mariang

Can anyone please advise on the following;
my husband has a job offer in Damman but we have opted to live in Bahrain. He will get an Iqama.
What do I have to do to live in Bahrain legally- Do I have to enter saudi and get residency there first, or is there a way of getting Bahrain residency off the back of my husband's saudi visa/ residency?

The Dean

If you are a UK passport holder, you can more or less come and go to/from Bahrain as you please, but in terms of actually obtaining Bahrain resident status, your husband's company will have to go through the necessary channels, I believe. If the firm is in Dammam, there must have been other employees who have done this.

mariang

Thanks!
Do we have to go to saudi first and obtain residency there before we can gain residency in Bahrain?

gottheTshirt

As noted above as a Brit you can enter and leave Bahrain. When your husband gets his Iqama you can easily get KSA residency then you can then come across to KSA at the weekends, Bahrain is awful at the weekends - full of Saudis and KSA expats.

mariang

thanks gotthetshirt!
However we don't want a saudi residency - can the company sponser living in Bahrain without having to live in KSA first?

norsk

You don't need KSA residency! British passport holders can get a 3 month tourist visa on entry and then you can apply for a 2 year residence visa (not sure what it is called) through the Immigration office in Manama. I don't think you need anything from your husbands company to get this visa, all you need is to pay for the privilege.

Gottheshirt is deluded by the way. Why would you want to go KSA on the weekend? Yes, there are plenty of knobheads that come across from KSA on the weekends but it is easy to stay away from them.

Of course you could get Saudi residency as well if you wanted to. This will enable you to go across the causeway for shopping. KSA is approx 20% cheaper than Bahrain!! However it will cost you extra in terms of visas and of course you then have to go there every 28 days etc which can be a bit of a pain...

Mr Edward

Unless your husbands company have offices in Barhain, you cannot obtain residency, but as previous members have explained you can vist and stay anytime for up to a period of 3 months, once your visit visa is expired, go over to Al Khobar for the weekend and then come back in, its that easy

norsk

I'm not too sure that's right. There was a guy who was working in my company whose wife had a residency visa in Bahrain and we don't have a company presence in Bahrain, and she wasn't employed by anyone. I'll send him an email to find out how he went about it and update the post when I know more.

norsk

Right. Here are the facts as given to me by someone who's actually done this....

You need a letter (on headed paper, stamped and signed by your husband's company PRO) stating they are fine with him and his family living in Bahrain. With this in hand your husband can apply to be your sponsor on a 2 year residence visa costing around $200 per person.

So basically get a 3 month tourist visa at the airport when you arrive and then sort the 2 year one out before it runs out. If you can't then a short trip to Dubai will allow you to renew the 3 month visa...

mariang

Thank you so much Norsk - was a bit of a worry as didn't want to have to move to saudi and then move to Bahrain!