ALKHOBAR, 18 March 2005 — Travelers to Bahrain using the King Fahd Causeway should make note of a change in the documents needed to take company vehicles, cars owned by another individual or rental cars to Bahrain from Saudi Arabia. In the past, travel permits, known as “Bahrain Passes” stamped by a Saudi chamber of commerce were required to take company-owned vehicles across the causeway. These permits are no longer valid.

Now, all Saudis and expatriates wishing to take any third-party vehicle across the causeway must have a travel permit authorized by the Saudi Traffic Department for the vehicle. To acquire the stamped permit the driver must have no outstanding traffic fines. The original of the authorization letter from the company or car owner authenticated by a Saudi chamber of commerce is required plus one photocopy of each of the following documents:

• Driver’s License

• Vehicle Registration Card

• Vehicle Ownership Card

• Bitaqa or Iqama

• MVPI Report

• Insurance for both driver’s license and vehicle.

While the Bahrain Pass is usually issued based on photocopies of the required documents — except the authorization letter, the traffic police do have the right to demand to see the originals of the documents before issuing the permit. The traffic police do not charge a fee for the permit, as of now. The permit is good for three months for expatriates and six months for Saudis and is linked to the specified driver and vehicle only. Requests for vehicle travel permit issuance are generally accepted by the traffic police in the morning hours, Saturday through Wednesday. In recent weeks, due to the huge demand for the new vehicle travel permits, the traffic police only accepted requests brought to their offices before 8 a.m.

Individuals wishing to take a rental car to Bahrain should be aware that they will no longer be able to use such a facility on the spur of the moment. Due to the need for the traffic police to stamp the Bahrain Pass, rental car companies are requiring that the car rental booking be made two days in advance. The rental car companies are charging SR100 to prepare the company authorization letter with the chamber of commerce stamp. There is also a minimum SR500 deposit required when making the booking. Both the deposit and the SR100 fee will be lost if the booking is canceled. Some car rental agencies will procure the Bahrain Pass and others require that the individual renting the vehicle take the car to the traffic police in the morning, with all the required documents, before traveling to Bahrain.