Returning Residents Rights in the National Insurance Institute

Social Security is the mechanism that ensures that we get the rights we deserve from the state. And alongside the rights there are also, how not, debts. When you live in Israel, it’s easy. You set aside a relative portion of your salary to the state and in return, receive medical rights, benefits and more. But what about Social Security abroad?

But when you leave the country, especially for relocation, the issue has different aspects. For example, who trusts your health insurance and that of your family members? Is it the employer who moved you or do you need to take care of private insurance yourself?

In order to clarify the issue of Social Security abroad for mobility, allow us to divide you into two groups: residents and residents of Israel who are abroad.

Payment of National Insurance for those staying in the sand

When going to relocation, you must decide whether or not to disconnect residency. This decision does not affect your citizenship, but rather your rights and obligations as residents of this country. If you decide not to cut off residency, you are considered “a resident of Israel staying abroad”. As such, you are entitled to all the obligations that the citizens of Israel have by law – you are obligated to pay National Insurance contributions and health insurance contributions to the National Insurance Institute, as well as are entitled to receive benefits according to the rules set out in the law. Therefore, the payment of National Insurance for those staying in the sand should be arranged as soon as possible.

That is, during your stay abroad you must pay the National Insurance Institute – if you do not pay, there will be consequences such as denying you eligibility for medical services for a period of several months.

If you have no income, you will be required to pay the minimum set out in the law. If you have income from abroad (not from an Israeli employer), you will be charged insurance premiums according to the assessment received by the IRS. Insurance contribution rate: 5% health insurance contributions and 7% National Insurance contributions. If you receive wages from an Israeli employer, it is mandatory to pay and deduct insurance premiums. If you receive wages from a foreign employer, these rates can even increase to 15 percent.

Health insurance for a returning resident

An Israeli resident who has been abroad for at least two consecutive years and has not paid health insurance contributions to the National Insurance Institute over a period of at least 12 months will be entitled to health services in Israel only after a waiting period. It is possible to redeem this waiting period for a special fee, thus receiving the medical services immediately.

Calculation of the waiting period:

• Anyone who stayed abroad until 01.11.2008 will be calculated for him a two-month waiting period for each year of stay abroad.
• Anyone who stayed abroad after 01.11.2008 will be calculated for him a waiting period of only one month for each year of stay abroad.
• And in any case, the waiting period is mostly six months, when there are at least 25 consecutive days in Israel during this period.

How do you pay Social Security?

If you decide not to cut off residency and continue to pay National Insurance contributions abroad, you must go to the nearest National Insurance branch to report your trip. At the branch you will be asked to fill out Form 6101 Perennial Accountability and payments can be made on the site, through checks, by standing order or from a power of attorney on your behalf.

National Insurance after expediting residency

Have you cut off your residency? Great – you’re done with Social Security for now.

Resident’s rights returning to Social Security

Have you cut off residency and after staying abroad have decided to return? If it’s been four years and you meet the criteria – congratulations!

You are a returning resident and are entitled to the rights of a returning resident in social security.

Read about residency disconnection criteria

Once you have settled your position as a returning resident of the National Insurance Institute and the Ministry of Absorption and Aliyah, you deserve to receive benefits and make payments legally.

Receiving medical services

After the insurance and collection officer has determined that you are indeed a resident of Israel through Form Bell/628, you will be entitled to receive medical services only after a maximum of six months of waiting period. You, like the citizens of the country who have been abroad and have not paid for two years, can redeem the waiting period for a special fee.

Important: Sometimes it takes a while for you to be recognized as a resident of Israel and granted the rights of a returning resident in the National Insurance Institute and therefore, if you decide to redeem the waiting period, transfer the redemption amount as soon as you return to Israel, in order to ensure reimbursements for medical expenses.

In order to receive the medical services and enjoy the rights of a returning resident in the National Insurance Institute, according to the Health Insurance Law, you must fill out a registration form for the health plan of your choice in the National Insurance Institute.

Exemptions from waiting period:

• Those who were first made immigrate according to the Law of Return, including those who were recognized as an “immigrant citizen” for the first time by the Ministry of Absorption.
• Minor up to the age of 18.
• “Returning minor” – someone who left Israel as a minor, even if he returned to Israel as an adult. He must come up with a certificate from the Ministry of Absorption or the assessor that he is a “returning minor”.
• An Israeli resident who stayed abroad and paid insurance premiums regularly and without arrears exceeding 12 months.

Eligibility for allowances

If it is found suitable from the National Insurance Institute, a returning resident will be entitled to allowances: maternity grant, child allowance, child support, alimony, Irish, family members of a deceased person in hostilities, work injuries, reserves, ringworm victims, victims of blood transfusion (AIDS), victims of accidents, disability, special services for the severely disabled, mobility, injury while volunteering, old age pension, income support, victims of hostilities, victims of hostilities, Prisoners of Zion.

Upon arrival in Israel, you are not entitled to allowances given as compensation for loss of income from work such as maternity allowances, pregnancy retention, unemployment, bankruptcy and corporate liquidation. For them you will need to accumulate a required period of work as residents.

• Old age pension: All the insurance periods you accumulated while living in Israel and were residents of Israel are taken into account for calculating your period of eligibility. Calculator entitlement to old age pensions .
• Disability pension: Returning residents will be entitled to an allowance, if the loss of their work capacity is caused when they were Residents of Israel.
• Child allowance: Like any resident of Israel, you are entitled to a child allowance for any child under the age of 18. In order to receive the allowance, you will need to submit a personal claim form for a child allowance at the National Insurance Institute.

Income Support

In your first year in Israel, you will receive a response, treatment and accompaniment from the Ministry of Absorption for returning residents and in some cases, you can also receive an income support allowance from the National Insurance Institute as a complement to the support provided by the Ministry of Absorption.

To receive the allowance, you must fill out a claim form to secure income and submit it to the nearest National Insurance branch. The form must be accompanied by a certificate from the Ministry of Absorption about the period you received support from them.

Stay in a country with which there is a social convention

If you have moved to live in a country that has a social convention with Israel, and you have arranged with the National Insurance Institute the insurance premiums in that country – your rights in Israel as a whole are preserved. There is a separate obligation to pay health tax even when moving to a treaty country.

And anyway, now that you’re back and you’re a citizen of this country, you have a duty to pay your Social Security contributions legally.