NPRA Headquarters — Manama

No. NPRA Manama operates Sunday to Thursday from 07:00 to 14:00. Friday and Saturday are fully closed, including the cashier and the passport-printing desk. The eVisa portal and bahrain.bh remain available 24/7 for online transactions, but no counter-bound process can be progressed at the weekend. If your visa or residence expires on a Friday or Saturday, file the renewal or extension online by Thursday because overstay fines start from day one of expiry regardless of weekend, and overstay cases above a threshold escalate to a ban.

Counters do not formally close for individual prayer times during normal months — officers rotate. During Ramadan, hours shift to about 08:30-13:30 and individual counters may pause briefly for Dhuhr if only one officer is on duty. The cashier on the ground floor reconciles around 13:00 in Ramadan and closes 30 minutes earlier than the counter; complete payments before that window. Tokens issued before any short pause remain valid — do not re-take. The digital display shows live numbers in Arabic and English and resumes within minutes.

Bring the original CPR of the applicant and the original passport (or family book for Bahrainis). Sponsors filing residence for direct family must bring their original CPR, the sponsorship-evidencing documents (marriage and birth certificates with MOFA legalisation), and a salary certificate or employment letter. Representatives attending on someone else's behalf need a notarised POA from a Bahraini notary; foreign POAs need MOFA legalisation first. Photocopies are not accepted in place of originals because counter officers physically scan the documents into the NPRA system.

An expired visit visa accrues overstay fines from day one — typically BHD 5 per day for the first month, escalating thereafter. NPRA Manama can process the extension or exit clearance and collect the overstay; the cashier accepts payment by Benefit Pay or cash. Expired residence for direct family must be renewed before the 30-day grace window; after that the residence is cancelled and a fresh application (with full documents) is required. Bahraini passports expired by any period are renewed without penalty, but you cannot travel until the new one is issued — emergency travel documents are available for urgent cases.

Bahraini passports cost BHD 20 for adults (10 years) and BHD 10 for under-18s (5 years). Lost-passport replacement adds a BHD 100 penalty. Visit visas range from BHD 9 single-entry to BHD 33 multi-entry, with family visit visas at BHD 22 per applicant. Visa extensions are BHD 10 for 7 days or BHD 30 for 30 days. Residence permits for direct family above 24 are BHD 60 per year. Sticker transfer to a new passport is BHD 5. Most fees are settled at the ground-floor cashier with Benefit Pay accepted.

For direct-family residence (parents and adult children), the sponsor must attend in person at first issuance because identity and income verification is statutory. Renewals can be filed by a notarised representative once the sponsor relationship is established on the NPRA file. For visit visas, the sponsor does not need to attend if the application is filed via the eVisa portal; for in-person filing the sponsor's CPR and a brief invitation letter are usually sufficient. Bahraini passport renewals require the citizen to attend personally; representatives are not accepted for the biometric step.

The residence sticker is affixed to the passport, so by definition it must be collected in person — Bahrain Post does not handle passports. Once NPRA approves the residence, the file is queued for printing and the sticker is affixed at the ground-floor collection desk within one working day for clean cases. An SMS notification confirms the sticker is ready. The CPR card that follows (for direct-family residents who become eligible) is issued separately by iGA and can be Post-delivered. Sponsors picking up on a dependant's behalf need a notarised POA.

Yes for many family residences. LMRA handles work permits and labour-market dependants (spouse, children under 24 of the worker). NPRA handles immigration outside the labour scope: parents, adult children above 24, visit visas, Bahraini passports, and certain residences. iGA produces the CPR card that follows either LMRA or NPRA approval. A typical family residence for parents flows NPRA first (residence sticker), then iGA (CPR card). A spouse residence flows LMRA first (dependant permit), then iGA. Customers frequently confuse the routes; reception will redirect at any of the three.

Through bahrain.bh and the NPRA eServices portal you can file most visit visa applications, file family visit visas, request visa extensions, check the status of a pending residence file, file an address update affecting the residence record, request a sticker-transfer pre-approval, and report a lost passport (with the formal collection still in person). The eVisa system at evisa.gov.bh is the canonical online channel and handles the majority of cases automatically. Reserve the in-person NPRA visit for Bahraini passport printing, lost-passport collection of the replacement, complex family residences, and appeals.

Yes. Counter officers at NPRA Manama work in Arabic and English, and signage, kiosks and digital displays are bilingual. Many staff also speak Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Tagalog because of the customer demographic. Documents must be in Arabic or English; certified translations from any other language are required and can be commissioned from an NPRA-listed translation office, several of which sit within walking distance. The 17077077 call centre is bilingual and can answer most queries before you commit to a visit.

Hours shift to about 08:30-13:30. The first hour is the busiest because the shortened day pushes overnight backlog into the morning. The 11:30-13:00 window is the calmest and the best slot for a sole visitor. The cashier closes about 13:00, thirty minutes before the counters, so settle payments before that. Avoid the last 20 minutes because tokens issued late are not always called. The Ramadan schedule is published on npra.gov.bh and at the entrance about a week before the month begins; eVisa and bahrain.bh remain 24/7.

GCC nationals do not need NPRA residence or visit visas because GCC nationals travel and reside in Bahrain on their national IDs without immigration formalities. However, GCC nationals sponsoring non-GCC family members through residence rules may attend NPRA Manama for those family files. GCC-national parents joining their non-GCC-national children in Bahrain follow the standard NPRA family-residence route. Bahraini passport services obviously do not apply to other GCC nationals. The reception desk routes GCC visitors to the correct counter when the case is mixed-nationality.

Paid public parking on Road 1802 and the surrounding streets fills from 08:30, and the early-morning 07:00-08:30 window is the easiest. The NPRA on-site lot is reserved for staff. Avenues Mall, a five-minute drive north on Sheikh Khalifa Highway, offers free parking for the first hour and is the practical overflow for visits longer than an hour. Ride-hailing drop-off at the NPRA gate is the lowest-friction option, particularly because the morning queue often spills onto the pavement. Bus routes 11 and 12 stop within five minutes' walk on the main highway.