Dependant and family residency
This guide sets out the conditions for dependant residency for a resident’s family members, the documents required, the attestation procedure where they are issued outside the Kingdom, and the usual completion periods.
Who dependant residency covers
Dependant residency is a following residency, issued to a resident's family within the prescribed conditions: a spouse, and children within the recognised limits. It is open to an investor as it is to an employee, though the conditions differ with the basis of each one's own residency.
The attested documents
What proves the family relationship is the heart of the file. It must be attested by the recognised authorities in the country of issue, then translated by a certified translator where it is not in Arabic or English.
- A marriage certificate for a spouse, attested.
- Birth certificates for children, attested.
- Valid passports for the family members.
- Proof of the sponsor's residency and employment or commercial registration.
The route and the period
The application follows the settling of the sponsor's own residency, not the other way round. It is completed in 3 working days from the point the documents are in order, and the fee is 90 BHD per application. Identity card formalities follow for each family member, at 10 BHD.
Dependence on the sponsor
Dependant residency is a branch, not a root. If the sponsor's residency ends or lapses for any reason, the residencies attached to it lapse with it. Their dates therefore belong in one calendar with the sponsor's, not scattered across separate ones.
Where applications fail
- An unattested relationship document, or an attestation missing a link in the chain.
- An uncertified translation of a document in a third language.
- Filing the dependant application before the sponsor's residency has settled.
- A child's passport whose remaining validity falls short.
This guide is a general account. Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs is the final reference for any condition or fee.
When are family residency applications filed?
After the sponsor’s own residency has settled, not before. An application made too early is returned.
What does a dependant permit cost, and how long does it take?
90 BHD per application, completed in 3 working days from the point the documents are in order. The identity card follows for each member at 10 BHD.
What most often stalls a dependant file?
A document sound in substance but unattested. Attestation is started with, not deferred; otherwise the application is returned and refiled weeks later.
Does a dependant residency lapse with the sponsor’s?
Yes: it follows the sponsor’s. That is why their dates are tracked on one calendar.
Investor residency and foreign ownership
The limits of foreign ownership in Bahrain, the investor residency route, and how it ties to the registration and the bank account.
Read the guide Procedural guideVisit visas: extension and conversion
Visa periods and extension, conversion into a work permit, and the window after which a visa lapses automatically.
Read the guide Procedural guideRenewing residency and updating passport details
When residency is renewed and what blocks it, what a new passport requires, and why the records must agree with one another.
Read the guide Residency for family members
Send the sponsor’s status, the number of family members and the country the documents were issued in, and we set out what must be attested and translated, and how long it takes.