{"id":4369,"date":"2025-01-16T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T12:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/bahrain\/en\/?p=4369"},"modified":"2025-01-16T12:16:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T12:16:00","slug":"parliament-approves-law-banning-expatriates-from-converting-tourist-visas-into-work-permits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/bahrain\/en\/latest\/parliament-approves-law-banning-expatriates-from-converting-tourist-visas-into-work-permits\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliament Approves Law Banning Expatriates From Converting Tourist Visas Into Work Permits"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 15, 2025, Bahrain’s Parliament unanimously approved a new law that stops expatriates from converting tourist or visit visas into work permits. This change is an update to the 1965 Foreigners (Migration and Residency) Law, and it’s now up for review by the Shura Council, the upper chamber of Bahrain’s National Assembly.<\/p>\n

Once approved, it will need to be ratified by HM King Hamad to become official<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This proposal came from five MPs, led by Hassan Bukhammas, last January. During a recent session, Hassan Ibrahim, vice-chairman of the Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, highlighted how the situation with visa transfers had gotten out of hand and needed clearer regulations. He suggested the ban as a solution, saying people should know what type of visa they\u2019re getting before entering the country.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) reported that since stricter rules were put in place, the number of tourist or visit visas being converted to work permits has dropped by over 87%.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Under the new rules, visit visas can\u2019t be switched to work or dependent visas without a sponsor<\/strong><\/p>\n

But, if the person has a sponsor, they can transfer the visa for a higher fee of BD250 (up from BD60) as long as it’s with the same sponsor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On January 15, 2025, Bahrain’s Parliament unanimously approved a new law that stops expatriates from converting tourist or visit visas into work permits. This change is an update to the 1965 Foreigners (Migration and Residency) Law, and it’s now up for review by the Shura Council, the upper chamber of Bahrain’s National Assembly. Once approved, … ","protected":false},"author":3766,"featured_media":4372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[1760,491,1759,1761,1758],"class_list":["post-4369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-news","tag-bahrain-tourist-visa","tag-bahrain-visa","tag-bahrain-visa-laws","tag-bahrain-work-permit","tag-visa-rules-bahrain","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":{"hide_featured_image":false,"featured_image":{"ID":4372,"id":4372,"title":"feature images saudi cities (3)","filename":"feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2.png","filesize":625669,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2.png","link":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/bahrain\/en\/latest\/parliament-approves-law-banning-expatriates-from-converting-tourist-visas-into-work-permits\/attachment\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-21\/","alt":"","author":"3766","description":"","caption":"","name":"feature-images-saudi-cities-3-21","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":4369,"date":"2025-01-16 11:39:19","modified":"2025-01-16 11:39:19","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/lovin.co\/bahrain\/en\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2-small.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2-medium.png","medium-width":250,"medium-height":125,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2-768x384.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2-large.png","large-width":700,"large-height":350,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":400,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":400,"small":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2-120x60.png","small-width":120,"small-height":60,"custom-size":"https:\/\/cdn.lovin.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/01\/16113919\/feature-images-saudi-cities-3-2-700x200.png","custom-size-width":700,"custom-size-height":200}},"featured_image_caption":"","ad_square_right":"","summary":"","flexible_content":false,"legacy_image":"","legacy_full_image":"","type_of_video":"Self Hosted","lovin_video_link":false,"lovin_video_link_webm":false,"video_thumbnail":false,"disable_ads":false,"slots_script_override":"","ad_horizontal_top_desktop":"","ad_vertical_left_desktop":"","ad_vertical_right_desktop":"","ad_horizontal_top_tablet":"","ad_horizontal_bottom_tablet":"","ad_horizontal_mobile_1":"","ad_horizontal_mobile_2":"","ad_horizontal_mobile_3":"","article_ad_infeed_slot":"","ad_square_podcast":"","disable_lovin_hearts":false,"lovin_heart_title":"","show_sponsor":false,"sponsor_image":false,"sponsor_name":"","sponsor_content":"","sponsor_website":"","sponsor_facebook":"","sponsor_twitter":"","sponsor_instagram":"","enable_reveal_feature":false,"reveal_image":false,"legacy_sponsor_name":"","legacy_sponsor_website":"","legacy_sponsor_content":"","legacy_sponsor_image":"","featured_for_app":false,"legacy_meta_tags":"","is_guest_user":false,"episode_number":"","embed_code":"","episode_introduction":""},"yoast_head":"\nParliament Approves Law Banning Expatriates From Converting Tourist Visas Into Work Permits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lovin.co\/bahrain\/en\/latest\/parliament-approves-law-banning-expatriates-from-converting-tourist-visas-into-work-permits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parliament Approves Law Banning Expatriates From Converting Tourist Visas Into Work Permits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On January 15, 2025, Bahrain’s Parliament unanimously approved a new law that stops expatriates from converting tourist or visit visas into work permits. This change is an update to the 1965 Foreigners (Migration and Residency) Law, and it’s now up for review by the Shura Council, the upper chamber of Bahrain’s National Assembly. 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