Bahrain: Issuances of work visas by type and status (new, renewed) (Q3 2008 – Q2 2018)

Regular labourers Investors Temporary labourers
New Visas Renewals Total New Visas Renewals Total New Visas Renewals Total
2008 Q3 9,014 5,630 14,644 31 5 36 455 3 458
Q4 27,238 5,640 32,878 78 23 101 1,793 24 1,817
2009 Q1 34,458 8,298 42,756 93 55 148 2,340 86 2,426
Q2 27,693 29,431 57,124 105 128 233 1,013 620 1,633
Q3 24,234 25,948 50,182 91 65 156 538 406 944
Q4 25,648 32,258 57,906 97 69 166 832 582 1,414
2010 Q1 24,992 39,256 64,248 139 86 225 1,653 277 1,930
Q2 24,229 31,852 56,081 186 111 297 524 330 854
Q3 25,208 27,477 52,685 139 115 254 445 476 921
Q4 25,266 27,382 52,648 141 177 318 632 346 978
2011 Q1 22,929 28,220 51,149 117 193 310 1,300 214 1,514
Q2 22,070 27,210 49,280 153 187 340 561 378 939
Q3 29,075 22,966 52,041 128 137 265 593 178 771
Q4 28,407 28,141 56,548 121 143 264 650 358 1,008
2012 Q1 30,517 32,925 63,442 172 238 410 863 377 1,240
Q2 30,485 28,613 59,098 222 244 466 1,194 437 1,631
Q3 31,083 26,381 57,464 236 213 449 956 395 1,351
Q4 28,814 27,357 56,171 210 252 462 1,547 449 1,996
2013 Q1 32,200 28,589 60,789 264 302 566 1,242 364 1,606
Q2 32,181 28,210 60,391 260 278 538 386 210 596
Q3 28,841 27,855 56,696 214 218 432 420 310 730
Q4 24,649 31,480 56,129 253 269 522 475 257 732
2014 Q1 27,176 37,012 64,188 320 348 668 864 238 1,102
Q2 31,134 34,138 65,272 382 378 760 265 132 397
Q3 34,611 31,253 65,864 291 316 607 443 118 561
Q4 32,233 35,040 67,273 271 385 656 565 142 707
2015 Q1 33,870 40,211 74,081 292 475 767 541 243 784
Q2 38,635 42,933 81,568 259 417 676 379 169 548
Q3 33,325 41,495 74,820 190 362 552 486 170 656
Q4 38,696 50,969 89,665 282 427 709 513 195 708
2016 Q1 50,160 60,179 110,339 509 656 1,165 623 134 757
Q2 49,538 61,643 111,181 444 554 998 246 129 375
Q3 50,466 53,606 104,072 329 443 772 179 143 322
Q4 51,567 63,969 115,536 553 523 1,076 2 160 162
2017 Q1 47,355 67,064 114,419 937 595 1,532 52 52
Q2 36,736 64,512 101,248 1,035 498 1,533 5 5
Q3 42,793 62,045 104,838 980 482 1,462 0
Q4 44,087 67,794 111,881 934 585 1,519 0
2018 Q1 39,302 75,225 114,527 939 865 1,804 0
Q2 39,566 73,856 113,422 1,061 861 1,922 0

Source: Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), Expatriate Management System (EMS)
 
ANNEXED NOTE
 
1. Technical Notes and Definitions

Within the scope of Law No. 19/2006 on regulating the labour market, the LMRA Expatriate Management System (EMS)
issues regular, temporary and investor work visas for foreign workers in the private, governmental and non-commercial, non-government sectors,
as well as records and issues residency visas to their family dependents.
The system tracks visa applications, renewals, mobility of workers between employers and from one occupation to another.
Domestic workers are registered separately and are not included in the present figures.
The system is updated continuously and linked with other labour-related databases of the Kingdom, including CIO, GDNPR, GOSI, PFC, CSB,
Ministry of Labour (MoL), and Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC).

The Expat Management System (EMS) distinguishes four types of visas for operational purposes: regular work visas for workers with 24-month validity;
temporary work visas issued for workers with 6-month validity; investor work visas issued for investors investing up to BD 100,000;
and dependent visas issued for family members of eligible foreign workers.
A Regular worker is engaged to work in an enterprise for a long period of time, i.e. for more than six months and usually two years with possibility of renewal.
An Investor is a person who invests up to 100,000 Bahraini dinars.
A Temporary worker is engaged to work in an enterprise for a short period of time, i.e. for less than two years and usually six months.
Four major categories of workers in terms of their status in employment are employees, employers, own-account workers, and unpaid family workers.

The definitions that the LMRA adopts for its data can be found in the Glossary section: (http://blmi.lmra.bh/mi_glossary.xml)

 
2. Institution which provides data 

Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA).

3. Data availability 

The LMRA publishes these data under its Bahrain Labour Market Indicators (http://www.lmra.bh/blmi), data section (http://blmi.lmra.bh/2018/06/mi_data.xml), table 33.
Figures and results are often reported in tables in both PDF and Excel formats.

Date of access: December 2018