How do you get a Bahrain visit visa from Pakistan? (2026)

Do Pakistanis need a visa to visit Bahrain?

Yes, in practice, and the good news is that the application is made from Pakistan on a government website rather than through an agent with a queue.

Where Pakistan sits on the lists

The NPRA eVisa service publishes two country lists. Pakistan appears on Countries Eligible to Get Visa Online, as number 141 of 211 entries. It also appears on Countries Eligible to Get Visa on-Arrival, where every line on that list carries the words conditions apply. Both lists carry the same instruction at the top: terms and conditions apply, and you should click on the country name to check your visa eligibility.

Why the online route is the one to plan for

An on-arrival line with conditions attached is not a promise. NPRA says in its own answers that entry is not guaranteed into the Kingdom of Bahrain, and that the traveller must meet all the conditions on arrival to be granted the entry, at the discretion of an immigration officer. If you land in Manama expecting a counter to solve a problem your file has not solved, you have made the officer’s decision for them.

Who runs it

The service provider named on every one of these pages is the Ministry of Interior, Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs. The legal basis printed on the visit eVisa pages is Ministerial Resolution No. 142 of 2019, Item 65 of Schedule B. That is unusually clear labelling for a Gulf visa, and it means the figures below can be checked rather than argued about.

The eVisa types, and what Bahrain charges for each

Bahrain does not have one visit visa. It has several, each a separate service with its own fee, its own stay length and its own attachment list. Choosing the wrong one is the most expensive mistake available here, because the application fee is not refunded.

The two-week visa is the cheap one for a reason

At 9 BD plus 4 BD it is the lowest published price on the list, and the directory says this type is issued to nationals of 212 countries for a period of two weeks. Two weeks is enough for a wedding, an Umrah stopover combined with a family stay or a short business trip. It is not enough for a month with relatives, and extending it costs 25 BD, which is nearly twice what the visa cost in the first place.

The family visit visa is a different product

At 39 BD, the family visit eVisa costs more than four times the two-week visa, and it buys one month, subject to renewal. The directory describes it as issued to incoming visitors who have relatives in the Kingdom of Bahrain. If the trip is genuinely a family visit of several weeks, this is the honest choice, and the kinship documents it asks for are the point rather than an obstacle.

The GCC visitor visa needs a GCC visa first

The GCC visitor eVisa is for visitors coming from GCC countries, lasts one month and costs 29 BD, and its attachment list includes a valid GCC visa alongside the passport copy, hotel reservation, return ticket and bank statement. For a Pakistani already living in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Qatar, this is usually the route. For a Pakistani flying out of Lahore, it is not.

The money rule that decides most Pakistani files

This is the single most useful line in this guide, and almost nobody mentions it.

What the published list actually says

On the service pages for the two-week visit eVisa, the family visit eVisa, the one-year multiple entry eVisa and the GCC visitor eVisa, the required attachments include the same sentence: a three-month bank statement with a minimum regular income of 300 to 500 BD per month, whether a regular salary or a pension, or any amount equivalent to 150 BD for each day of the visit, provided in English.

Read the second limb carefully

There are two ways to satisfy it. The first is a regular monthly income in that band showing across three months. The second is a sum equivalent to 150 BD for each day of the visit. On that second reading, a ten-day trip is roughly 1,500 BD and a two-week trip is roughly 2,100 BD. That is a serious number for a salaried applicant in Pakistan, and it is the reason a file that looks complete on paper still comes back refused.

In English, from the bank

The words provided in English sit at the end of the sentence for a reason. A statement printed in Urdu, or a screenshot of a mobile banking app, is not what the list asks for. Ask your bank in Pakistan for a stamped three-month statement in English, on bank stationery, covering a continuous period up to the date you apply.

What you have to attach

The lists are short, which is the pleasant part of applying to Bahrain. Each item does real work, so none of them is optional.

The two-week visit eVisa

• A copy of the passport.
• A hotel reservation.
• A return ticket.
• The three-month bank statement, in English, meeting the income or the 150 BD a day test.

The family visit eVisa

The same four, plus copies of official documents proving kinship in the case of a family visit, such as a birth certificate or a marriage certificate. Note that the hotel reservation stays on the list. Do not assume that a brother’s flat in Riffa removes the accommodation line from the form.

One passport, one application

NPRA answers the question about dependents endorsed in a passport in one sentence: in order to apply for a visa, each applicant must provide their own passport. A couple travelling together file two applications and pay two sets of fees. There is no family application that covers everyone on one payment.

The eligibility screen, and why you should run it yourself

Before the application form, the NPRA site puts you through a visa selection screen. It is the most honest page on the site and it takes a minute.

What it asks

• Whether you hold a current valid residence permit or visit visa for a GCC country, and if so, which one.
• The purpose of your visit, with options for a general visit, investment or a self-sponsored residence permit.
• The nationality shown in your passport.

What it gives back

NPRA says that on the eligibility page you may view a list of applicable visas, and that you can view the conditions for each visa by clicking the See conditions link. It repeats the same instruction when answering where to find the validity and period of stay for each visa type. In other words, the authoritative answer for your own passport is on a screen only you can generate.

Why an agent’s screenshot is not good enough

Published government pages change more often than agents update their advice. If someone shows you a fee or a stay length without a date beside it, treat it as a rumour. Run the screen yourself, screenshot the result with the date visible and keep it with your file.

When you need a guarantor, and who can be one

Not every nationality can apply without a local sponsor, and NPRA is unusually direct about what to do if you are in that position.

The published answer

NPRA says that if you wish to visit Bahrain and do not qualify for a visa without a guarantor, a visa can be obtained through a local company, an organisation or a citizen in Bahrain who can act as a guarantor. In the answer about not finding your nationality on the eligible list, it names who to contact: your airline, your intended place of stay in Bahrain whether a hotel or otherwise, a Bahrain travel agent, a Bahrain company willing to act as your guarantor, or a Bahraini citizen willing to act as your guarantor.

The no-objection certificate route

The service directory also lists a certificate of non-objection for a visiting visa at 34 BD with a processing time of five working days, whose attachments include the service application form, the original passport of the visitor, a copy of the valid commercial registration and a copy of the applicant’s identity card or legal representative. Extending a no-objection certificate visit visa is listed at 30 BD with one working day. That is a guarantor-led route, run by a company or an institution in Bahrain, not something you file from Pakistan on your own.

The distinction that matters

A guarantor is a named party in Bahrain taking responsibility for your visit. An agent in Pakistan who says he has a contact in Manama is not that. If a guarantor is genuinely involved, you will see their commercial registration or identity card on the attachment list, and the paperwork will have their name on it.

Visiting family who already live in Bahrain

A large share of Pakistani travel to Bahrain is a parent or a spouse visiting someone who works there. Bahrain has a product for exactly that, and using the cheap tourist visa instead is a false economy.

What the family visit eVisa buys

One month, subject to renewal, for 39 BD, processed in three to five working days. Compared with a two-week visa at 13 BD all in, that is 26 BD more for double the time and a renewal option. If the visit is meant to last three or four weeks, the family visit visa is both cheaper and cleaner than buying two weeks and then paying 25 BD to extend.

Proving kinship properly

The attachment list asks for copies of official documents proving kinship, such as a birth certificate or a marriage certificate. In Pakistan this usually means a NADRA birth certificate or Family Registration Certificate, or a nikah nama with its registration, rather than an affidavit someone swore last week. If the names on those documents do not match the names in the passports, sort that out before you apply, because a mismatch in a kinship document is read as a mismatch in the relationship.

The accommodation line still applies

The hotel reservation remains on the family visit list. The sensible approach is to attach what the list asks for and let the kinship documents explain the real plan. Do not drop a required attachment because you think the officer will understand.

If your relative in Bahrain is a Bahraini citizen

There is a separate service for this, and it is worth knowing because the conditions are different in kind rather than in degree.

The service and its fees

The directory lists a visa for the relatives of a Bahraini, covering a father, mother, husband or children, at 5 BD visa endorsement fees, 30 BD visa issuing fees and 4 BD application submission fees which are not refundable, with a processing time of five working days.

The conditions attached to it

The published conditions are that the applicant and the foreigner must be of good conduct and behaviour, the foreigner must have valid health insurance in the Kingdom of Bahrain throughout their stay, the applicant must have a sufficient source of income to support themselves and the foreigner, the foreigner must have a suitable place of residence, and the applicant must be a Bahraini.

Why this matters to a Pakistani family

The income and insurance conditions fall on the Bahraini applicant, not on the visitor. If your daughter has married a Bahraini and wants to bring you over, the file is largely hers to build, and she applies from inside Bahrain. The attachment list for that service asks for certified marriage and birth certificates, health insurance and the guarantor’s identity card.

How long it takes, and when to apply

Bahrain is fast by Gulf standards, but it publishes a range rather than a promise.

The published timings

NPRA says processing applications will take approximately three to five working days, that you will be advised by email when a decision has been made, and that there will be exceptional cases that might take longer than stated. The service directory gives three to five working days for the two-week visit eVisa, the family visit eVisa and the one-year multiple entry eVisa.

What that means for booking

Three to five working days in the middle of a week that contains Friday and Saturday is easily a week in real time. Apply at least two weeks before you want to fly, and treat the ticket as refundable until the decision email arrives. A visa approved after the flight has left is worth nothing.

Extensions, and the one mistake you cannot edit

Extending from inside Bahrain

NPRA says you can extend your visa once you are in Bahrain by visiting the NPRA main office in Manama on Exhibitions Avenue, Building One, ground floor, or the Ministry of Interior service centre in Muharraq at Building 378, Sheikh Hamad Street, Complex 211, and paying an extension fee. The directory prices the extension of a two-week single entry visit eVisa at 25 BD, processed in one working day.

Applications cannot be edited

This is the trap. NPRA states that visa applications cannot be edited, and that a visa cancellation request has to be sent from the registered email with the visa reference number. Only once you receive notification that the visa has been cancelled can you apply again with a new application. The site does offer a separate visa data correction service, and publishes a process for correcting a submitted application, so check that first before cancelling anything.

If the application is refused

NPRA says a notification will be sent to your email specifying who to contact, either NPRA or the embassy, and that the processing fee will not be refunded if the application was not approved. You can submit a new application. There is no appeal described on the site, so the second application has to be better rather than merely repeated.

Transit through Bahrain

Bahrain International Airport is a common connection, and the rule here is simple enough to quote.

NPRA says that in case your stay in the airport will not exceed eight hours, you do not need a visa and you should not leave the airport, and that if eight hours are exceeded then a visa could be granted. Note the word could. A long layover is not an automatic entitlement to enter the city, so if you have a nine-hour connection and want to see Manama, run the eligibility screen and plan on applying.

What happens on arrival

Two published lines are worth carrying in your head.

No stamp before you fly

NPRA says there will be no visa stamped in your passport prior to your arrival in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and that you should ensure you use the same passport for entry as you used to apply for the visa online. Print the eVisa. If you renewed your passport between applying and travelling, you have a problem to fix before you get to the airport, not at it.

The visa is not the entry

The site repeats it in two places: holding a visa does not guarantee entry, you must meet all the conditions upon arrival to be granted entry, and entry is at the discretion of an immigration officer. Carry the same documents you uploaded. If the hotel booking, the return ticket and the bank statement are in your bag, the conversation at the counter is short.

Working on a visit visa

A visit visa is for a visit. Bahrain has a large Pakistani workforce, and that makes the visit route a target for a particular kind of sale.

The pattern is a package: a Bahrain visit entry, a ticket and a promised job in a hotel, a shop or on a site, sold together for a lump sum, with the work permit to be arranged once you land. In Pakistan only a licensed Overseas Employment Promoter may recruit anyone for work abroad, and section 22 of the Emigration Ordinance 1979 makes it an offence for anyone else to take money for providing, or pretending to provide, a job abroad. Under the same ordinance a Pakistani going abroad on a work visa must be protected by the Protector of Emigrants, and the FIA lists a protector stamp among the documents for work visa travellers.

The guide to checking a visa consultant in Pakistan sets out the registration and licence checks, and where to report fraud. If you have already paid someone, you can book a consultation and bring the receipts and the messages.

Checks at Pakistani airports

FIA immigration officers check that the passport and the visa are genuine and valid, and they ask about the trip. A visitor should carry the return ticket, the accommodation details and proof of funds, and the answers should match the papers.

Because Bahrain is a Gulf destination with a large migrant labour market, officers are alert to visitors who are really travelling to work. If you are genuinely visiting a sister for three weeks, carry the things that prove it: her residence details, the kinship documents you uploaded, the return ticket and your leave letter. A true file is easy to carry.

If you are comparing the Gulf states before you commit, the Qatar visit visa guide and the Saudi visit visa guide set out how differently each one treats the same Pakistani passport.

How do you apply, step by step?

The order below works for a tourist or family visit from Pakistan. Settle the visa type and the funds first, and the rest is paperwork.

1. 1

   Decide which eVisa you are applying for

   Bahrain runs separate eVisa services with separate fees. A two-week single entry visit eVisa is the ordinary tourist route. A family visit eVisa is for a visitor who has relatives in Bahrain and runs for one month, subject to renewal. A multiple entry visitor eVisa runs for a year. Pick the one that matches the trip before you fill anything in.

2. 2

   Run the eligibility check on the NPRA site

   The Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs eVisa site has a visa selection screen that asks whether you hold a residence permit or visit visa for a GCC country, the purpose of your visit and the nationality shown in your passport. It then lists the visas you qualify for, with a link to the conditions for each one. Pakistan appears on both the online visa list and the on-arrival list, where it is marked as conditions apply, so the checker is the only way to see which applies to you.

3. 3

   Build the bank statement before anything else

   The published attachment list asks for a three-month bank statement with a minimum regular income of 300 to 500 BD per month, whether a regular salary or a pension, or any amount equivalent to 150 BD for each day of the visit, provided in English. This is the requirement that decides most Pakistani applications, and it cannot be fixed in a hurry at the end.

4. 4

   Gather the rest of the attachments

   For a two-week visit eVisa the list is a copy of the passport, a hotel reservation, a return ticket and the bank statement. A family visit eVisa adds copies of official documents proving kinship, such as a birth certificate or a marriage certificate. Each applicant must provide their own passport, so a spouse and an adult child each need a separate application.

5. 5

   Apply online and pay

   Submit through the NPRA eVisa service. Payments are processed by credit card through the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait internet payment gateway. The application fee is not refunded if the application is not approved, so read the conditions screen before paying rather than after.

6. 6

   Allow three to five working days

   NPRA states that processing applications will take approximately three to five working days and that a decision is notified by email, while noting that there will be exceptional cases that take longer. The service directory gives the same three to five working days for the two-week visit eVisa, the family visit eVisa and the one-year multiple entry eVisa.

7. 7

   Print the visa and travel on the same passport

   No visa is stamped in the passport before arrival, so print the eVisa from the site. NPRA is explicit that you must use the same passport for entry as you used to apply online. It also warns that holding a visa does not guarantee entry and that you must meet all the conditions on arrival to be granted entry, at the discretion of an immigration officer.

What goes wrong most often?

Ignoring the funds sentence until the end

The bank statement is the last item on the attachment list and the first thing that decides the file. Applicants build the hotel booking and the ticket, then discover that 150 BD for each day of a twelve-day trip is more than the account has ever held.

Submitting an Urdu statement

The list says provided in English. A statement in Urdu, or a bank app screenshot, does not satisfy it, and because applications cannot be edited, the fix is a cancellation and a fresh application rather than an upload.

Buying the two-week visa for a one-month trip

Thirteen BD looks better than 39 BD until you are standing in Manama paying 25 BD to extend, with the family visit visa you should have bought now costing you more in total and giving you less.

Dropping the hotel reservation on a family visit

The hotel reservation is on the family visit list as well. Applicants staying with a brother leave it out, assuming the kinship documents cover it, and send in an incomplete attachment set.

Travelling on a renewed passport

NPRA tells you to use the same passport for entry as you used to apply. A passport renewed in the gap between applying and flying breaks the link between the eVisa and the document in your hand.

Treating the on-arrival line as a guarantee

Pakistan is on the on-arrival list with conditions attached, and NPRA says entry is not guaranteed and is at an officer’s discretion. Planning a trip around that line, rather than around an approved eVisa, puts the whole cost of the trip on one conversation at a counter.

A realistic example

This is a hypothetical illustration, not a real client. Shazia is 46 and lives in Gujranwala. Her brother has worked in Manama for nine years and she wants to spend three weeks with him and his children.

• Eight weeks before. She counts the days. Twenty-one days at 150 BD is roughly 3,150 BD on the second limb of the funds rule, which her account will not show. Her brother points out that she has a steady monthly salary, so she works to the first limb instead and asks her bank for a three-month statement in English showing it.
• Six weeks before. She picks the family visit eVisa at 39 BD rather than the two-week visa, because the trip is a month-shaped trip and the family visit visa is issued for one month, subject to renewal.
• Five weeks before. She collects the kinship documents. Her NADRA Family Registration Certificate and her brother’s birth certificate carry the same father’s name, spelled the same way, which is the point of the exercise.
• Four weeks before. She runs the NPRA eligibility screen herself with Pakistan selected and no GCC residence, reads the conditions link for the family visit visa, and screenshots it with the date.
• Three weeks before. She applies, attaches the passport copy, the hotel reservation, the return ticket, the kinship documents and the English statement, and pays. She does not book a non-refundable ticket yet.
• After the decision email. She prints the eVisa, confirms the ticket, and travels on the same passport she applied with, carrying paper copies of everything she uploaded.

There is nothing clever in her file. It is the four published attachments, a funds route she could actually prove, and a visa type that matches the trip.

The version that goes wrong

Her neighbour’s son Adnan, 23, is offered a Bahrain package by an agent in the local market: entry, a ticket and a job in a Manama restaurant for PKR 480,000, with the work permit to be arranged after landing. The agent has no BEOE licence, gives no receipt and keeps the passport for three weeks. Adnan is told to say he is a tourist. If he is stopped at either end, the money is gone and there is nobody to complain to, because the transaction itself was an offence under section 22 of the Emigration Ordinance. If he gets in and works, he is in breach of the terms of the visa he entered on.

Key takeaways

Frequently asked questions