35. Allow three to six weeks for the inspection to come back through a representative. A separate question is what happens when a foreign immigration authority, rather than an employer, asks for an Israeli certificate; that route and its documentation are set out in our answer on obtaining an Israeli police clearance certificate from abroad, and it should not be confused with the personal inspection right.

In Practice: Under Section 19 of the Criminal Information and Rehabilitation of Offenders Law 5779-2019, in force since 12 July 2022, an adult conviction with no custodial sentence and no prior record reaches limitation after four years, five for sexual or violent offences, seven where a prior conviction or a sentence of up to five years is involved plus the sentence, and ten plus the sentence above that; Section 22 then adds an erasure period of roughly a further four to ten years. Section 3(b) forbids anyone to demand your criminal information, with Section 42(a) imposing up to one year of imprisonment, or two years where the demand relates to employment. Inspect your own file under Section 4(a) through the Israel Police; from abroad that needs a specific power of attorney authenticated at NIS 197 for the first signatory under the Notaries Regulations (Service Fees) 5738-1978, and takes about three to six weeks.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• An Israeli employer, bank or professional body has asked you in writing to disclose or produce your criminal record. That request is very likely an offence under Section 3(b), and how you answer it determines whether you are later treated as having volunteered the information.
• You are applying for aliyah, an Israeli professional licence or a security-related role. Those decisions are made by bodies that may lawfully receive the entry under Section 11 even after limitation, so the practical question is what they will see rather than whether the period has run.
• The periods are close to running and something turns on the difference. An application to shorten the period is a substantive submission with supporting material, not a form, and it needs to be built well before the deadline that matters to you.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We inspect the registry entry on your behalf under a properly authenticated power of attorney, work out exactly where you sit on the Section 19 and Section 22 clocks, and answer an unlawful request for disclosure in terms that close it off.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.