The employment is Israel of a non-Israeli without first obtaining a permit is a criminal offense. The procedure for obtaining a work permit in Israel is a long and cumbersome bureaucratic process, required to be made prior to the employee arriving in Israel and in any case may be obtained only in enumerated employment sectors, including construction, agriculture, industry, experts, nursing and ethnic restaurants. When it comes to employment of a foreign expert for a short period one may, in certain cases, use an expedited procedure.
In order to deal with the reality of Israeli businesses required to employ foreign experts the Israeli Population Authority established a procedure allowing the employment of experts. An "expert" is defined in the procedure as a person with a high level of expertise or knowledge that is essential and unique and does not exist in Israel. The expert need be paid an "experts salary" - that is, consideration higher than the ordinary consideration paid for the same service in Israel. The procedure also applies to senior executives, top managers in aviation and shipping corporations, professors, researchers, senior doctors and artists. However, this procedure bureaucratic, long and complicated, requiring preparations months before the arrival of the expert and in some cases obviating the need for the arrival of the expert.
When it comes to experts that are required to work in Israel for a short period and are of a nationality of a country whose citizens are exempt from the visa requirement upon entry into Israel it is often possible to obtain an experts work permit by an expedited procedure. The procedure can be applied only when the expert is invited to Israel in order to carry out a specific task in the field of expertise and for up to 45 days a calendar year. Here too the employment permit procedure must be performed prior to the arrival of the expert to Israel and the entry into Israel under another visa prevents the "converting" of such other visa to an expert work permit under the expedited procedure.
A request under the expedited procedure enables the expert to stay and work in Israel in order to perform the work for which the expert was commissioned and only for a specified period which may not exceed 45 days in any calendar year. Unlike other entry permits or work permits an expedited expert's work permit can not be extended beyond the period of 45 days and an expert can not work in another field of business or with another employer.
Thus, if one wishes to commission a non-Israeli expert for the purpose of a particular project one should examine whether the normal and lengthy procedure may be "bypassed" by applying the expedited procedure. However, because the permit can not be later corrected it is more important than ever to be assisted by a lawyer who is knowledgeable in the area and to receive such assistance from the early stages of the application for the permit.