Moving to Bahrain but working in Saudi

Hi ellq,

I just did the exact same thing and can point you in the right direction. Drop me a note.

Hi Ellq,

We're moving soon to Bahrain too. We came 2 weeks ago to get an idea of where we'd like to settle.

Considering your husband will be commuting every day for his job to Saudi, I would say go for Saar or Budaya which have lots of compounds with expatriates from England, USA and other Europeen countries. These villages are at the far west of the island.

Most of them have a swimming-pool, gym... maid-room.

As there are more or less 25 000 British living in Bahrain and most of them on this side of the island, these villages have English schools (private and state schools), clubs (Delmund club for example), horse-riding school...

Go to google earth to locate these villages.

As for us, we finally won't choose these villages, even though they're nice. First because we're French and the French school is located in Butsaiteen (far east of the island) and it takes 45-50 mns to commute to this area at rush time !

Good luck in your researche !

iramnna.

PS : Do not know about visas. The company takes care of that for us.

Hi guys, thanks for the info. It's nice to know there are people out there whose brains I can pick. We've been given the go ahead and should be there by about October time. Did think about getting dual residence for Peter, Bahrain and Saudi, as he will be heading up the company in Saudi so will need to sign cheques and take responsibility for the running of it. A friend has managed to get a second UK passport so maybe we will go for that. Getting very excited about the prospect as we have been here for 15 years and wanderlust has set in.

Hi

We live in Juffair in the NE corner and my husband regularly travels the causeway for work without problem. Juffair has few villas, mostly apartment blocks but has easy access to everything. We chose here as our first base in Bahrain because of the sea views, proximity to the airport (hubby's work territory covers most of the Middle East) and because we didn't want to live in a "little England". We've joined the British Club which is nearby for its library and squash courts and also the Yacht Club at Sitra to keep up our sailing.

For regular travel to Saudi a multi-entry visa is required and should be obtained in the UK before you leave. My husband was told it could be done here but in fact he had to go back to the UK. Although reading your post again I think your husband may need residency in Saudi but his employers should be able to confirm this.

Many people travel regularly in either direction - Saudi's & ex-Pats weekending in Bahrain, ex-Pats working in Saudi but living in Bahrain.

Feel free to contact me directly if you want any info - I can recommend the letting agents we worked with.

Susie

Hi Susie,

Thanks for the help. We will be looking for a villa as we have a dog and two cats, so will need a private one, not on a compound, unless I can find one with a private garden. Will hopefully be coming over for two days soon when Peter has to go next time so I can look around. Had intended booking a taxi for most of a day and go to the places people recommend we should live. We have a friend here who knows where not to! Difficulty is we have a holiday back to Europe coming up, so I'm frantically, as they say on TV "de-cluttering" or as I would say getting rid of junk, in case when we get back it's all systems go. After 15 years here, there seems to be an amazing amount to get rid of.

Thanks again, Lorna

fire_ball wrote:

Hi ellq,

I just did the exact same thing and can point you in the right direction. Drop me a note.

Hi,

I have read your post. I am moving to Bahrain on September 19th and I shall work in Al Khobar and hence commute every day. We visited Bahrain in May this year and we plan to live in Budaya (we have no children at school) What is the average time to travel Budaya/Al Khobar (including borders crossing) ???
Thanks for the advise

Richard

Can you provide more details

Can you be more specific with your question?

hi, Can you  provide me more details about this as I am in a peculiar scenario, My company has a branch in Saudi for which I keep shuttling up down between Dubai and Dammam, I wish to get settled down in Bahrain with my family and look after Saudi operations. Can you guide me in a better way, I want to avoid taking my family to the Saudi.

Ok.  There are different ways to do that.

First of all, will your employer provide you and family with visas for Saudi?  i.e. residence visas / Iqama?  if so, this simplifies the situation.  Your company would then need to give an NOC for the family to be able to live in Bahrain and get a paper CPR.  See the below post for discussion on this topic:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=641869

The other options are:

1) Property purchase above 50,000 BD which allows for residence visas for self and family
2) Setting up a company which also allows the same.  Sticky below deals with that:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=739858

I already do the same.  Work in Riyadh, family lives in Bahrain and I commute on the weekends. I chose option 2 i.e. setting up a company.