LMRA Seef Mall Muharraq Branch

No. LMRA Seef Mall Muharraq operates Sunday to Thursday from 08:00 to 15:00 only. Friday and Saturday are the Bahrain weekend and the counter is fully closed, including the cashier. Seef Mall Muharraq itself remains open over the weekend for shopping but the LMRA counter does not. If you have a permit expiring on a Friday or Saturday, file the renewal online via Bahrain.bh by Thursday because the late-renewal penalty starts the moment the permit lapses regardless of the weekend. For Saturday opening you would need to drive to LMRA Riffa-Buhair, which is the only LMRA branch open six days.

No formal prayer break during normal months — counter staff rotate to keep service moving. During Ramadan, hours shift to a shortened day and individual counters may briefly pause for Dhuhr when only one officer is on duty. Tokens issued before any pause remain valid — do not re-take a new token, as the LMRA queue is sequential and a new token places you at the back. Watch the digital display for live status. The cashier closes 15 minutes before the counters in Ramadan, so settle payments early in the visit if there is any chance of going to the wire.

Bring the worker's original passport and CPR card if previously issued. For employer-side transactions, the PRO must bring their own CPR plus an authorisation letter on company letterhead or a notarised power of attorney. For domestic-worker permits the Bahraini household head must attend personally with their original CPR; PRO substitution is not accepted because identity verification of the Bahraini sponsor is statutory. Dependants attending for biometric capture must bring their original passport and the attested marriage or birth certificate that established the dependency relationship.

An expired permit accrues the BHD 10 per month late-renewal penalty plus continued monthly LMRA and SEHATI fees during the lapse. Seef Muharraq will process the renewal at the counter but only after the cashier collects the full amount including penalties. If the permit has been expired for more than 30 days, you may need a fresh issuance rather than a renewal, which means new biometric capture and a new contract. Workers who departed Bahrain during the lapse may need a fresh entry permit instead — the counter officer routes the case accordingly when the file is opened.

Commercial workers sponsored by a Bahraini company pay BHD 5 per worker per month in LMRA fees plus BHD 5 SEHATI monthly, billed upfront for the permit duration. Registered (flexi) workers pay BHD 195 per year plus BHD 5 admin and self-fund SEHATI. Domestic workers in Bahraini households cost the employer roughly BHD 172 per year all-in. Dependants pay BHD 60 per year per dependant. Late renewal adds BHD 10 per month. Each category is signposted at its own counter at Seef Muharraq and you can see the exact schedule before paying.

It depends on the transaction. Routine renewals can be filed by a PRO with an authorisation letter; the sponsor does not need to attend. New commercial issuance requires the worker in person but the sponsor can be represented by a PRO. Sponsorship transfers between commercial CRs require both releasing and receiving sponsors to attend together with the worker. Domestic-worker permits require the Bahraini household head to attend personally — PRO substitution is not accepted because identity verification of the sponsor is statutory. The branch is strict on this point.

The CPR is an iGA product, not LMRA, so it is not produced at Seef Muharraq. Once the work permit is approved here and the residence stamp is generated, the iGA system queues the CPR for printing. Default delivery is by Bahrain Post to the address on Bahrain.bh, with an SMS tracking link. Collection alternatives are iGA Isa Town or iGA Seef Mall Manama. The LMRA permit card itself is printed at Seef Muharraq and handed over the same visit. Many Muharraq residents prefer Bahrain Post delivery because the iGA Seef Mall Manama branch is across the causeway.

LMRA Seef Muharraq handles the labour-market side: work permits, employer fees, flexi permits, dependant permits, and the residence stamp that comes attached to a work permit. NPRA, under the Ministry of Interior, handles passports for Bahrainis, visit visas, entry permits and residence for direct family members above 24 who do not qualify for LMRA dependant permits, plus general immigration matters. A normal expatriate worker rarely visits NPRA except for visit visas for parents. NPRA Muharraq sits inside the Security Complex a few minutes away and is the right office for those non-LMRA cases.

Work-permit renewal where biometric is not due, monthly LMRA fee payment via Benefit Pay, SEHATI contribution top-up, dependant renewal, profession change, passport-detail amendment, work-permit cancellation, and most amendment requests are fully online on Bahrain.bh, the LMRA Expat eServices portal and the employer portal at portal.lmra.gov.bh. Status checks, statements of account and certificate downloads are also online. New domestic permits and new commercial issuance still need a counter visit because of the in-person verification step. The Bahrain.bh tracker shows real-time status so you can avoid coming in unless the case is flagged.

Yes. All counter officers at Seef Muharraq work in Arabic and English, and the digital signage, smart kiosks and printed tokens are bilingual. Many staff also speak Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Tagalog and Bengali informally because of the customer mix. Bengali, Nepali, Tamil and Sinhala customers often bring a friend or PRO to translate complex steps. Written documents must still be submitted in Arabic or English; an LMRA-approved translation office can certify translations from other languages — a list is available at reception or via the 17506055 call centre.

During Ramadan, hours shift to a shortened schedule of about 08:00-13:30. The first hour is the heaviest because PROs front-load filings before the shortened day runs out. The 11:30-13:00 window is the calmest and is the best slot for a sole visitor. Avoid the final 20 minutes because tokens issued late are not always called. The exact Ramadan schedule is published on lmra.gov.bh and posted at the mall entrance about a week before the month begins. Always check before travelling because Ramadan hours can vary slightly year to year.

GCC nationals do not require LMRA work permits and have no business at Seef Muharraq's labour counters. A GCC national working in Bahrain is registered through GOSI/SIO using their home-country national ID, and the Bahraini employer files a notification rather than a permit. GCC nationals who need CPR services should head to iGA Seef Mall Manama or Isa Town, and for visit-visa formalities for non-GCC family members to NPRA Muharraq Security Complex nearby. The Seef Muharraq reception will redirect any GCC visitor to the correct office without taking a token.

Seef Mall Muharraq has a free multi-storey car park with abundant space midweek mornings — much easier than Mina Salman or Sanabis. Thursday afternoons and weekends are heavier because of mall foot-traffic; on those days target the upper deck and use the lifts down to the ground floor. The LMRA counter is in the mall's service wing and is a short walk from the parking entrance. Ride-hailing drop-off is at the service-wing door. From the airport via the Shaikh Isa Causeway the drive is under 10 minutes; from central Manama via the Shaikh Hamad Causeway about 12 minutes.