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Visa requirements for Israeli citizens refers to regulations pertaining to visas for holders of Israeli passports. As of 1 January 2017, Israeli citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 148 countries and territories, ranking the Israeli passport 24th in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley visa restrictions index.
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As of 2017, the passports of Israel, Chile, South Korea and Hong Kong are the only ones to provide visa-free access to all of Europe.
History
According to Israeli law, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen and Iran are enemy countries and an Israeli citizen may not visit them without a special permit issued by the Israeli minister of the interior. An Israeli who visits these countries, be it with a foreign passport or an Israeli one, may be prosecuted when coming back to Israel. This list was set in 1954, and was updated only once, on 25 July 2007 to include Iran. Egypt and Jordan allegedly remained among the "enemy countries", however the Israeli Ministry of the Interior issued a general unlimited permit to visit these countries, following the peace treaty signed between Israel and each of them, hence voiding the law in respect to both countries. On 1 April 2008, the Israeli government proposed a new revised law which includes a list of 10 countries and territories to be defined as "enemy countries": Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and the Gaza Strip. As of March 2009, the legislative procedures of this revised law have not been concluded yet.
Some controversial rejections of Israeli nationals include tennis player Shahar Pe'er who was denied a visa to the United Arab Emirates which would have allowed her to play in the 2009 Dubai Open.
People who make aliyah to Israel are generally not eligible for an Israeli passport until they have resided in Israel for at least one year, and any oleh's (naturalized citizen's) passport may be revoked and replaced with a laissez-passer if he has not resided in Israel for 3 out of any 5 years. Until the residence requirement is met such new citizens are issued an orange "travel document in lieu of national passport" (Laissez-passer). Holders of this document may not enjoy the same visa-free access to certain other countries enjoyed by holders of a standard Israeli passport. This also applies to most Arab residents in East-Jerusalem and the Golan Heights who are not in possession of Israeli citizenship.
Visa requirements
Visa requirements for holders of normal passports traveling for tourist purposes: