Bahrain

Bahrain has announced significant progress in its government service improvement programme, confirming that 179 services across 22 government entities were enhanced between January 15 and October 15, 2026, as part of efforts to simplify procedures and improve service delivery.

The improvements cover a range of public services used by citizens, expatriate residents, businesses, and institutions, with a particular focus on reducing processing times, expanding electronic access, and minimizing administrative requirements.

Among the key developments is the improvement of the minor’s data update service for settlement procedures at the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments. The service has been made proactive and electronic, with its processing time reduced from six working days to three.

Authorities also introduced automation for the renewal of licences to import and use chemical substances, allowing the relevant licence to be issued immediately instead of requiring a processing period of five working days.

Another improvement concerns the transfer of customs clearance companies, with the transfer now activated automatically once the clearance company provides its approval. Previously, the procedure could take up to twenty working days.

The Survey and Land Registration Bureau has also digitized requests for survey point coordinates, reducing the average processing time from four working days to two while allowing applicants to check their request status immediately.

The announced improvements additionally include electronic access to domestic worker permit information through the MyGov application using eKey 2.0, offering another digital channel for viewing relevant permit details.

The government service development programme aims to reduce service-level agreement processing times by at least 25 percent and limit application procedures to a maximum of four steps.

Other targets include reducing the number of required supporting documents by 50 percent and cutting the number of approvals needed to obtain services by 25 percent.

The improvements also involve converting application forms into electronic formats, reducing the number of pages users must navigate to access a service by 50 percent, and standardizing service information across official channels.

Enhancing user interfaces and simplifying digital journeys form part of the broader effort to make government transactions easier to complete and less time-consuming.

For residents and businesses in Bahrain, these changes may provide practical benefits when dealing with government departments, particularly in areas involving legal procedures, commercial licensing, property-related services, and electronic records.

It is important to clarify that the announced figure of 179 represents the cumulative number of services improved between January and October 2026. It does not mean that 179 entirely new services were introduced on a single day.

The announcement reflects Bahrain’s continuing efforts to modernize public administration, improve institutional efficiency, and expand digital government services.

Source: Akhbar Al Khaleej, Bahrain