Can I live there on a tourist visa?

merryfusion wrote:

Hello,

I am looking for some guidance about living in Bahrain.

My husband is about to start a new job in Al Khobar and would like me and the children to live in Bahrain, we are all British Citizens.  Can I just go and do this on a tourist visaa or do I need a work permit first?

I would hugely grateful if anyone could advise me on this.

Many thanks

S.

Hi Merryfusion and Welcome to the Forum

For better visibility and proper responses it would be great if you create a new post on the Forum.

The responses here above(Specially Olivier's one)have some fruitful information for you.

You can enter Bahrain with a visit visa valid on arrival for three month. In your case, you don't need a working visa to live in Bahrain.

This link will give you more info related to visa issues.

Regards,

Hi merryfusion and welcome to Expat.com!

A new thread has been moved to Bahrain forum for better visibility.

Harmonie.

Big thanks Harmonie and VidoDido.

So, VidoDido,  with a tourist visa that is valid for 3 months would I be able to renew this in Bahrain or would I need to leave the country to renew?  And would it be 'legal' so to speak to rent a house and school our children in Bahrain with this type of visa?

I am a teacher and understand that the best option would be to find a teaching post in advance which would mean we would have sponsorship and residency, however there are very few teaching posts advertised here at the moment so I'm not feeling all that hopeful with this option.

Any advice or tips gratefully received
Many thanks
MerryFusion

Hi, You can rent a villa and car on a visit visa and you can also get the kids into a school. You will all have to leave the country every 3 months to renew your visa.

Once your husband is settled into his job then you will all get visa's for Saudi and hopefully a CPR for Bahrain. In order for you to work, you will need to have all your qualifications, a residency visa in Bahrain etc BUT most teaching jobs will sponsor you on your own right so you should be fine. Teaching posts are advertised on the schools websites

Jo

Thank you Jo, really helpful.  Do you know if this type of visa would need to be renewed back in the UK or is this something that is done locally?

Thanks.

It should be done locally Merry..
All the best for you and welcome to the forum

merryfusion wrote:

Thank you Jo, really helpful.  Do you know if this type of visa would need to be renewed back in the UK or is this something that is done locally?

Thanks.

This is something they call it here "visa run", you don't have to go home to renew your visa. All you need to do is just to exit the country and re-enter. Usually what people do in this situations, they just fly to Doha (Which is 30 Minutes Flight) or Dubai (which is 50 Minutes Flight) and come back

Me going to Doah :-) It's easy and you will be fine to stay here on a visit visa until you get everything sorted properly