Does governmental intervention in the form of occupational training and retraining and other forms of assistance improve immigrants' occupational opportunities both as self-employed and as salaried employees? These have been longstanding research and government concerns in societies that face large waves of immigration. This study reports on the research findings of a longitudinal study which sought to examine the effects of governmental support mechanisms on the incorporation of a large immigrant inflow from the former Soviet Union (FSU) high in human capital into the labour market. Three types of public support programmes were investigated: occupational retraining, subsidised salaries for immigrants and support for immigrants in business creation. The research population consisted of 910 new immigrants from the FSU who arrived to Israel in the 1990s; they were interviewed in-depth in 1992 and again in 1994/5. The findings show that the three support mechanisms differ in their contribution to the transferability of human capital of immigrants and their earnings from jobs. They also affect men and women immigrants differently. The question ‘what worked?’ is discussed from three viewpoints: accountability of public programmes, knowledge basis and implementation. A training system approach is used to explain differences in the effects of the three policy instruments on the occupational incorporation of the immigrants.