Changing your name in the population registry and in your I.D is something every citizen can do. In addition, changing your gender marker in the population registry and in your I.D is possible through the Ministry of the Interior, if you have an approval from the national Gender Reassignment Committee.

Updating these personal details includes updating the picture in your identifying documents.

Name change for adults

Changing your name is a relatively simple process. You must make an appointment at a Population Authority (Ministry of the Interior) branch, fill out the request form, attach the relevant documents (I.D, passport, a partner’s I.D paper slip), and pay the toll. There is a detailed explanation of the process on the Ministry of the Interior website.

The registry clerk is required to agree to the name change request, regardless of how the name is gendered, whether you’ve had any gender affirming medical care, or whether you’ve changed the gender marker in the population registry.

Changing either of your names (first or last) requires a separate toll which can only be paid at the Population Authority branch.

Note! You can pay at the branch only by credit card! And only with the card’s owner being present.

In accordance with the Names Law, you can only change your name once every 7 years (this is counted separately for first and last names).
In special circumstances, you can request to change your name again before 7 years are up by submitting a request with your justifications to the Population Authority.

For 7 years from the moment you change your name, your previous name will continue to appear in 2 locations:

In your I.D paper slip, in the “Previous Name” field
In your new passport, in parentheses next to your new name

To remove your old name from each or both of these locations, you must write a request to remove your previous name, with your justifications, to the Ministry of the Interior. The request should contain your personal reasons for asking for this, for instance that the presence of the old name will cause gender dysphoria, create an opening for discrimination against you, or hurt your privacy.
It’s best to submit this request to the clerk when you come to your name change appointment, but you can submit it later as well, as long as 7 years have not yet passed.
The request will be sent to the approval of the head of the Population Authority in Jerusalem. After getting this approval you can receive a new passport and have a new paper slip printed for your I.D (you can even print it at home). While these are the Population Authority’s guidelines, not all of the clerks are familiar with them and you might need to explain the guidelines to the clerk or ask them to look it up themselves.

After 7 years have passed from the moment you changed your name, you no longer need any approval to remove the old name from your passport or paper slip. When you obtain a new passport and new paper slip only the new name will appear on them, without the old one.

Note! The count of 7 years begins from the moment you renew each personal document. If you don’t renew your passport at the same time as updating your name, and come to renew it when 7 years have passed, you will still need to submit a new request to remove the old name!

It’s best to renew your passport at the same time as changing your name, otherwise the new passport will have the same expiration as the old one.

Renewing your passport requires a separate toll; you can see the rates here.. It’s best to pay the toll in advance online, so you can get a discount.

In addition, there’s a 50% discount for active duty soldiers, national service members, and reserves soldiers.

Note! This toll, as well, can be paid at the branch only by credit card, and with the card owner present.

Name change for minors

For minors under the age of 16, after updating their name in the Population Registry the new name will appear on the paper slips of the parents’ I.Ds. All of the parents must come to the Population Authority with the child, present their I.Ds and ask for the child’s name to be changed.
For minors above the age of 16, the new name will appear on their own I.Ds, which are granted starting from this age. The name change can only be done with parental approval. All of the parents must come to the Population Authority with the child and present their I.Ds and the child’s.
If the parents don’t agree to the name change it’s possible to file a lawsuit at a family court and get a ruling that allows for the change. This process might be accompanied by a Youth Law social worker on behalf of the Ministry of Welfare.

Gender marker change

The gender marker change process at the Population Authority

Changing your gender marker at the Population Authority and in your I.D is done after receiving a public document from the Gender Reassignment Committee at Sheba (Tel Hashomer) hospital. You can apply to the Committee through the track specifically for the gender marker change, or through the track for approving surgeries which also includes getting the approval for the gender marker change.
The process is different and shortened for those who have had gender affirming surgery.
(Further down there’s a more detailed explanation of the process to get the approval after getting surgery privately).

The approval for gender marker change is sent by the Committee directly to the Population Authority. The Population Authority branch where you’re registered should contact you by phone after getting the approval, to make an appointment for changing the gender marker and issuing a new I.D. You should keep track of this, and if after two weeks from the Committee giving its approval the Population Authority hasn’t contacted you then you should ask the Ministry of the Interior’s designated email address for trans people to look into it. If two months have passed from the moment you’re given an appointment at the Population Authority and you haven’t arrived to change your personal details, you’ll need to ask for a new approval from the Population Authority branch in Jerusalem.

Changing the gender marker in your I.D and passport is done free of charge, with no toll required.

The process to get approval for gender marker change after getting surgery

If you’ve had any gender affirming surgery done (including breast removal, breast enlargement, facial feminization, voice feminization; in Israel or abroad), changing your gender marker in the Population Authority and I.D is just a bureaucratic process. It also has no age limitation, and is also open to those who’ve had gender affirming surgery below the age of 16.
To get the approval, you must email the Gender Reassignment Committee coordinator the following documents and personal information:

Full name, I.D number, contact details, and a photo of your I.D.
A written medical summary by the operating surgeon, in Hebrew or English. If the summary is in another language besides Hebrew or English you must add a certified translation to Hebrew or English as well as a signed affidavit testifying to the translation’s accuracy.
A signed confirmation from your family doctor that the gender reassignment surgery was performed. There’s a suggested format here.
A signed personal testimony from you that the gender reassignment surgery was performed. There’s a suggested format here. You should check in advance if you need to already sign it or get the document from the Committee coordinator.

Approval for gender marker change without surgery

The shortened track for gender change approval through the Gender Reassignment Committee is intended for those who haven’t had or won’t have any gender affirming surgery (hormone therapy is not a requirement for the process, either). This track includes a meeting with a psychologist or social worker, a meeting with an endocrinologist and a meeting with a psychiatrist. Keep in mind that every surgery is a personal choice and cannot be forced.

If you are undergoing HRT, instead of meeting the Committee endocrinologist you can send an endocrinological summary from the past half a year along with a Tofes 17 (financial coverage). Also, if you’re being treated by a mental health professional such as a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker you can add a professional opinion of theirs from the past year. You’ll still need to meet a psychologist/social worker and psychiatrist at the Committee as well, but it may help shorten the process.

Minors can submit a request through this track from age 16. From age 18, if you wish, you’ll be able to continue the Committee process and get approval for surgeries as well.

Your first application to the Committee is done by email, with the following details included: full name, I.D number, phone number, email address, and home address, as well as a photo of your I.D and which track you want to take in the Committee.
You should send this to the Committee coordinator, Ziva Margalit, at the following email: Ziva.Margalit@sheba.health.gov.il
You can also get in touch by phone at 03-5302677, but she’s not always available there and you’ll need to communicate by email regardless.

For more details on the Gender Reassignment Committee.

What to do and what to bring to the Population Authority meeting?

What to bring:

I.D
Passport, if you have one
A letter explaining that you don’t want your old name to appear on your passport and I.D and why, if relevant
An approval for gender marker change from the Gender Reassignment Committee, if relevant
A credit card

What to do:

Fill out the form for gender marker change, if relevant.
Fill out the form for name change, if relevant.
Fill out the forms for changing other details, if you wish.
Get your photo taken for the new I.D and passport (this is done on the spot during the Population Authority appointment)
The clerk cuts off the corners of your old passport, and you should take it and keep it.

What to ask for at the end of the appointment:

Receipts for the payments you made such as name change and passport renewal (gender marker change is free).
A temporary I.D (which includes the new name and gender marker)
A Population Registry summary (which includes the new name and gender marker)
A name change confirmation document (there’s no gender marker change confirmation, though you can try asking for one).

Your new I.D and passport will arrive in the mail within two months from the end of the process and getting approved for the new documents. In the case of a biometric I.D, you should keep the secret activation code that you got at the Population Authority branch and in an SMS to your phone.

The new name and gender marker will be automatically updated in the national systems, meaning the National Insurance, the DMV, the Tax Authority, and so on.
In governmental hospitals you may still sometimes need to ask for the update yourself, and this is also true for some HMOs (Kupat Holim).

Pay attention to the following details before beginning the process:

For those assigned female at birth there is half a tax credit on your income tax. This can amount to about 600 shekels a month, depending on your salary.
So changing your gender marker from female to male will include paying a higher income tax, while changing it from male to female will lead to paying a lower tax.
If you have a flight planned for the next two months, you shouldn’t change your name or gender marker at present! During the appointment to update your personal information the clerk cuts off the corners of your current passport, and the new one takes between a month and a half and two months to arrive. In this case it’s better to wait until after your flight to make the change.
If you’ve already changed these details, you should make sure that the name and gender marker on your flight tickets match the ones in your new passport!
At present an appointment to the Population Authority can have a long waiting time, sometimes between 3-8 months. Therefore, just in case, you should make an appointment in advance, and not wait for the clerk to contact you for an appointment after getting the Committee approval. You can schedule an appointment up to half a year in advance, so you can make one at the same time that you start the Committee process, which should take up to half a year if you take the shortened track.

Updating other institutions

After getting an updated I.D

There are many institutions that don’t automatically update your personal information, such as banks, credit card companies or private businesses, and you should reach out to them on your own.

Also, you should update printed documents and accounts at the following institutions:

Passport – you should update your passport while getting a new I.D, you can’t update an existing passport afterwards.
Driver’s license – more details further down.
Army service card.
Disability card.
University documents and student card.
Workplaces and pay slips.
Kupat Holim card – you can update your information at any Kupat Holim, they’ll print you a new card on the spot.
Utilities – water, electricity, gas, Arnona, internet, rent contract, etc.
Bank.
Credit card company – must be changed separately from the bank! Once you’ve changed your information at the bank you can change it at the credit card company too, and get a new credit card.

On many documents and at many institutions you can change your picture regardless of changing your personal information. You can find details on this at the website of each institution.

Getting a new driver’s license

Updating your driver’s license picture is done at many licensed stations, at a cost of 11 shekels.
A list of driver’s license photograph stations.

You can update your license in one of two ways:

Wait for the license to expire. When the DMV contacts you to send a new license with a renewed expiration date, you can update your personal information at the same moment free of charge (later you won’t need to renew your license, it’s permanent until the age of 60).
Request an updated license at a cost of 20 shekels. The expiration date won’t change, but you’ll receive a copy with an updated name and photograph.

Both options can be found at this link (you must press the blue button to begin the request process).

Changing your name and gender marker before or without changing them in the Population Registry

There are places where you can change your name and gender marker without needing to update your I.D.

1. Changing your email address

If you want to change your email address you have several options:

Opening a new email account. Keep in mind that your email history won’t be carried over, and emails sent to the old address won’t arrive at the new one (although you can set the old address to forward all emails to the new one).
Opening an ‘alias’ for the old email address. You can start a new email address and set the old one to be an ‘alias’ for the new one. Every email that arrives at the old email will automatically be forwarded to the new one. You can also backup everything on the old email address to the new one.
This is done differently on various email platforms, but it’s a convenient option on all of them.

2. Changing your personal information on social media

You can change your name, email, gender, profile link*, username, etc, on every social media platform (Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Reddit, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc). You can do this easily through the settings.
*This is your profile’s URL; it won’t be changed just from changing your name on that platform, and must be changed separately.

3. Your name at various commercial chains

Supermarkets, store memberships, mailing lists, etc. You can easily change your name on all of these online!

For more assistance and further reading:

Population Authority public assistance

You can get in touch about issues relating to the trans community, difficulties in changing your gender marker, or other matters, through the designated trans community email –