Moving from Israel to Lebanon
What your passport gets you at the border — and what it takes to actually stay.
IsraelLebanonShort stayNo admission
Lebanon does not currently admit Israel passport holders. Check the official immigration service before making any plans.
Entry policy can change quickly. Verify with Lebanon's official immigration service.
Passport Index · updated 17 February 2026Lebanon's official immigration service
Long stay
How you actually move to Lebanon
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026Work permit and annual residence (employer-sponsored)
Foreign nationals employed by a Lebanese entity. Two documents from two bodies: a work permit from the Ministry of Labour and a residence permit from General Security, obtained in that order.
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026
Work permit and annual residence (employer-sponsored)
Foreign nationals employed by a Lebanese entity. Two documents from two bodies: a work permit from the Ministry of Labour and a residence permit from General Security, obtained in that order.
- Job offer from a Lebanese employer, who applies for prior authorisation and then the work permit
- The employer must show the role cannot be filled by a Lebanese national — the preference principle in Decree No. 17561 of 1964, the Foreign Workers Regulation
- The occupation must not be one reserved to Lebanese nationals
- Medical tests and a bank deposit attestation, depending on category
- Application to General Security for temporary residence, normally within three months of arrival
- How long it lasts
- Work permits are issued for one year and renewed annually; residence is matched to the permit.
- Path to permanent residence
- Not automatic. Lebanon does issue a longer-term residence — commonly described as three years and renewable — but it is a separate application, not a consequence of years worked.
- Cost
- Ministry of Labour prior-authorisation and work-permit fees are set in Lebanese pounds and have been revised repeatedly since 2019; General Security charges a separate residence fee. Ask the employer for the current figures rather than relying on any published table.
- Processing time
- Commonly one to three months once documents are complete.
Worth knowing
- Around seventy professions are reserved for Lebanese nationals by ministerial decree, covering broad areas including administrative, banking, insurance and educational work. The list is reissued and can change; check the current decree against your actual job description, not your job title.
- Work permits are graded into classes, and the class you hold affects downstream rights — notably whether your spouse and children can obtain residence on your permit. Establish which class your employer is applying for before you accept.
- Lebanon has no digital-nomad or remote-work visa. Remote workers use short-stay entry, which is not a residence route.
- Salaries are taxable in Lebanon. Payroll tax is progressive from 2% to 25%, and the brackets are set in Lebanese pounds and have been re-based by successive budget laws, most consequentially in 2024. How a salary actually paid in US dollars is converted for payroll tax has itself been the subject of specific ministerial rules. Do not model a Lebanese salary without an accountant.
FamilyMedium confidenceVerified August 2026Courtesy residence (residence of courtesy)
The route most foreigners in Lebanon actually use, and the one least discussed abroad: people with a Lebanese connection. General Security grants it free of charge.
FamilyMedium confidenceVerified August 2026
Courtesy residence (residence of courtesy)
The route most foreigners in Lebanon actually use, and the one least discussed abroad: people with a Lebanese connection. General Security grants it free of charge.
- One of the qualifying connections listed by General Security — dual nationals; people of Lebanese origin born abroad but not registered; children of a Lebanese parent, biological or adopted; the husband of a Lebanese woman where the marriage is more than a year old; the non-working wife of a Lebanese man; foreign minors born in Lebanon and studying there; retired diplomats who previously served in Lebanon
- Application form signed in person
- Passport valid at least three years, plus photocopies
- Three recent passport photographs (3.5 × 4.5 cm)
- Category-specific civil documents — marriage and birth certificates, proof of Lebanese nationality, civil status records
- How long it lasts
- Temporary residence, renewable. General Security states it is granted free of charge.
- Path to permanent residence
- Does not itself confer permanence, but for people of Lebanese descent it is the practical way to live in Lebanon indefinitely without an employer.
- Cost
- Free, per General Security's own published conditions. Document attestation abroad is your cost.
- Processing time
- Weeks, dependent on the completeness of the civil documents.
Worth knowing
- The three-year passport validity requirement is unusually long and catches people whose passport has two years left. Renew before you apply, not after you are refused.
- The categories are specific and gendered — the husband of a Lebanese woman and the wife of a Lebanese man are treated under different conditions. Read the category that matches your own situation.
- Courtesy residence does not by itself carry the right to work. If you intend to be employed, you still need a Ministry of Labour work permit.
RetirementLow confidenceVerified August 2026Annual residence for holders of independent income
People who can support themselves without Lebanese employment — retirees, people living on income from abroad, and applicants over 64, whom General Security exempts from the work attestation requirement.
RetirementLow confidenceVerified August 2026
Annual residence for holders of independent income
People who can support themselves without Lebanese employment — retirees, people living on income from abroad, and applicants over 64, whom General Security exempts from the work attestation requirement.
- Evidence of independent means: General Security's annual-residence conditions state either a blocked bank account or a monthly income, each at a threshold set in Lebanese pounds
- Passport with adequate validity, photographs and the standard application
- Proof of accommodation
- How long it lasts
- Annual, renewable.
- Path to permanent residence
- None directly; it renews rather than accumulates.
- Cost
- General Security residence fee, set in Lebanese pounds.
- Processing time
- Weeks.
Worth knowing
- The thresholds are denominated in Lebanese pounds and were set against a currency that has since collapsed and been administratively re-based more than once. Their real value in dollars is therefore not stable, and the figure General Security applies at the counter is the one that matters. Confirm the current number directly before relying on it.
- A 'blocked account' test interacts badly with Lebanon's banking crisis: money placed in a Lebanese bank since 2019 has not been freely withdrawable in the ordinary way, and pre-crisis deposits are subject to informal restrictions. Understand exactly what kind of account and what kind of dollars are being required before you transfer anything into Lebanon.
- Separate annual-residence categories exist for religious students and clergy, and for investors — the investor category, as published, is framed around applicants resident in Arab countries with accreditation from their home country.
FamilyLow confidenceVerified August 2026Family residence (dependants of a work-permit holder)
The spouse and children of a foreigner holding a Lebanese annual work permit.
FamilyLow confidenceVerified August 2026
Family residence (dependants of a work-permit holder)
The spouse and children of a foreigner holding a Lebanese annual work permit.
- The sponsor's valid annual work permit — General Security's published condition refers specifically to second-class work permits
- Marriage certificate and passports valid at least a year
- Notarised work attestation for the sponsor
- Proof that the sponsor supports the family financially
- How long it lasts
- Annual, matched to the sponsor's permit; fees are stated as the same as the sponsor's.
- Path to permanent residence
- None on its own. Dependants follow the sponsor.
- Cost
- The same residence fee as the principal applicant, per General Security. Minors are exempt from the fee.
- Processing time
- Weeks after the sponsor's permit and residence exist.
Worth knowing
- Because the condition is written against a specific work-permit class, a sponsor on a different class may not be able to bring family at all. This is the single most important thing to confirm before moving a family to Lebanon.
- A family residence does not carry work rights; a working spouse needs their own work permit and faces the same reserved-professions list.
On the ground
Where you'd land in Lebanon
Beirut
A trilingual Mediterranean city living with an economic crisis, where rent is cash and power is a subscription.
- Work permit, residence, and the courtesy route most people never hear about
- Driving in Beirut, and the shared taxi that most people actually use
- Banking in a system under restructuring — and why you probably should not
Lebanon at a glance
- Capital
- Beirut
- Population
- —
- Languages
- Arabic, French
- Currency
- LBP
