Aliyah Process: Step by Step Overview

The steps needed in order to make Aliyah(1) differ depending on your home country. This is a very basic overview of what those steps if you are coming from the U.S.A. If you would like more detailed information please refer to Nefesh b'Nefesh (NBN). According to their homepage, NBN is an organization "dedicated to revitalizing Aliyah from the USA, Canada and the UK by removing or minimizing the financial, professional, logistical and social obstacles of Aliyah and the move to Israel." The organization partners with the Israeli government and The Jewish Agency to help streamline the process of immigration to Israel. The steps include:

1. A joint Nefest b'Nefesh and Jewish Agency application (details on this step coming soon Post One).
2. Interview with your local Aliyah Shaliach(2) (details coming soon).
3. Approval for Aliyah.
4. The Aliyah Flight.

Of course each one of these steps has many substeps! My hope is to go through each one as we experience them in real time. At this point, we have semi-completed steps one and two. So much paperwork; so much time! But thankfully it has only strengthened my desire to get to Israel. One thing we have heard over and over again is "Oh man, the Israeli bureaucracy. All you do is hurry up to wait. . . and wait and wait." While this has been partially true (however our only experience to date has been here in the States), we have received help and been guided in continuing the process and have yet to hit a real road block in moving forward. Sometimes this help comes after continual emails and phone calls, but I've been told that in order to survive in Israel I must have a strong backbone and a dominate personality - demand help, be persistent (A.K.A annoying), stay strong and help will come.

(1)Aliyah - "making aliyah" means moving to Israel
(2)Aliyah Shaliach - A representative of the Jewish Agency for Israel who is responsible for validating your Aliyah documents and conducting an in-person interview to determine eligibility.