Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata announced Sunday that 27,000 new immigrants will have made Israel their home by the end of 2021.
According to the minister, this marks a significant increase compared to 2020, which saw the number of people making Aliyah drop to 22,000, among other things due to the COVID pandemic.
"This is a very good year - even compared to normal years when there was no COVID," the minister said at the annual conference of the Israeli-American Community Organization IAC in Miami.
"We are seeing a trend - especially in France and the U.S. where there is a spike in requests to make Aliya,” Tamano-Shata said and added that the ministry managed to surpass its goal of 25,000 new immigrants this year.
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Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata with new arrivals from Ethiopia, 2020
(Photo: Noga Malasa)
The reason for the increase, according to Tamano-Shata, is related to improvements made by the Immigration Ministry, such as removing certain bureaucratic barriers, establishing digital platforms and "improving the handling of immigration cases via better cooperation with consulates abroad."
According to the ministry, this year saw a 50% rise in the number of immigrants from Argentina compared to last year.
In the U.S. the number of immigrants increased by no less than 34% compared to 2020, with about 4,000 immigrants set to arrive by the end of the year.
Immigration from France has also seen a significant increase of 41% compared to 2020, with some 3,500 immigrants set to arrive.
In addition, about 7,000 are expected to arrive from Russia and another 2,800 approximately, from Ukraine.
In 2017, the number was slightly higher and reached 29,000 new immigrants - while In 2018 that number reached 30,000 - and in 2019 - which was the peak year, the number of immigrants reached no less than 35,000 people.
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