261 Sri Lankan workers scheduled to leave for Israel on November 18

A further 261 Sri Lankan workers are scheduled to leave for jobs in Israel on Wednesday, November 18. The group attended a pre-departure orientation programme on November 13 at the auditorium of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, under the patronage of bureau chairman Kosala Wickramasinghe.

Restaurant work forms the largest part of the group

Of the 261 workers, 158 have been selected for restaurant-related employment. The other 103 are preparing for work across hotels, housekeeping, manufacturing and agriculture. The announcement groups those four areas together and does not give a separate worker total for each of them.

The November 18 departure remains a planned movement. Attendance at an orientation programme is not confirmation that the workers have already travelled, and the announcement does not identify individual employers, pay rates or contract terms. It should not be read as an open recruitment notice or as a new application offer.

Year-to-date and cumulative figures refer to different periods

The bureau said 2,994 Sri Lankans had left for employment in Israel between January and November 2026. That is the reported year-to-date departure figure, separate from the next group still scheduled to travel.

It also reported a cumulative total of 14,349 Sri Lankans who had travelled to Israel for jobs in various sectors through government and private recruitment agencies. This larger figure is not the number leaving on November 18, nor does it establish how many are currently in Israel. The accompanying greenhouse photograph illustrates one employment sector only; it does not show these workers or an identified Israeli workplace.