It was approved to bring about 2,000 foreign workers to the industry without a bilateral agreement

The CEOs’ Committee for Foreign Workers, led by the CEO of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yossi Shelley, approved today (Wednesday) bringing foreign workers into the industry privately, not through interstate (bilateral) agreements, for employers in the industry who hold a permit from the Population and Immigration Authority.

After an in-depth discussion in the committee, headed by the CEO of the Prime Minister’s Office Yossi Shelli, it was decided to allow the immediate immigration of 2,030 foreign workers through a private immigration mechanism. This is in order to quickly help the industrialists, who are dealing with the manpower shortage in the industry that was created during the war.

The decision follows the government’s decision from July 2023 to allocate 3,000 foreign workers to the industrial sector. In practice, only about 300 foreign workers have integrated into Israeli industry so far.

In general, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice prefer to bring in foreign workers within the framework of bilateral agreements, which include mechanisms to guarantee the rights of workers, to prevent the collection of high brokerage fees and to prevent phenomena of human trafficking. However, against the background of the war, the stopping of entry into Israel of workers from the Palestinian Authority and the difficulty of bringing in foreign workers within the framework of the agreements, the bringing of quotas of foreign workers was approved privately in the agriculture and construction sectors as well.

According to a new study, foreign workers who arrived through bilateral agreements are more protected from debts, from damage to conditions and entanglements in the black market, and it takes them less time to recoup the cost of their arrival in Israel.

The committee of CEOs for foreign workers announced that it intends to quickly promote new bilateral agreements to bring foreign workers to the industry, which will also help to complete the requested quota of 3,000 workers.

The committee stated that the decision enables an adapted and quick response to the needs of the industry. This is subject to the legal framework, which examines, among other things, the rights of foreign workers.