By SOMAN BABY

MANAMA

MORE than 60,000 expatriates registered with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) during the first 11 days of its enrolment festival, which opened on June 4.

It takes the number of registered expats so far to 315,687 or 65 per cent of all residents.

The number registered on the second Friday of the festival at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre was 4,514, compared to 2,748 registered on the first Friday. The number reached 60,506 on Saturday night.

Indians top the list of expatriates who have already registered at the festival, at 31,734.

This is followed by 15,819 Bangladeshis, 4,850 Pakistanis, 2,244 Filipinos, 1,740 Nepalese, 731 Sri Lankans, and 3,388 others.

The capacity of the hall is to register about 7,000 people daily.

“We are happy with the current response to the enrolment festival,” said LMRA e-services and public relations manager Waheed Al Balushi.

“At the current trend, we hope to complete registration of all expatriates before June 21, when the festival is scheduled to end.”

For families, only the husband and wife need to go.

The festival is open from 6.30am to 10.30pm daily, including on Fridays and Saturdays.

Those who want to register should bring their CPR, said Mr Al Balushi.

“However, those who only have a statement about their CPR from the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO), should carry another photo ID like their passport,” he added.

Mr Al Balushi also urged companies that have not yet cleansed data of their workers with the LMRA to do so as early as possible.