Sri Lanka, India to be excluded from Israel private construction recruitment from 2027

Colombo, October 6 (Daily Mirror) - Sri Lankan and Indian workers will no longer be eligible for private recruitment to Israel’s construction sector from January 1, 2027, an official notification issued by Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority said.

The authority said corporations holding permits to employ foreign workers in the construction sector will, from that date, be permitted to recruit workers only from countries approved under the new framework.

The approved countries include the United States, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Italy, Albania, Ecuador, Brazil, Guatemala, Georgia, Hungary, Vietnam, Montenegro, Mexico, Portugal, Thailand, the Philippines, Panama, Kosovo, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

However, the notification issued on October 5 specifically said that, in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and the established framework, private recruitment of foreign workers from India and Sri Lanka will be halted with effect from January 1, 2027.

This means Sri Lankan workers will no longer be recruited for Israel’s construction sector through the private recruitment system from that date.

Romania, meanwhile, remains on the approved list, allowing Romanian nationals to continue to be recruited through the private recruitment system, subject to the applicable conditions.

Employers seeking to recruit workers from countries classified as Tier 1 or Tier 2 under the U.S. Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, but not included in the approved list, will be required to submit a reasoned written request to the Construction Division of the Population and Immigration Authority.

The authority said that once an additional bilateral agreement or arrangement is established to bring foreign workers from another country into Israel’s construction sector, private recruitment from that country will be discontinued one month after the agreement comes into effect.

Workers from such countries will thereafter be recruited only under the relevant bilateral agreement or arrangement.

Meanwhile, an official from the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) said it had not received a response from the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA) regarding the recruitment of Sri Lankan workers for Israel’s construction sector.