Why Am I Paying National Insurance on a B1 visa?

Have you seen an amount deducted every month from your pay slip for something called “Bituach Leumi” (ביטוח לאומי) and you didn’t understand what it was? Or maybe you just don’t understand why you’re paying for the Israeli National Insurance even though you’ve been told that as a B1 visa holder, you’re not eligible for it?

Here is why.

According to the Israeli National Insurance Law, employers of foreign workers must report the employment of foreign workers and pay an insurance premium for them. The coverage for foreign workers is limited and does not grant public health services. For this reason, the insurance premium is relatively small.

Who Needs to Pay and How Much?

In the case of a foreigner working in caregiving, the employer must pay the employee’s national insurance premiums themselves (without deducting anything from the employee).
In all other sectors, the employer should deduct the employee’s contribution to the national insurance premiums from the salary.

This is how national insurance payments are calculated (for workers in the general sector, not caregiving or household) [2025]:

From the part of your salary up to 7,522₪, the fee is as follows:

	Employer	Employee	TOTAL
National Insurance fee	% 0.75	% 0.1	% 0.85

For the part of your salary from 7,522₪ and up to 50,695₪, the fee is as follows:

	Employer	Employee	TOTAL
National Insurance fee	% 2.65	% 0.87	% 3.52

Employers of foreign workers in caregiving or in household work, have different directives, and some exemptions apply. You can find more information about it here.

Please note that it is the responsibility of the employer to pay the above fees to national insurance, and no action is required by the employee.

What am I Covered For?

As we mentioned above, the coverage for foreign workers who aren’t considered Israeli residents (as they don’t hold a visa that grants a residency status), is limited and does not include public health services.

The National Insurance Institute provides foreign workers with insurance for:

1. Work accident victims allowance
2. Allowances connected to motherhood such as birth allowance, maternity grant, child allowance
3. Liquidation or bankruptcy of the employer
4. Casualties of terrorism acts

In addition, there are certain countries (mostly European countries) that have bilateral agreements with Israel, and therefore citizens of those countries are eligible for additional coverage. You can read more information about those conventions and the coverage here and here.

An Insurance Event Happened, What’s Next?

In the case of an insured event that meets the relevant criteria, the foreign worker will have to submit a claim to Bituach Leumi in order to get the allowance they are entitled to.

Read more about the criteria for eligibility for allowance here.

As B1 visa holders don’t have an Israeli ID number, they will have to submit an online form for the issuance of an identification number for Bituach Leumi purposes, before they can submit a claim.
Click here to apply for a Bituach Leumi ID.

Note: This is the correct form to fill out, despite the Bituach Leumi website not correctly listing all the relevant populations who should complete this form.

—

We hope this article helped you better understand your rights as a B1 visa holder in Israel. If so, please support our work with a donation!