What changed in Bahrain

Zero personal tax on crypto gains, staking, mining, airdrops, DeFi yield and NFT sales

Crypto tax and legal status

Zero income tax and zero capital gains tax, on every source, for residents and non-residents alike

Personal income tax

VAT applies at 10 percent since 2019, with a BHD 37,500 mandatory registration threshold

Personal income tax

A crypto business could be caught by the draft corporate income tax, but the financial services exemption is unresolved

Crypto tax and legal status

Bahrain will report your crypto activity to your home tax authority from 2028, while taxing none of it

Crypto tax and legal status

Bahrain runs a real crypto licensing regime, not an absent one, since 2019

Crypto tax and legal status

Running your foreign company from Manama risks making it tax resident at home, not in Bahrain

Moving your company

A draft 10 percent corporate income tax exists but is not law, with a generous BHD 200,000 relief floor

Moving your company

The 15 percent DMTT only applies to MNE groups above EUR 750 million revenue, everyone else is completely out of scope

Moving your company

Non-Muslim succession for Bahraini assets follows home-country law, with a narrow renvoi risk

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

No exit tax, no deemed disposal, no trailing liability on leaving Bahrain

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

No wealth tax, no inheritance tax, no estate duty, no gift tax

Leaving home: exit tax and ties

Naturalisation needs 25 years of residence and generally bars dual nationality

Permanent residency and citizenship

The flexi permit is dead, and its replacement is not a route in for new arrivals

Residency routes

Golden Residency also opens on a professional salary, retirement income, or exceptional skill, no property purchase needed

Residency routes

Golden Residency property threshold cut to BHD 130,000, but several details conflict

Residency routes

Self-sponsorship via investment or property is the main employment-independent route

Residency routes

The LMRA work permit is the standard employment route, 1 or 2 years, employer-sponsored

Residency routes

SEHATI cover is mandatory from day one of a work permit, but full rollout is unconfirmed

Healthcare coverage

Visitors have no public healthcare entitlement in Bahrain

Healthcare coverage

The 2024 EOSB reform is a funded severance scheme, not a pension

Pension

A mid-career move to Bahrain means self-funding your entire retirement gap

Pension

No social security totalization agreement with any non-GCC roster country

Social security

Expatriate social insurance is 4 percent total and buys no pension at all

Social security

No Bahraini permanent establishment concept exists today, but the draft CIT law would add one

Permanent establishment risk

US citizens get no relief in Bahrain, worldwide taxation continues with no offset

Personal income tax

No tax treaty means no Article 4 tie-breaker to prove you left your home country

Personal income tax

A draft 5 percent withholding tax on interest, royalties and services is not yet law

Personal income tax

No withholding tax on dividends, interest or royalties today

Personal income tax

183 days means two different things in Bahrain, a proof threshold today and a possible tax trigger from 2027

Tax residency

Bahrain has no statutory personal tax residence test, because it has no personal income tax

Tax residency

Remote work for a foreign employer while on a visit visa is an unprotected grey zone

Right to work

Every work permit in Bahrain is employer-sponsored, there is no freelance route

Right to work

2026 airspace closure triggered automatic visa extensions and overstay waivers, check current status

Immigration and visa

No digital nomad visa exists in Bahrain, despite widely repeated claims

Immigration and visa

The official evisa.gov.bh table lists about 210 countries, covering every non-GCC roster nationality

Immigration and visa

GCC nationals enter Bahrain with no visa on a national ID card

Immigration and visa