Converting visitor visa to RP

Can you be a bit more clear? Are you just moving to Bahrain without a job or moving to Bahrain as a result of a job? If you are coming to Bahrain with a job, your visa will be a residence permit and your family can also join you under your sponsorship and they will get their visa as well.

I don't know about every school here but I know some friends of mine have their children studying at number of schools here and they don't have a CPR so I don't think it's an issue.

If your company is telling you to come on a visitors visa and they will convert it to a residence permit later on, please bear in mind this is a common but still an illegal practice. Nobody is allowed to work here on a visitors visa. For your own piece of mind, ensure you have your visa sorted before arriving here. You might have to go back to the UK to have your health checks done if you start working here on a visitors visa first.

Good luck and keep us in the loop.

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.
I'm coming to work in Bahrain, waiting for my RP to be issued. can my family enter with me in my first entry to Bahrain ?

3daddict wrote:

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.
I'm coming to work in Bahrain, waiting for my RP to be issued. can my family enter with me in my first entry to Bahrain ?

Yes they can, they can come in on a Visitors Visa (depending upon nationality) and then your company will apply for their residency/CPR here.  It's pretty common practice.  The schools know this and if you just say that you are waiting for your CPR's to be issued they will understand and just ask you to let them have it as soon as it is available.

Thanks Scottrace.

Do I need to renew visitor visa every month or I can get it for 3 months. Is it expensive ?

I am assuming here that your family are all British Passport holders.

When you enter Bahrain ask for 3 month visit visa's and then check that's what you have (sometimes only get 2 weeks so don't just assume).  This will cost 5bd per person which you need to pay in cash upon entry.

At the end of the first 3 months you can go to Immigration on Exhibition Road and ask for an extension of another 3 months.  Again, 5bd per person.

If you still need further time after that, your family will need to leave Bahrain (you can just hop to one of the other GCC countries) and upon re-entry ask again for a 3 month tourist visa and so on.

Thank you so much scottrace

I am from Pakistan and i am on visit visa. Incase if i get a job here can i convert the same visa into RP?

mudassarkazi wrote:

I am from Pakistan and i am on visit visa. Incase if i get a job here can i convert the same visa into RP?

Yes you can. Provided your potential employer is able to get a work permit for you and get a work visa for you in place of your visit visa.

In practice, this is what happens most of the time. Most employers get you down on a visit visa and then go through the process of converting it to a work visa.

Hi I am ramya from India., my husband is travelling to beharin under work visa I also want to travel with him on  the same day. So can I take visiting visa and can later convert to dependant once I go there plz help me with that...

Hi,

Only if your husbands company arranges a visit visa for you only then you could come along with him, else it is not possible.

T&R

How many days needed to convert Visit visa to RP in bahrain

Same process as applying for a new visa, no one can give an exact time frame we have seen it happen anywhere between 7-30 working days.

PS: currently we are hearing of backlogs so it may get extended.

T&R

No,. First you will have to settle with a CPR and apply for their visas.. either temporary visit or long term

1 hour..if your papers are correct

Stalin Edward wrote:

1 hour..if your papers are correct

You meant to say, your visit visa can be changed to a Resident permit in 1hour?

logicalindian wrote:

Stalin Edward wrote:

1 hour..if your papers are correct

You meant to say, your visit visa can be changed to a Resident permit in 1hour?

I have personally experienced applying online (on the weekend) to having visa stamped in the passport within 1 hour of the first working day when there was lots of time pressure due to travel constraints.  Mostly, my experience nowadays is a day or two.  However, this requires very strong connections in each agency (either yourself or through a solid PRO) which even most large companies do not have.

Even if you have correct documents; the time killer is the waiting time in each step.  The connections can reduce that waiting time to zero if the documents are correct.

Thus, this advice is not valid for most people who just don't have those resources or connections available to them.  I would give this advice from the perspective of someone  who follows standard process.