Latin America, Spain and Portugal

The Jewish Agency handles Latin America directly through country offices, with a seven-step Spanish-language portal and Portuguese for Brazil. La OLEI, the Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese olim organisation, is the post-arrival support body.

The Jewish Agency standard is a letter from an active rabbi in a recognised Jewish community, or conversion documents. In practice the evidentiary basket is broader and more community-based than North America’s single rabbi letter: parents’ or grandparents’ ketubah, a burial certificate, a brit milah certificate, or a letter from the community.

Check:A "letter from the community president" as sufficient proof is reported by community sources, not confirmed on a Jewish Agency page; treat it as commonly accepted supporting evidence, not the formal standard.

Birth certificate, family-status documents, a criminal-background certificate, a valid passport and the proof of Jewish connection, all legalised. Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Portugal are all Hague Apostille members, so documents are apostilled and then given a certified translation into Hebrew or English.

Check:Whether the Jewish Agency accepts Spanish or Portuguese documents untranslated at the file stage is unclear; the Interior Ministry in Israel will want Hebrew or English translations later regardless.

An online questionnaire, a case manager contacting you within two business days, a virtual file (Tik Aliyah), an aliyah interview, eligibility approval, then visa and ticket. The Jewish Agency’s stated Spanish-speaker timeline is typically three to six months.

La OLEI, running since 1948 across more than twenty Israeli cities, provides Spanish-language bureaucratic accompaniment, housing guidance, degree recognition and a mental-health line after arrival.

Check:La OLEI’s service detail is from its own site via search snippets; confirm current services directly.