Documents & Apostille Q&A

An Israeli police clearance, a certificate confirming no criminal record, is issued by the Israel Police under the Crime Register and Rehabilitation of Offenders Law 1981. Because access to the criminal register is restricted, the certificate is issued for a specific foreign authority that requested it, such as an immigration or licensing body, rather than handed out freely. For use abroad it must then be apostilled, and the whole process can be handled remotely through an Israeli consulate or a representative in Israel.

Not strictly, but in practice it needs to work in Hebrew. A foreign-language power of attorney is valid, yet the Land Registry, banks, and courts will require a notarised Hebrew translation before they act on it, and for property deals the document usually must meet a specific irrevocable form. The clean approach is to have your Israeli lawyer draft the power of attorney in Hebrew, or bilingually, and to sign it before a notary abroad with the certification the Notaries Law 1976 requires, then apostille it.

Rarely in practice. A power of attorney's reach is defined by its wording, and Israeli banks and the Land Registry each demand their own specific form. Banks generally insist on a bank-specific power of attorney, often on their own template, while the Land Registry (Tabu) requires a specific, usually irrevocable power identifying the property by block and parcel for any sale or transfer. A single broad document is often refused by one or both, so non-residents usually sign separate, purpose-built powers of attorney.

You need a separate Israeli order. A French acte de notoriété identifies the heirs under French law, but Israel does not treat it as operative title over Israeli assets. An estate with property or accounts in Israel needs its own succession order (tzav yerusha) or will execution order from the Inheritance Registrar under the Succession Law 1965. The acte de notoriété is filed as supporting evidence, apostilled and translated into Hebrew, and an Israeli bank or the Land Registry acts on the Israeli order, not the French deed.

The one document that always needs an apostille is the power of attorney authorising your Israeli lawyer to sign the contract and register the purchase. It must be signed before a notary, apostilled in your home country, and translated into Hebrew before the Land Registry (Tabu) will accept it. If you buy through a company, its incorporation certificate and a board resolution also need apostilles. A passport copy is usually notarised rather than apostilled.

The apostille itself costs GBP 45 per document through the FCDO Legalisation Office standard postal service, or GBP 75 for the premium same-day route used by registered businesses and agents. Add solicitor or notary fees where a document must be notarised first, often GBP 50 to 150, and a Hebrew certified translation in Israel of roughly NIS 200 to 500 per document under the Notaries Law 1976. Both the United Kingdom and Israel are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention, so no consular legalisation is needed on top.

You order an FBI Identity History Summary, then have it apostilled by the US Department of State in Washington DC, not by a state Secretary of State, because it is a federal document. Israel requires the clearance because a criminal past can bar aliyah under Section 2(b)(3) of the Law of Return 1950, and the Jewish Agency and Israeli consulates want it recent, usually within three to six months. After the apostille you add a certified Hebrew translation before submitting it.

Not automatically. An England and Wales Lasting Power of Attorney is a foreign document, and Israeli banks and the Land Registry frequently refuse it even when it is apostilled and translated. For acting on Israeli assets, an Israeli notarised power of attorney, or the Israeli continuing power of attorney under the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 1962, is usually required. The safe step is to put an Israeli power of attorney in place before capacity is lost.

No, you do not apostille the passport itself. A passport is government identification, and no US Secretary of State will apostille it directly. What an Israeli bank or lawyer needs is a certified true copy: a US notary certifies the copy, and the apostille then attaches to the notary's certificate. An Israeli consulate or an Israeli lawyer can certify the copy instead, which removes the apostille step entirely.

Israeli pension funds and the National Insurance Institute periodically require a life certificate (ishur chaim), a form confirming you are alive, signed in front of a notary or an Israeli consul and often apostilled before it is sent to Israel. A notary certifies your identity and signature under the Notaries Law 1976, for a fixed fee of around NIS 200. Missing the deadline usually causes the fund to suspend payments until a valid certificate arrives, which can take several weeks to restore.

An Israeli succession order or will execution order is a court-type document, so it is apostilled at a Magistrates Court (which apostilles judicial and Inheritance Registrar documents), not at the Foreign Ministry. You take the certified order, get the apostille under the Hague Convention 1961, then have a certified translation prepared in the destination country. Foreign heirs use this apostilled order to have Israeli assets recognised, or to reseal the order, in their home probate.

The apostille must come from the country that issued the document, not the country where you now live. A US birth certificate needs a US state apostille even if you are in London or Tel Aviv, and your local authority cannot certify a foreign public document. You mail the document to the issuing country's competent authority or use an apostille agent, and for a non-Hague issuing country you use consular legalization instead.