High-Wage Business Acceleration in Northern Villages (Directive 4.85)

High-Wage Business Acceleration in Northern Villages (Directive 4.85)

Supports high-wage job creation in northern Israel through grants for business growth and new technology adoption.

Directive 4.85 — Acceleration and Growth Program for Businesses and Creation of High-Wage Jobs in Northern Villages — is a grant programme operated by Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry through the Authority for Investments and Development. First published 18 September 2025 and updated 23 April 2026, it provides grants to ventures wishing to establish, expand, or relocate operations with high-wage jobs in the northern-area villages specified under Government Decision 3625, which covers villages near the Lebanese border and border-adjacent localities. The programme targets human capital in national priority and peripheral cluster areas, making it part of a broader government investment in the north's economic development. A Q&A document published 28 October 2025 addresses eligibility questions from the first cycle.

Eligibility is limited to for-profit ventures registered in Israel that establish or expand operations in the villages listed in Appendix 8 of the directive. The 'high-wage' requirement means ventures must confirm salary thresholds as specified in the directive PDF; the exact wage floors appear in the directive documents rather than the summary page. Award amounts are set out in the directive PDF (version 23 April 2026) and are not summarised on the public portal page. The programme runs in cycles: the first cycle (September 2025) is closed. The current (second) cycle is open with a submission deadline of 8 July 2026. Applications are submitted via the Investment Authority portal (gov.il/he/pages/grant-4-85).

Required documentation includes a Managers' Declaration (Appendix 2), a form calculating positions for an expanding venture (Appendix 3), a beneficiary form (Appendix 4), economic feasibility tests (Appendix 5), and a verification of village eligibility against Appendix 8. Applicants must confirm their specific village falls within the scope of Government Decision 3625. Competitive proposals will document planned high-wage job creation numbers, wage levels relative to the programme's thresholds, and investment scale in the eligible location.