Busylizzy

Please share your experiences as I am considering doing this in a few months time.

If you can also enlighten me on the procedure to get a residence permit in Bahrain if one is working in Saudi?

Busylizzy

lol take that as a no then 😊

weasel decentral

It's Friday/Saturday weekend there now, I guess you'll do better on Sunday.

Work Widow

I hope I can help.

From memory only I (spouse) required a resident visa in Bahrain but my husband would get a new entry visa into Bahrain on a daily basis as he held a Saudi Iqama which gave him exit/entry to Saudi. He worked for a Saudi company. I too had Iqama as well as Bahrain residency and CPR. However, the Bahrain office of his employer organised the visa on my behalf. I had to submit to medical test to qualify.

He commuted Bahrain/Saudi daily. The biggest issue was the causeway traffic until he got his VIP pass which took a long time to materialize but it was wonderful once he had received it.

Unfortunately, we no longer live in Bahrain and oddly enought I miss living there.

Cheers

Busylizzy

Oh that's great. What's a VIP pass?

Yes I have heard a lot of people enjoy living in Bahrain so I'm thinking it might be best option for us.

So how would one get a residency permit if they have no company office in Bahrain. Would the Saudi office then just help us out with visas or can u apply without a Saudi iqama?

nottmbantam

Its quite a common practice, although I don't know the processes involved. A guy I work with here in Riyadh travels home to Bahrain every weekend where his family live.

The VIP pass allows you quick and easy access over the Causeway in and out of Saudi and Bahrain, otherwise can be a pain to get over at busy times. It's more common practice for the folk working in Dammam/Dhahran/Khobar/Jubail areas - many of them live in Bahrain and commute daily to work in Saudi.

I'm assuming that once you get the Iqama for Saudi (KSA work permit and residency permit ) this will be enough to allow you to rent a property in Bahrain.

norsk

I did the causeway commute for a few years and it is easy peasy. Forget about VIP pass, they are like gold dust and cost big bucks. You get used to the causeway and learn when to go for avoidance of biggest queues plus you'll learn a lot of tricks from people already doing it on a daily basis.

Renting in Bahrain does not require residency, but if you have kids they will not be allowed into schools without it. It's easy enough to get, but there is no clear way to go about it so it can be pretty frustrating doing it yourself. Best advice would be to pay someone to take care of it for you. Your family don't need Saudi residence to get Bahraini residence by the way and your company don't need to have a local office.

Busylizzy

Thanks guys for all ur responses. Thinking Bahrain would be a bit more doable and rental seems pretty cheap compared to other gcc countries. Heard good things from people who are living there.

Busylizzy

School isn't a problem as we plan to home school anyway.

norsk

In that case you should be able to just get your family 5 year multi-entry visas from immigration (as long as they have British passports).

Cost used to be negligible, but from the eVisa website it looks like it is BD174 per person now and they will have to exit the country every 90 days which may or may not be a pain for you.

If I were you I would just get the residence visas for your family. It will probably cost more or less the same and be a lot less hassle.

Busylizzy

Thanks norm. Now to work out how to get a residency visa!

sicklyman

You can't get a visa yourself anymore. You need to find a Bahraini visa agent to do that for you. If you can't source one via a contact on an online forum, you could always go to the visa office and ask around. That's where they hang out.