Golden visa - Foreign Retiree

1) Private message is for when you want to discuss things privately.  Most people don't even know or check those

2) Not many members are active.  And as far as I know, there are only two experts on the Bahrain forum.  One is me and one is logicalindian.  I get dozens upon dozens of private messages as I am an expert on Bahrain, Saudi and UAE........and the interface to check these is quite cumbersome........I check forum posts faster than my private messages

3) All of this has been discussed before

But to keep it simple, you may have problems because of:

1) Insurance:  They want an insurance policy issued in Bahrain for TWO years.  Many insurance companies do that now for these visas in Bahrain.  Google insurance Bahrain, go to websites and contact them to get this policy - you don't need to be a resident.  I have seen many applications returned for this

2) Bank statement may be an issue but it is usually not a major issue if you have an employment certificate - they understand that you have been in the region for a short period of time.  What can help is that if you attach statements from banks you used prior to your arrival in other geographies

I think point 1 is the bigger issue and point 2 is minor.  Let's see how it goes.

@XTang understood and thank you very much for the response.

I’m hoping they give me chance to include a health insurance before actually rejecting the application as it is something that is easier to obtain compared for eg getting a higher salary.

No they just return it and ask for documents.  Rejection is for other reasons, not this.

@carlmm84 Hi Carl, how did this work out for you in the end? Any resolution?

Curious as well. I work remotely and meet the salary requirement with my remote job but curious as to how exactly to fill out the application attachment called "proof of retirement certificate", for example...

Hi All,

They are basically looking for a retirement category - Above 50's years and earnings from aborad not from a job - Investments, Rental etc.

My friend applied with 7000 BHD salary certificate and Bank statement and was rejected over a period of 2 years. He applied 2 different times.

You could always apply and see whether they accept it. If you need any help, let me know.

Hi All,They are basically looking for a retirement category - Above 50's years and earnings from aborad not from a job - Investments, Rental etc.My friend applied with 7000 BHD salary certificate and Bank statement and was rejected over a period of 2 years. He applied 2 different times. You could always apply and see whether they accept it. If you need any help, let me know. -@Genro

Thanks for the reply @Genro.

7,000 BHD is definitely a high salary above the requirements so that's not too promising that he was rejected twice...

Any idea around what bank balance he was able to show? For example, if someone had 400,000  BHD (e.g. $1M  USD) in investments, whether that might mitigate other factors like a younger age and having a remote job with 4,000  BHD vs purely earning via investments...

Similarly, I am curious whether country of nationality and family status (single vs married, # of kids) might play a factor as well?

4,000 BHD per-month from investments (48,000 per-year) at 4% returns would imply total invested capital of 1,200,000 BHD. But if they assume an 8% return, than that's only 600,000 BHD (obviously a very big difference)...

I think I have explained it before.

I do know of two people who are working in Saudi, applied with salary certificates and got the retiree visa. Note that they were BOTH in their late 40's with families who would live in Bahrain. So it seems they are applying an informal age criteria if not the "retired" criteria. It makes sense. They want to give golden retiree visas to people who will stay in the country, spend and boost the economy while not competing in the job market. Older people, even with jobs where they earn a lot, are less likely to compete in the job market - most of them would be unaffordable in Bahrain (like me, which is why I work in Saudi).

Also remember, they are deciding whether to give you a long term visa or not. The application will go through multiple layers of security checks and vetting. If they have any doubt on anything, they will straight out reject you irrespective of what you make. As a side example, I have a 10 year visa in Bahrain and I work in Saudi. I recently applied for a Saudi premium residency and it's been in process for almost 8 months (when the normal time period is 3 months). I am above 14K BHD in salary and my colleagues who make way less than me, have already been approved (threshold for Saudi residency is 8000 BD). So it means that my security clearance is taking time despite me working in Saudi for almost 7 years now and being in the top salary bracket.

Country of nationality may also impact this due to political issues that we may know nothing about. For you, if you have income and assets, you might be better off getting a property related golden visa.

Well, my experience suggests that the Bahrain Golden Visa process is quite random and it looks like the employees vetting the applications are not competent enough! I applied twice recently; Egyptian Engineer working in Bahrain for more than five years as a director for a big international company and monthly salary is much more than the required minimum (with salary certificate, salary slips and 6 months Bahrain bank account as a proof) and I got rejected both times!

Second time I wrote to them asking for the reasons and they replied back saying that salary must be more than BHD 2000 and that the applicant should have a Bahrain social insurance (and both criteria are fulfilled in my case).

I wrote back challenging what they said and pointing out that I have submitted documents proving that both conditions are met and they haven’t responded back yet!

That is unfortunately what happens with bureaucracy everywhere.  Only thing you can do is to raise a complaint on Tawasul portal addressed to NPRA.

@XTang

Great advice, thank you very much, I will do that straight away

I’m just frustrated because they have absolutely no basis for this rejection!

I also don’t think that Egypt is on their “red / black list” or anything like this!

It happens.  Best thing to do is complain and if it doesn't happen, well it doesn't happen.  Reality of the situation.

Is it possible for you to name any company which provides health insurance for non residents while applying for the golden visa. All seems to be just for residents

@XTang

^^

Gig bahrain you can apply like non resident

@hakkab

Hello.

Thank you for your interest with GIG Gulf Health insurance.

All our health insurance plans require a valid Bahrain residence visa and CPR ID.

I have apply for my selfsponsorship. Maybe they have change rules