Israel Work Permit for a Foreign Cook: Ethnic Restaurant Rules

Search locally first: 72% of the 1,010 Japanese nationals in Israel are permanent residents, so a settled Japanese cook may need no work permit from you at all. For a new hire, Israel's foreign worker system has an "ethnic restaurants" category (2025 fees: NIS 1,040 application, NIS 8,290 levy, both employer costs) but JETRO does not state its conditions or quota, so ask the Population and Immigration Authority before you recruit. We found no official chef salary figure; the alternative expert route needs at least NIS 26,300 a month.

1. A settled community, unlike the Gulf

MAFF counted 320 Japanese restaurants in Israel in 2025, unchanged from 2023, more than the UAE's 190. MOFA recorded 1,010 Japanese nationals on 1 October 2025, down 2.9%: 725 (72%) were permanent residents, 285 long-term residents. That is the opposite of the Gulf, where almost everyone is tied to a work visa. A Japanese cook already living in Israel with permanent status may not need a work permit from you at all; check each candidate's status and start the search locally before assuming you need to sponsor from abroad. Israel is not one of Japan's 32 working holiday partners (MOFA, 2026), so that route does not exist.

2. The ethnic restaurant category: what is confirmed, what is not

JETRO reports that Israel permits foreign employment only for outstanding skill, expertise not available locally, or labour-short sectors such as agriculture and construction, with quotas set by sector and sometimes by nationality. Within that system, JETRO's table of employer charges includes a specific line for ethnic restaurants, including cooks:

The 2024 figures were NIS 1,000 and NIS 8,020; 2026 figures were not published where we checked. This is the page's central unresolved question: JETRO does not set out the conditions a restaurant must meet to use this category, including how many foreign cooks it may employ or what it must show about its cuisine. Those conditions decide whether your restaurant qualifies at all, so before recruiting, ask the Population and Immigration Authority directly: does our restaurant qualify as an "ethnic restaurant" under this category, how many foreign cooks may we employ under it, and what must we show about the menu. Budget both the fee and the levy as employer costs; do not plan to recover either from the chef's pay.

3. Pay: no official figure, and the expert route's floor

We found no official Israeli wage figure for chefs or cooks, in Hebrew or English. The only salary rule JETRO gives is for the alternative expert route: a foreign expert's monthly salary must be at least twice the Israeli average wage, NIS 13,153 in January 2025, putting the floor at about NIS 26,300 a month. Few restaurant chefs are paid at that level, so the expert route mainly suits an executive chef or a short guest stay, not a line cook. Israel's minimum wage, NIS 6,247.67 a month since 1 April 2025, is not a useful benchmark for a skilled chef either. Price the role against what the chef earns in Japan and, if you can, against a permanent resident's expectations from the local Japanese community rather than an imported figure.

4. The sequence: permit, then the B/1 visa

For stays of 90 days or more a year, JETRO describes: the employer obtains the work permit before the worker enters Israel; a B/1 work visa is then applied for at the Israeli embassy once a work permit recommendation is issued; entry and exit are through Ben Gurion Airport only; the visa is renewed yearly and, for Japanese nationals, total stay is limited to 63 months in principle. Plan succession in the kitchen around that limit; see succession planning for a Japanese kitchen.

5. A guest chef for up to 90 days

For an opening or a seasonal menu, JETRO describes an expedited procedure for foreign experts from visa-exempt countries: the employer applies online to the Population and Immigration Authority before entry with a work description, fee proof, passport copy and expertise evidence in English or Hebrew; an answer comes within 6 working days; the work visa is then filed on the Authority's Hebrew-language site within 2 working days of arrival; the permit runs 90 days from entry. Since 1 January 2025, visa-exempt visitors also need an ETA-IL travel authorisation (NIS 25), but JETRO states this does not cover work or study entry. Do not let a chef travel on an ETA-IL alone to work.

General information based on JETRO's summary of Israeli rules (updated 24 December 2025) and Japanese government statistics, checked in September 2026. We could not open the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority's own pages, and 2026 fees were not available. Not legal or immigration advice; confirm with the Population and Immigration Authority or an Israeli lawyer before acting.