EXPATRIATES who have not yet registered with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) were yesterday told not to panic following a major rush at its centres.

The LMRA plans to hold an enrolment festival next month and urged expatriates not to pile into its already-crowded four registration centres.

The centres in Saar, Sanabis, Hidd and Sitra will close on May 27, said LMRA chief executive Ali Radhi.

“However, we shall have a major enrolment festival at Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, from June 4 to 15,” he told a Press conference at the LMRA in Sanabis yesterday.

“It will be open from 7am till late night and we are trying to get everyone enrolled there.

“Only husband and wife need to come for registration. They need not bring children, but can fill in a form giving details of their dependents.”

Mr Radhi said out of 485,000 expats to be enrolled, 236,000 have already registered.

“We appeal to all expats to visit our website www.lmra.bh and ensure their legal status after feeding their CPR numbers.”

People who still find any problem, may write to or contact the call centre on 17506055.

From July 1, the enrolment with LMRA will become mandatory for official transactions.

It is also important for renewing work visas and for travel related purposes.

Mr Radhi also appealed to companies which have not yet cleansed their data with LMRA to do so at the earliest.

The LMRA will start billing the private sector companies from July 1 for each foreign worker employed by them, according to the data available with it.