What the identity card is
The identity card is how a resident is known to every authority inside the Kingdom, and it carries their personal number. It is not a standalone procedure but a link in a chain: the work permit, then entry and residency, then the card. Each link depends on the one before it.
Issue for a new worker
The card is issued after the work permit has been granted, the worker has entered, and the residency formalities are complete. It takes two working days from the point the documents are in order.
- Documents
- A valid passport, proof of the permit and residency, and the company's details.
- Period
- Two working days.
- Fee
- 10 BHD for a non-Bahraini and 2 BHD for a Bahraini — a government fee set by the Information and eGovernment Authority.
- Sequence
- The card is not filed before the residency settles. An application made too early is returned.
Renewal
The card's renewal is tied to the residency or permit renewal, since it follows their term. Its date therefore belongs in the same follow-up calendar that tracks the permit, not a separate one, so that one worker's dates do not scatter.
The cost of delay
An expired card does not only stop the employee. It is asked for in transactions that seem remote from it: opening a bank account, authenticating a contract, healthcare formalities, and the dealings of dependent family members. A company that defers it pays for the delay in those places rather than in the card itself.
This guide is a general account. The Information and eGovernment Authority is the final reference for any condition or fee.