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Marko Peck is Vice Chairman of the Global ID Management Authority Association.
Israel’s Law of Return offers a unique path to citizenship. Citizens who acquire nationality under this law may be issued one of two different travel documents, depending on their physical presence in the country. While both documents confer full Israeli citizenship and the right of abode, they are treated differently by many countries, resulting in the two having differing levels of visa-free travel access.
The 1950 Law of Return, 1952 Nationality Law, and the substantial 1970 amendments to the Law of Return are together the legal foundation for Israeli citizenship. The application process for citizenship via the Law of Return is comparable to the process of applying for citizenship by descent in many other countries.
Subject to the conditions stipulated in these laws, having a Jewish grandparent on either side of one’s family tree is generationally close enough to make one eligible for citizenship. Under the terms of the Law of Return, when an applicant is granted citizenship, their spouse and minor children are granted citizenship as well. The spouse of an applicant need not have Jewish ancestry themselves. Since 2014, same-sex spouses of applicants have been equally eligible.
All Israeli citizens by direct descent — namely, those born to a parent who was registered as an Israeli citizen at the time of their birth — are issued a passport with a 10-year validity period, regardless of time spent in Israel or any other factors. Citizens by Law of Return are issued a Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport, unless they have fulfilled physical presence requirements in Israel to become eligible for a passport. A Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport is generally valid for five years.
The Passport Law of 1952, as amended, stipulates that the Ministry of Interior may issue an Israeli citizen who has not settled in Israel a passport that is valid for a period shorter than 10 years, or a travel document — also referred to as a ‘Laissez-Passer’ or a ‘Teudat Maavar’.
The Ministry is tasked with regulating passport and travel document issuance and thus has the authority to define what settlement means in the context of the Passport Law. As the Passport Law does not state that the settlement clause shall apply only to Israeli citizens via the Law of Return, in theory it could also be applied to Israeli citizens by direct descent. In practice, the Ministry applies the settlement clause only to citizens via the Law of Return.
The Ministry defines its policy in procedure 3.3.0001, which was last revised in January 2025 and details the eligibility requirements for a passport as well as for a Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport. Both documents are issued only to Israeli citizens and are fully compliant with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 9303 specification.
While the two documents differ in cover design, they are technically identical except for a single data field: the document type. This is a mandatory field under ICAO 9303 and is both printed in the Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) and stored in the biometric chip. The passport is designated as type P, while the Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport is designated as type PP. Accordingly, when either document is read via the MRZ or the chip, the only distinction would be type P vs PP.
A Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport may be issued unconditionally to individuals who acquire citizenship under the Law of Return, It can be requested immediately upon the acquisition of citizenship and may be renewed thereafter in perpetuity, regardless of the holder’s physical presence in Israel. It is generally valid for five years.
A five-year passport may be issued if, at the time of application, more than one year but less than five years have passed since citizenship was acquired and the individual has spent at least 60% of that period in Israel.
A 10-year passport may be issued if, at the time of application, more than five years have elapsed since citizenship was granted and the individual has spent at least 60% of that time in Israel.
When a five-year passport is renewed, physical presence in Israel is recalculated up to the date of the application for renewal to determine eligibility. As a result, it is possible to be issued a five-year passport but upon renewal only be eligible for a Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport.
Once a 10-year passport has been issued, however, physical presence is not recalculated for future renewals. Thus, citizens under the Law of Return, must accumulate at least 36 months of physical presence in Israel within a five-year period to secure the right to hold and renew a 10-year passport in perpetuity.
Both documents can be used for international travel, but the passport facilitates access to more destinations visa-free than the Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport. The Israeli passport is ranked 18th in the January 2026 Henley Passport Index and has risen seven places in the ranking since 2023. While the Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport is not included in the Henley Passport Index, it is included in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) digital Travel Information Manual (Timatic) — the global system used by airlines to check visa requirements.
Based on IATA data, the Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport is accepted for visa-free entry by all Schengen Area member states except Malta. Outside the Schengen Area but within the region, the document grants visa-free entry to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ireland, Montenegro, and Serbia. Other notable visa-free destinations include Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, and Russia.
By contrast, electronic travel authorization systems operated by Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA do not accept the Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport, while they do accept the Israeli passport (in the case of the USA, only the 10-year passport). Overall, although the Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport provides visa-free access to significantly fewer destinations than the Israeli passport, it nonetheless allows visa-free entry to many highly sought-after destinations, including most of Europe.
There are several countries that issue a variety of travel documents to their citizens. For example, Finnish citizens with the right of abode in Åland receive an Åland passport, and Chinese citizens with the right of abode in Hong Kong receive a Hong Kong passport. The most complex example is undoubtably the UK, which issues 12 different types of ordinary passports with 6 types of citizenship. Israel is globally unique in issuing two different documents that confer the same citizenship and the same right of abode.
In recent years there has been a significant increase in applications for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return. In 2022 alone, about 70,000 individuals were granted citizenship, the highest annual figure in 23 years. As a result, the Travel Document in Lieu of National Passport has become far more widely known around the world. This increased familiarity is reflected, in its inclusion in IATA Timatic, thereby reducing ambiguity and facilitating smoother travel for holders of this special document.
Henley & Partners assists international clients in obtaining residence and citizenship under the respective programs. Contact us to arrange an initial private consultation.
