Haifa Municipality Website Not Loading Abroad? How to Pay Arnona and Water

In our check on 23 October 2026, the Haifa municipality site didn't open from abroad, and neither did CityPay, where Haifa's arnona (municipal property tax) is paid. Through SuperStableVPN, with an Israeli IP, both the municipality's site and CityPay opened. Below is how to pay arnona and water, move arnona into a tenant's name, and what you can do without the website.

Test the Haifa site with an Israeli IP: free for 3 days, no credit card required. After that it's 17 CAD a month (about ₪36), taxes included, and only if you choose to subscribe. You'll need the free OpenVPN app: we send you a configuration file and instructions, you connect and open the municipality's site. There's no separate app of ours to install.

What an owner abroad needs from the municipality

All of this is according to the Haifa municipality (payments, in Hebrew):

• Paying arnona. In full with a 2% discount by 31 December of the previous year or 1% by 31 January, or in six payments on 1 January, 1 March, 1 May, 1 July, 1 September and 1 November. Online through CityPay, without registering, using the details on the bill.
• The "Tik Toshav" (resident's file) personal area on city4u: account status, debts, properties, water use and parking fines. It needs registration.
• A standing order: from a bank account with a form signed at the branch; from a card with the municipality's online form.
• Moving arnona to a tenant or buyer. The online form, or an email to [email protected] with the full contract signed by both sides; if the new payer isn't an Israeli citizen, a copy of their valid passport. With a lease shorter than 12 months, the owner stays liable. Mei Carmel's change-of-consumer form, with a meter reading, is filled in separately (Haifa, in Hebrew).
• A certificate for the Tabu land registry is issued by the residents' service centre.

Water: Mei Carmel

The personal area of Haifa's water corporation, Mei Carmel, on city4u doesn't open from abroad; through SuperStableVPN, with an Israeli IP, it opened. You can pay the water bill online on CityPay with the bill and the card holder's ID number to hand. Without the website, according to Mei Carmel (Mei Carmel, in Hebrew):

• From abroad: +972-4-8356356; Sun, Tue, Thu 07:30–14:30, Mon and Wed 07:30–19:30, Israel time.
• A standing order from a bank or card, with a form by fax to 04-8356035 or online.
• Change of consumer when the flat changes hands: a form signed by the old and new occupant, with the meter reading on moving day and the contract, sent to [email protected], by fax to 04-8644529 or by post.

What you can do without the website

From public sources — Haifa municipality arnona, Haifa municipality service centres, Haifa municipality arnona collection (in Hebrew):

• The arnona payment line 1-700-700-060 runs an automated service 24 hours a day, with agents Sun–Thu 07:30–14:30. 1-700 numbers usually can't be dialled from abroad, so this route is more for relatives in Israel.
• Debt collection for the municipality and Mei Carmel: 04-8357283, Sun–Thu 08:00–14:00; from abroad dial +972-4-8357283.
• The 106 hotline (the municipality's call centre) on WhatsApp: +972-4-8357106, Sun–Thu 07:00–19:00, weekends 07:00–14:00. To call 106 from outside Haifa: 04-8356860, from abroad +972-4-8356860.
• Email for the arnona department: [email protected]; fax 04-8356035 (from abroad +972-4-8356035); post: אגף חיובי ארנונה, ת.ד 4811, Haifa 3104702.
• Public complaints (פניות הציבור): [email protected], phone 04-8356865 (from abroad +972-4-8356865), 08:30–15:00, fax 04-8356440.
• Bills by email instead of paper, by registering on city4u.
• The residents' service centre (חסן שוקרי 11) takes walk-ins Sun–Thu 08:00–14:00 and also Tue 15:30–17:30; you can book a slot in advance. This is a route for relatives in Israel.

How to get in with an Israeli IP

1. Sign up for SuperStableVPN: 3 days free, no credit card required. Install the free OpenVPN client on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android or Linux and import the configuration file we send you (setup).
2. Connect and check that an IP-lookup site shows Israel.
3. Open haifa.muni.il or the CityPay payment page. If the page you wanted opens, the connection is sorted.

Ours is a static IP from a range of Israeli residential addresses. Sites flag such addresses less often than a regular VPN's datacenter ones, though no site promises to accept them (residential IP vs a regular VPN).

What a VPN doesn't fix

• Your foreign card is refused. That's down to the payment system and your bank, not your IP.
• SMS codes. To receive SMS codes you will also need an Israeli phone number; see SMS codes from Israel abroad.
• Other cities: Tel Aviv; Jerusalem, Beersheba, Rishon LeZion and CityPay in general are in Paying Israeli bills from abroad.