Maimonides held that the Ger Toshav status is only applicable during a time when the 12 Jewish Tribes are ingathered and settled in their Biblically assigned territories. (In such times, the Yovel, or "Jubilee," years are able to be observed by the Jews - see Lev. 25:8-13.) Under these conditions, which will not return until the Messianic Redemption, by Torah Law a Gentile will be allowed to settle as a resident in the Holy Land if he/she appears before a Jewish court (Beis Din) and takes an oath before them that he or she will observe the Seven Noahide Laws with proper intent and faith. The court then grants this Gentile the visa status of "Ger Toshav," which includes certain additional legal privileges.
Since the time that the 10 northern Tribes of ancient Israel were exiled and lost, before the destruction of the First Temple, the Yovel years have not been able to be observed, and it is not applicable to have the Ger Toshav status. It will only be possible to again observe the Yovel years and grant the Ger Toshav status after the Messiah comes and brings the True and Complete Redemption, speedily in our days. This will be when the Messiah gathers all the Jews back to Israel, including the Ten Lost Tribes, and identifies the Tribe which each Jew belongs to. Then each Jewish Tribe will reside in the region assigned to it by G-d, as these regions are described in the Torah (see Num. 34:1-15, Deut. 33:22-23, 34:1-4).<ref>This section is partly based on the Chabad based [http://www.asknoah.org/HTML%5Cq&a_general.html AskNoah.org]</ref>
