By LES HORTON
We finally registered yesterday with the new Labour Market Regulatory Authority, in what was a surprisingly easy exercise.
I had dreaded going down to the LMRA festival at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, fearing hours of queuing.
I work for the Sitra Bridge Project as a quantity surveyor. I came to Bahrain on September 22, 2007 on a seven-day visa. Then I waited for my RP and CPR until February 12, 2008, but I did not receive them. The Ministry of Works’ Human Resources Department and the LMRA failed to issue my residence permit (RP). Anyhow I went to Sri Lanka on February 12, 2008 and returned to Bahrain with a work visa on March 7, 2008. I received my residence visa on March 25, 2008.
By SOMAN BABY
MANAMA
OFFICIALS are disappointed by the low number of expatriates turning out to register at the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), during the first two days of its festival.
By SOMAN BABY
SCORES of expatriates turned out to register with the Labour Market Regul-atory Authority (LMRA), as it opened a festival yesterday.
The aim of the festival is to complete the registration of all expatriates in Bahrain. The LMRA has already enrolled more than 270,000 expatriates, out of a total estimated number of 500,000.
By GEOFFREY BEW
BANGLADESHIS in Bahrain yesterday welcomed reports that a ban on work permits will not affect anyone already living in the country. The Interior Ministry announced on Sunday that only labourers who applied for a work visa after May 27 would be affected by the new policy.
WITH the creation of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) and the associated legislative requirements for employers, I was surprised to discover that some Bahraini employers have already started cheating the system.
I recently inquired about a ‘part-time’ position dealing with real estate. I was informed that actually it wasn’t part-time at all, and was just described that way to get around the LMRA requirement for sponsorship!
By SOMAN BABY
HIRING professionals from India in Bahrain is becoming extremely difficult due to improved salaries and incentives there, according to a visiting recruiting agency chief.
This is coupled with an unprecedented demand for skilled workers and professionals in India, said Andhra Pradesh Recruiting Agents Association president Mohammed Abdul Razzak.
By Mandeep Singh
COMPANIES need to come forward to provide up-to-date information on their expatriate workers to labour authorities, it was reiterated yesterday.
With a little more than a month remaining for the July 1 deadline for companies to “cleanse” their data, only about 20 per cent of the expatriate workers have been registered so far, said Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) chief executive Ali Radhi.
With reference to Mrs June M Al Saffar letter (GDN, May 25) “How much cleansing?”, we would like to clear everyone’s confusion between the employee’s enrolment and the data cleansing processes.
There are general misconceptions that once employees have been enrolled, they are automatically cleansed, or that we need the employees again in order to complete the data cleansing!
By MANDEEP SINGH
MANAMA
SMALL contracting companies who depend on cheap labour will be hit the hardest following a government decision to ban Bangladeshis from working in Bahrain, industry officials said yesterday.