Bahraini CPR while living in Saudi

Hello,

we had a similar discussion here
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 50#3504658

I am sure if someone has more info on the time frame it takes, they will reply..

good luck.

T&R

Hello,

Thank you for your reply and the link you sent. I will still wait for an updated reply as I didn't see the answers for my questions in the link of discussion 😔
Hopefully I get an answer soon as it is not clear in the government sites.
Thanks again. ☺️

Hi,
If you dont get a favorable reply, i would recommend that you call https://www.npra.gov.bh/en/page/reports-communication/

T&R

The most important question is not how long it will take. It's whether you can get CPRs or not.

It depends on a lot of info you didn't give as CPRs are not given out to just anybody.

What is your nationality?
Do you and your children have iqamas?
Are you working in Bahrain?

Be aware that there are two different items that are often considered the same when people say "CPR". They aren't the same though.

The first is the official CPR card which is what all residents have if they have a legally approved sponsor (e.g. their company or their spouse who is working for a Bahraini company).

The second is known as a "CPR number" or "CPR paper". In this case, you don't get the official card. You literally get a piece of paper with a number on it. This is issued to, for example, non-GCC national expats who hold Saudi iqamas. But it is only issued under certain conditions e.g. for Brits, you need a five year multi-entry visa before you can apply for a CPR number.

With a CPR, you can do anything legal in Bahrain e.g. get a school place, get a job, get a bank account, buy a car, get access to govt. sponsored health care. With a CPR number only, you are much more limited. The only thing I could do with mine is use it to get access to health care at hospitals with my insurance card from my Saudi employer.

So, for now, don't worry about how long it takes. Concern yourself with establishing if it is even possible for you to get a CPR number and how you go about doing that.

What sam states is basically correct, though I would point out that you can do other things with a "paper CPR", as I've used mine to open a bank account, buy a car and get internet access, however it is still limited.

We have lived in Bahrain now for 3 years and my wife has never bothered about a CPR, as basically we don't have any kids to worry about schooling and being Brits, every time she enters Bahrain she gets a 3 month visa. However we have now decided, for a number of reasons, amongst which being that we can't currently have a joint bank account in Bahrain(not a bad thing some might say  ), we have decided to get her a Bahrain residence and CPR to remedy these inconveniences.

So unless you are working in Bahrain, or have a Bahraini sponsor who can take care of things for you, the first thing you need to do is get a Saudi Iqama, which entails the same process your husband will have been through, including having to spend some time in Saudi, once you have your Saudi visa, in order to process the Iqama. This is relatively painless these days and my company managed to process my wife's Iqama within 2 days of her arriving in Saudi.

We are now in the process of getting her Bahrain residence and CPR and are using a local agent that my company use for this process, though it is turning out to be fairly long winded and has been ongoing for well over a month now, though they did say just yesterday that they hope to have everything done by next week.

I hope this helps explain things.

thanks for clarifying what you can do with a CPR number.

One thing I forgot to add is that although getting the CPR number/paper is something you can do in a few hours once you have all your paperwork together, getting an actual CPR card can take much, much longer.

Teachers, for example, often wait a year for their CPR after beginning a contract.

Mythril wrote:

We are now in the process of getting her Bahrain residence and CPR and are using a local agent that my company use for this process, though it is turning out to be fairly long winded and has been ongoing for well over a month now, though they did say just yesterday that they hope to have everything done by next week.

I hope this helps explain things.

Just a brief update to say that my wife was at LMRA this morning to complete her formalities and she was told by the agent that this afternoon she will get both her residency and CPR cards. A very long winded process, but at least now it is done and she's happy, which of course means I'm happy also 

We are having saudi iqama as well. Me n my family including husband and children wants to move to bahrain while he will still commute his same job from bahrain. How do we get cpr paper or card. Please explain the steps

I m holding saudi iqama as well. Me n my family including husband and children wants to move to bahrain and husband will still commute his job from bahrain. How do we get cpr paper or card. Please explain the steps.

Uzmasheikh wrote:

I m holding saudi iqama as well. Me n my family including husband and children wants to move to bahrain and husband will still commute his job from bahrain. How do we get cpr paper or card. Please explain the steps.

First of all, if you have kids that you want to get into school in Bahrain, I believe you will need a proper CPR and not just a "paper CPR", but as I don't have kids I'm not 100% sure, but I'm sure someone else on here can confirm or otherwise.

As you and the family already have Iqamas you have the basis for applying for a residency and CPR in Bahrain, but as I said above this is a lengthy process and we used an agent my company uses for the process. However, your husband's company in Saudi will also have to get involved, as the agent required a lot of paperwork from us, including  copies of my Iqama, passport, my Bahrain 5 year visa, our villa lease agreement, a copy of my company's Saudi CR and other documents, all of which had to be stamped with my company's official stamp.

I would suggest that your husband talks with his company to see if they will support this and if they have an agent in Bahrain you could use for this process and then get in touch with them to formalize what they will need from you.

Good luck.

Thank you Mythril for taking time and sharing the info.

I will be in a similar position with my wife and son. The information provided is very valuable. Thank you Mythril!

PM_Canada wrote:

I will be in a similar position with my wife and son. The information provided is very valuable. Thank you Mythril!

My pleasure, glad you find it useful.

My husband works in Saudi and we live in Bahrain. We used an Agent here in Bahrain the first time and he took forever! He was a British guy. Then we were recommended the Agent below and he was really fast and efficient. He is not the cheapest but he is reliable! His name is Issa*

Hello..

You can obtain a Bahraini CPR through your current company in KSA. Original documents are required which should be stamped by your company.  A professional PRO in Bahrain assist you with this or I can forward you their contact details.

This process normally takes two to three months if all documents are in order.  For any clarification, please feel to contact me *.  I am available on whattsapp on the same number

Regards
Fouad

Email me back at * and I can give you my contact details and get you connected to someone who can take care of this.
Regards,
Tom Sanders

Sorry admin. If anyone would like the contact number for the agent please pm me.

My son has been in school in Bahrain. No CPR

We are also in the middle of the CPR process, but we had to take a different route. My husband's company in Saudi (John Hopkins Aramco) has decided not to assist any of their employees commuting from Bahrain with CPR's. They do however insist that employees obtain CPRs to retain all of the "family status" benefits such as housing allowance and school fees. We were told that the only way to get a CPR therefore is if I set up a company. We have a Lawyer helping us with that at the moment. It's quite expensive!! I must rent a virtual office space and provide a lease agreement. I must also appoint a business auditor. .. and pay the lawyer for doing the paperwork and then obtaining the CPRs. They have promised them before we move in to our new home in 5 days time (!!!) so that we can get broadband and Bahraini SIM cards etc etc etc

Hello there,

Thank you so very much for taking the time to explain in details the process, much appriciated.
The update on our status is my husband got his iqama in Saudi and then a 5 year multiple entry to Bahrain and finally got his CPR, the process was surprisingly fast, the paper CPR exactly as you explained, we were able to rent a villa, get electricity n water meter in our name, kid in school n bank accounts (a joint one will come soon after I join my husband at the end of the month) 😆
We used a great agent as well for whoever is interested please let me know I would gladly pass his details.
I know every nationality is different so if anybody has any questions regarding US citizens going in that process we can happily explain in details.

Thanks again for your msg.
Best of luck

Thank you Fouad.

Thank you very much. I have updated our status in my reply 😆 Very happy all went well.

Best of luck,

Hi,

We are Brits considering a future move in the next year or two to Bahrain. I aim to still work in Khobar and have a Saudi Iqama driving across the causeway. My wife and kids will start fresh in Bahrain without any Iqamas since I will revert to bachelor status and no company sponsorship for them. My questions are as below:

1. With my Saudi Iqama can I rent a property in Bahrain and attain a non working CPR or paper CPR?
2. How will my wife and kids get paper CPRs?
3. Do Bahrain schools accept non working paper CPRs and numbers since the kids will need schools?

We are considering this option but it depends on point 3 heavily. We have lived in the Middle East for over 14 years and are trying to find out more information for future moves.

Thanks

Hi there,

We have the exact same situation but you said one thing that red flagged the conversation.

You said you are on bachelor status in your company, that's fine if the company is willing to give you letters saying that your are working for them with such title and such money and that's for facilitating the mibalization of your family.
Another letter for renting the house in Bahrain.
Another letter to issue the wife and kids CPR.

Everything you do in Bahrain you will need a letter from you company in Saudi.

If they are not willing to do that, do not continue reading, you will have to go a completely diff route to get them CPRs.

Now if they are willing to do so, everything get so easy. You need to start by issuing yourself a paper CPR because your are not working in Bahrain you are working in Saudi, then you apply for the family, they get cards. After that the wife can get a driving license ( you can't by the way) but your saudi one is enough for you.

Schools accept the kids and very flex as they know how things work and CPrs need time.

I have the contact number for the agent who did us all our paper work, he is great very fast and reliable. His name is Jasem 00 973 39600658 I can't r commend him enough. We have been in Bahrain for around 2 months, we were all done and settles in less that one month.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

Good luck,
Maie

Dear Maei,

Thank you for the information.

We will look into the different requirements and see if feasible for the future.

Best Wishes,

Mand

Shanedaas wrote:

Another letter for renting the house in Bahrain.

you can rent a flat with nothing but the deposit and your passport. I assume there are many villas that you can rent the same way.

We live in a compound in Hamala, they requested a letter from the company " an employment letter" and while we were looking for compounds the requirement was always a letter from the company but maybe it's diff at some places 😊

Hi Jo,

I'm in a tricky situation.

I've been living in Saudi for around 20 months but my company still haven't arranged my iqama. It will be ready in around 3 months after my educational documents have been attested in the uk though. Problem is my partner and daughter are coming to Bahrain to live with me in June.

My daughter cant start school as she has no CPR and I wont get mines until my iqama is arranged either.

I noticed in this post you said you have children attending school in Bahrain without a cpr. Could you PM with details of how you managed to arrange this with the school and indeed what school would be willing to accept a CPRless application.

Hi i would really like the details of that agent please. I m planning on making a paper CPR for myself. Thanks a lot for the help.

Hi

Can you send me his details too please?

Thank you

jtoal wrote:

Hi Jo,

I'm in a tricky situation.

I've been living in Saudi for around 20 months but my company still haven't arranged my iqama. It will be ready in around 3 months after my educational documents have been attested in the uk though. Problem is my partner and daughter are coming to Bahrain to live with me in June.

My daughter cant start school as she has no CPR and I wont get mines until my iqama is arranged either.

I noticed in this post you said you have children attending school in Bahrain without a cpr. Could you PM with details of how you managed to arrange this with the school and indeed what school would be willing to accept a CPRless application.

Did you find a way ?
Thank you

Hello, sorry for my late reply.
His name is Jasim, his number is ***
Good luck,
Maie

Shanedaas wrote:

Hello there,

Thank you so very much for taking the time to explain in details the process, much appriciated.
The update on our status is my husband got his iqama in Saudi and then a 5 year multiple entry to Bahrain and finally got his CPR, the process was surprisingly fast, the paper CPR exactly as you explained, we were able to rent a villa, get electricity n water meter in our name, kid in school n bank accounts (a joint one will come soon after I join my husband at the end of the month) 😆
We used a great agent as well for whoever is interested please let me know I would gladly pass his details.
I know every nationality is different so if anybody has any questions regarding US citizens going in that process we can happily explain in details.

Thanks again for your msg.
Best of luck

Hi Shanedass,

Interested to know the process for the CPR please. We are a french-US family. What is the name of the lawyer that you used? Thanks a ton.

Can you please share the PRO details with me.

Thank you

Hi - does anyone have an idea what are the latest laws regarding CPR?

Me and my husband both have a valid Saudi Iqama and we have rented an apartment in Bahrain. what are the next steps?

Hi,

My husband & I have valid Saudi iqamas and will be moving to Bahrain. He will commute daily.

What are the steps for CPR? We have Pakistani passport.

You should be able to get a paper CPR.

You would need a letter from your husbands company. CPR and a longer term visa can be issued on this basis.

Best approach is to find an agent who can sort this for you.  I think a few details are given above in the thread.

To Mythril,

Thanks very much for the information you have posted here.

My wife and I live in Saudi, but we will be moving to Bahrain this summer (2018), and I will be commuting over the causeway each day.

You mentioned in your posts that you used  a 'local agent', so i was just wondering if you'd mind sharing the details of this agent, so that I could contact them?

Thanks,
Simon

Hello,

Yes we used a great agent who finalized everything we needed in one month and overcame any obsticals. His name is Jasem, ‭00 973 39600658‬ let him know that May recommended him, he will do a good job.

Good luck,