Middle East - Kingdom of Bahrain, E-visa. Any advantage vs VOA?

Is there an advantage getting this in advance (other than then BD 2) price difference?

I have 2 passports. Both allow visa on arrival, or e-visa (australian style) in advance.

I am inclined to get the e-visa, to skip the line.

I've been through the regular visa line four of five times in the past 6 months (pre and post "troubles") and have never waited more than 5 minutes in line and two minutes paying (USA passport), I'm not familar with e-visa, but it can't be much quicker.

Agree that for US passports anyway, getting the visa upon arrival is the way to go (espeically if they are unable to locate your e-visa). FYI, they'll also accept US dollars for the visa fee.

Do they take credit cards? If so, which ones?

Going this week and would like to use my corporate Visa.

If its anything like Doha - I assume they take cards, if not dollars/euros.

Whenever I have been recently (with a UK passport), payment was made directly to the immigration officer in cash; various currencies accepted.

I didn't see any opportunity to pay by card.

If you try to pay by card you'll have lots of annoyed people tutting in the queue behind you. They accept all the GCC currencies.

To take this slightly off-topic, I drove across the causeway from Saudi last weekend and got a 2 day visa for BD1.250. Actually it was four of us for SR50, but same thing.

Never seen that before :confused:

I'm trying to apply for a tourist Visa to Bahrain. I gave my info through the e-visa and it had me print out an "eVisa Application Cover Sheet"

Anyone know what i'm supposed to do with this?

Agree with all the other posters in here in that a VOA is easy as pie, and the queues are very short, so there's no need for an eVisa. Just make sure you fill out the little immigration form before getting in line (they often forget to give this to you or don't have any on the planes).

I've paid in U.A.E. Dirham well as Saudi Riyals before, so can't comment on whether they accept USD. There is a money changer about 20 feet from the immigration queues, however, that can help you out. Don't believe there is an ATM before immigration, although there are plenty after you clear customs.

I've read today that VOA may no longer be allowed for entry into Bahrain.

Bahrain’s expats slam new visa rules (http://www.tradearabia.com/news/LAW_212610.html)

I'm glad I did e-visa. Hopefully they will let me in this weekend

I've read today that VOA may no longer be allowed for entry into Bahrain.

Bahrain’s expats slam new visa rules (http://www.tradearabia.com/news/LAW_212610.html)

I'm glad I did e-visa. Hopefully they will let me in this weekend

I was able to get into bahrain but they were holding almost everyone from my flight from DC. Took 2 hours to clear immigration even without standing in line.

Yeah, same happened to some of my colleagues yesterday but I got through in 3 minutes.

So, any updates on the status of this? I have a trip coming up in about a week and a half.

If you don't hear back from anybody, please post your experience here. I'm planning a trip to Bahrain soon.

I went ahead and got the eVisa. My traveling companion probably will not. Will post back. leaving Saturday night...

If you don't hear back from anybody, please post your experience here. I'm planning a trip to Bahrain soon.

Ah crap... I'm headed to Bahrain tonight so I guess I will post my VOA experience sometime this weekend to see how much of :rolleyes: I have to go through.

Okay basically I arrived at BAH doing the VOA. They took my Passport to some backroom for about ten minutes then came back with a nod. I was charged the 5 BHD Fee for the 2 week Visa which isn't too bad considering. The total wait time was about 15-20 minutes today to process the VOA.

Sweet! Glad you didn't have any hassles. Thanks for the update!

I'm trying to apply for a tourist Visa to Bahrain. I gave my info through the e-visa and it had me print out an "eVisa Application Cover Sheet"

Anyone know what i'm supposed to do with this?

Hey, I got this too after I paid for the EVisa. What did u do with it? Did u get ur EVisa?

Recent experience...

I applied for the eVisa...did not print out the cover page. I think the cover page is left over from some other process. It seems the eVisa is completely automated. They were suspicious of my one-night stay, but eventually, after a few questions let me through.

My travel companion wasn't so lucky. He had not applied for the eVisa. he went to the line to pay for the VOA, he was then instructed to wait in the chairs on the foreign -side of passport control. After about 20 minutes someone took his passport into the back. 20 minutes later a man in a suit came out and questioned him about his employment (hes an attorney), his reason for visiting the country, etc. Then went to the back. After another 20-30 minutes he returned and gave the passport to the guy in the windowed room. He called him in and questioned him extensively and finally when he realized we were travelling together and I had been granted admission he told the immigration officer to let him in.

It was irritating, a little stressful, and overall not worth it. Get the eVisa, especially if you are doing an overnight turn for a MR.

Yeah, sounds like the e-visa is the way to go for me. Especially since I'm just doing a one night stay. For the e-visa application, under tourism, what should I put down as my reason for visiting? Transit? I doubt they'll understand that it's a quasi-MR and a reason to burn two upgrades.

I put sightseeing and earning frequent flyer miles.