Reaches a grandparent. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.
Last verified 25 September 20269 sourcesNot legal advice
Law of Return (a Jew, or the child or grandchild of a Jew, and their spouses)
Dual citizenship
Kept on every open route
The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.
Can you claim Israeli citizenship through a parent?
Law of Return
As the child of a Jewish parent you have the right to immigrate to Israel and acquire citizenship, and your spouse comes with you.
What would settle itWhether the family intends to live in Israel, at least initially, since citizenship is acquired through immigration rather than from abroad.
Can you claim Israeli citizenship through a grandparent?
Law of Return
As the grandchild of a Jew you have the right to immigrate to Israel and acquire citizenship, and your spouse comes with you. Citizenship follows immigration; it is not granted to people who stay abroad.
What would settle itWhether the family intends to live in Israel, at least initially, since citizenship is acquired through immigration rather than from abroad.
Israel’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.
04Keeping your citizenship
Dual citizenship with your home country
You keep your citizenship.
On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.
Whether the family intends to live in Israel, at least initially, since citizenship is acquired through immigration rather than from abroad.
Whether a parent or grandparent is Jewish, which puts you within section 4A.
06The documents
The documents, as the rule lists them
Law of Return
Through a parent or grandparent
Proof of the Jewish ancestor (a rabbi’s letter, community records, or documents such as a ketubah or Jewish burial record)
Birth and marriage records linking each generation
Evidence that the qualifying Jewish ancestor did not convert to another religion; a July 2025 bill to remove the grandchild clause was defeated 18 to 54
Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.
07What it takes
What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides
Law of Return
Time
3–6 months from application to the oleh visa, then citizenship on arrival.
Cost
About $200–500 in documents and translations. The process itself is free.
The hard part
Documenting Jewish ancestry to the Jewish Agency’s standard: a parent’s or grandparent’s Jewish marriage certificate, synagogue record or a rabbi’s letter.
Who decides
The Jewish Agency, then the Israeli consulate.
The first record
Proof of a Jewish parent or grandparent, from Family papers, the synagogue, or a rabbi’s letter. Open a file with the Jewish Agency (Nefesh B’Nefesh in the U.S.); they list exactly which documents they accept. jewishagency.org ↗
How it’s filed
Where
Online with Nefesh B'Nefesh (U.S. and Canada), which passes the file to the Jewish Agency; the Jewish Agency's Global Service Center for other countries. After approval the Israeli consulate issues the aliyah visa. office list ↗
Passport valid at least one year beyond the planned aliyah date
Long-form birth certificate, apostilled
Civil marriage, divorce or death certificates as applicable, apostilled
Proof of Judaism: rabbi's letter (and for a Jewish father or grandfather, their birth certificate and their parents' marriage certificate)
Supporting statement (reasons for aliyah and plans)
Recent colour family photograph
Waiver of confidentiality (one per family)
Health declaration (one per adult)
Entry/exit form covering seven years
Proof of living outside Israel
Personal status affidavit, notarised and apostilled (valid six months)
Criminal background check (FBI Identity History Summary, apostilled; valid six months)
What goes wrong (6)›
Citizenship is not granted abroad. It follows immigration: the oleh receives Israeli citizenship on arrival, and a family that does not move does not get it.
The Jewish Agency says three to six months if documents are ready; Nefesh B'Nefesh plans on 8–10 months of paperwork before the flight and 8–18 months overall.
The process itself is free; Nefesh B'Nefesh arranges one-way flights for North American olim.
The NBN online file is opened with a personal email or social login, then documents are uploaded to a personal status page the family can track (snippet confidence, verified 2026-09-25).
Great-grandchildren are outside s.4A unless a closer ancestor is Jewish. A July 2025 bill to drop the grandchild clause was defeated 18–54; a fresh bill was filed afterwards and should be watched.
From GB, AU, NZ, ZA, BR, AR: files open with the Jewish Agency's Global Service Center (online at the.jewishagency.org), not Nefesh B'Nefesh; UK olim also work with the Jewish Agency directly.
Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.
08Where the records live
Where each record lives, and how to ask for it
other
A rabbi of a recognised synagogue or temple affiliated with a rabbinical organisation (for North America), who writes the proof-of-Judaism letter
The family's own congregation, or the congregation where the Jewish parent or grandparent was a member, married or was buried. For patrilineal or grandparent lines the letter names the Jewish father or grandfather.
Ask
In person, in English
Fee
0 USD
Takes
1–13 weeks
Good to know (3)›
The letter must be on official letterhead, written within the past year, signed in ink (digital signatures are not accepted), and say how the rabbi knows the applicant.
Supporting evidence the Jewish Agency accepts: a ketubah, bar/bat mitzvah certificate, burial of a parent or grandparent in a Jewish cemetery, synagogue or Jewish-organisation membership, or any document showing a parent or grandparent was Jewish.
The qualifying Jewish ancestor must not have joined another religion; a ketubah is not accepted as the civil marriage record.
The civil registrar of the place of birth of the Jewish parent or grandparent (a U.S. state vital records office, or the European civil or Jewish metrical registers for an immigrant ancestor)
For patrilineal or grandparent claims the Jewish Agency may ask for the Jewish ancestor's birth certificate and their parents' marriage certificate to link the rabbi's letter to the applicant. European Jewish registers are indexed by JewishGen and national archives.
Ask
Online, in English
Takes
2–17 weeks
Good to know (2)›
Long-form birth certificates listing both parents are required; hospital certificates are not accepted. U.S. records need an apostille; Canadian records a chain authentication.
Documents in English, French, Russian or Hebrew need no translation; others need notarised English or Hebrew translations.
FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (Identity History Summary), apostilled by the U.S. Department of State
Ask
Online, in English
Fee
18 USD
Takes
1–6 weeks
Good to know (1)›
Valid for six months; time it so it is still valid at the interview and the visa. Federal documents are apostilled only by the State Department's Office of Authentications (about $20).
Population and Immigration Authority office in Israel, booked on govisit.gov.il, paid with an Israeli card. New olim get an exit letter for the first three months, a teudat ma'avar (laissez-passer, up to five years) from 90 days, and a first passport (up to five years) only from the 366th day after aliyah, if they spent enough of that year in Israel.
The bill to remove the grandchild clause was voted down
A bill to delete the grandchild clause from s.4A of the Law of Return was rejected 18 to 54 at its preliminary reading on 9 July 2025. No new vote had followed by September 2026. Grandchildren of a Jew still qualify.
3 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing, then the legislative watch. Records and filing checked between 23 September 2026 and 25 September 2026.
Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.
Check your family for Israel.
Name one ancestor. The check runs these same rules and answers in about a minute, with the law behind the answer.