Labour Market Regulatory Authority

Eighth Goal: Decent Work and Economic Growth

National legislation regarding labour provides legal protection for expatriate employees in accordance with international labour standards. The Authority worked with organizational restructuring to place the expatriate employee's rights and protection file at the heart of the various directorates and sectors' daily work. The Labour Market Regulatory Authority established Expatriate Management System (EMS), which is an electronic system that enables the employer or the authorized person from any establishment to complete any process such as issuing or renewing work permits, changing the expatriate employee occupation, and all procedures related to the employer. As for the most prominent initiatives related to the expatriate employees rights and protection, without prejudice to the rights of the rest of the work parties, they are:

1. Free Expatriate Employee Transfer
   Legislating the free expatriate employee's transfer to a new employer without the consent of his current employer in accordance with the fair regulations set by law, while specifying grace periods for irregular expatriate employees to correct their conditions inside the country, in addition to annual organized campaigns. These campaigns resulted in correcting the conditions of many expatriate employees, some of them preferred to transfer to a new employer and stay in the Kingdom, while some voluntarily returned to their countries. The Authority provided an electronic system to implement the freedom of transfer through the EMS system, where the expatriate employee can express a desire to join a new employer, and the employer can also express his approval of the transfer, in addition to the possibility of submitting an application for expatriate employees to join a new employer. All these steps are executed electronically through the system.
2. Wages Protection System
   This system grants the Labour Market Regulatory Authority the ability to view the private sector's commitment to paying agreed-upon wages in a timely manner using remittances and financial institutions that have been approved by the Central Bank of Bahrain. This safeguards the rights of employees and expatriate employees wage payments are documented, thereby aiding the judicial authority in settling disputes related to wages and limits the phenomenon of irregular employment in the labour market. The Labour Market Regulatory Authority has started preparing an electronic system linked with the financial and banking institutions that are licensed and approved by the Central Bank of Bahrain in order to enable them to follow up the electronic payment of expatriate employees' wages on time.
3. Talent Portal
   This portal seeks to create a communication channel between job seeking Bahrainis and expatriates working in the Kingdom of Bahrain, by creating a database of institutions looking to employ individuals in possession of specific skill-sets.
4. Various Electronic Services
   The Labour Market Regulatory Authority provided a number of electronic services that contribute to strengthening the work relationship between the employer and the expatriate employee and verifying the work permit activity, which are:
   • Registered Worker Eligibility:
     This service allows the following:
     1. Determining legal status.
     2. Determining eligibility to apply through registration centres.
     The relevant information is:
     1. Expatriate ID card number.
     2. Work permit number.
     3. Application ID number/ passport number.
   • Authorized Health Centres Outside of the Kingdom of Bahrain:
     An electronic service that enables expatriate employees wishing to work in the Kingdom of Bahrain to identify the authorized health centres in their countries to obtain the medical report issued after undergoing the medical examination, as the report will not be accepted from other than these centres.