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