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It's easy for Israelis, you won't have a problem here, get a work Visa.

How does Americans treat Israelis in the US in generally?

... Spurred by the high cost of living, low salaries, and political and demographic trends, Israelis are leaving the country in droves, trying to build their lives elsewhere, mostly in the United States. Many of these young Israelis are moving to big cities, and yet, even in these often expensive places, they see more opportunities to advance.

The available data is telling, analysts say. Between 2006 and 2016, more than 87,000 Israelis became U.S. citizens or legalized permanent residents, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. That's up from 66,000 between 1995 and 2005. These figures take into account only those who took the legal route (many Israelis, analysts say, arrive on temporary tourist, student or work visas, then stay). And in addition to the Israelis now living stateside, according to the country's Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, hundreds of thousands have moved to Europe, Canada and elsewhere.

The country's brain drain isn't new. For years, many of its most talented scholars and researchers moved to the U.S., where the salaries are far higher and there are more jobs at top-tier universities. One report by Dan Ben-David, an economist at Tel Aviv University, found that the emigration rate of Israeli researchers was the highest in the Western world. Recently, however, the exodus has expanded to include average young people, many of whom say there's simply no future in Israel.

The days of shame about living in America are over. But can this diverse group of immigrants hold onto their culture? And is there a chance that they can become a unified political voice?

When she moved to New York in 2003, Shelly Oria did her best to imitate Americans. She learned to hold doors, to be less aggressive in conversation, to smile at people she passed on the street. The rhythms of American life were new and lovely, but they did not come naturally. Then there were the day-to-day challenges: opening a bank account, getting a cellphone plan, signing a lease, learning that “credit history” really means “American credit history.” When you’re new in America, she says, everything goes wrong, and everything gets stuck.

But her stint in the United States was only temporary, she told herself. She would get her MFA, become a writer and then return to Israel, where her family had moved when she was a few weeks old, and where she had grown up and served in the military. If she were really an Israeli, she would go home. After earning her degree, Oria did just that, only to discover that Israel no longer felt like home. She had thought she was more Israeli than American, but maybe she had it backwards. She landed back in New York in 2009, this time for good.

These days, Oria is drawn to the idea of living in the gray. “It’s a Western culture disease, that sort of black-and-white, either-or way of thinking,” she says. “On some level I’ve always been both, and I think will forever be both.” Her first book, New York 1, Tel Aviv 0, is full of Israeli characters living in America, exploring the either-or and neither and both. “There are two Mes,” Pie, one of her characters, explains. “Me No. 1 is the Israeli who was taught that being tough and being strong are the same thing,” while “Me No. 2 is a woman who successfully impersonates an American.”

In recent years, Oria, now 38, has found a new term to describe herself: She is not an American or an Israeli, but an Israeli American. She’s not sure whether it’s an official term, but it’s a word she’s glad she has. When she fills out paperwork, she checks “other” and writes it in.

It’s not a new designation: As early as the 1960s, The New York Times was using it as an adjective, as in an “Israeli-American construction engineer” or a gallery of “Israeli-American artists.” But in the past few years, its usage has exploded. It’s a progression that seems natural to Ira Sheskin, an expert on Jewish demography at the University of Miami and director of the Jewish Demography Project, which published an extensive study on Israeli Americans in 2010. “We have Serbian Americans, black Americans, Hispanic Americans, etc.,” he says. “So, now we have Israeli Americans.” ...

Eiran Gazit says:
February 11, 2017 at 1:03 pm

I am a 9th generation Sabra. I am happily married to an American born wife. All three of our sons were born in Jerusalem, and all three served (the youngest currently) in combat units in the IDF. We moved to the US 11 years ago to be closer to my wife family. We are all US citizens, and we are all Israeli citizens holding dual passports. We visit Israel a few times a year. We are active in our reform synagogue and in the Jewish community – especially on Israel related issues, support FIDF, AIPAC, Friends of the Jordan River Village, our local Chabad, Hadassah and other Jewish or Israeli organizations. I follow Israeli media and am in constant communication with my friends and family there.
Do I have a split personality? No. I thrive in the fact that I come from Israel. I use it to my advantage in my business dealings in the US. I tell my employees, vendors, customers that being Israeli – “I say what I mean and mean what I say” – they mostly appreciate it. I am proud to be an Israeli American, just as my wife was proud to be an American Israeli, when we lived there. The way I look at it – it’s a rotating pendulum. We belong in both worlds, subscribe to both and are passionate about both.