Company registration in Bahrain
We pick the form against what its capital rule asks, take the record through the system without a licence first, and then request the licence that lets the activity actually start.
Notarisation fee
Пошлина нотариуса
BHD 20
20 BHD
Licence request
Запрос лицензии
3 working days
3 рабочих дня
Share nominal floor
Минимум за долю
BHD 50
50 BHD
Company capital
Капитал компании
set by the promoters
назначают учредители
When you need company registration in Bahrain
You were told you are registered
The first record here comes without a licence. It carries a name, premises and a bank conversation, and it carries no permission to practise the activity itself.
Someone signed before the entry
A company has no corporate entity until it is registered. Whoever acts for it beforehand answers personally, to the extent of everything he owns, and jointly if several did.
Your second partner has left
Fall below two partners and the company turns into a single-person company by force of law, unless the number is completed in the thirty days after the shares gather in one hand.
A foreign investor sits in the file
Security clearance is a step of the electronic procedure, and it runs on its own time rather than on the service clock quoted for the transaction.
You asked for a sole proprietorship
Citizens of other countries take part through the forms of commercial company. The sole proprietorship route is open to Bahraini, other Gulf and American citizens.
What you get
- The commercial registration in Sijilat
- The memorandum notarised and the capital certificate filed
- The activity licence from the authority that issues it
- A form chosen against what the capital rules ask
- The dated list of what the entry allows and forbids
What is required to register a company in Bahrain
The trap in Bahrain is the gap between two documents. Registration and licensing are deliberately separate processes, and the record that arrives first looks like permission without being it.
Our other work in Bahrain is on the Bahrain page, and the countries where this same service runs are listed on the service page.
What Sijilat wants attached
- A draft memorandum of association, articles of association or declaration of incorporation.
- The bank certificate for the capital, or the documents for it where the capital is in kind.
- A valuation certificate from a competent expert or an auditor for any contribution in kind.
- A resolution from every corporate partner to establish the company or to enter it, with its own registration and memorandum attached and certified.
- The latest audited financial statements of a corporate partner.
- A power of attorney where the applicant is neither a partner nor an authorised signatory.
What each form asks of the capital
| Form | What the capital rule says |
|---|---|
| With limited liability | No minimum; each share at least BHD 50 |
| Company limited by shares | BHD 20,000, and four founders |
| Closed joint stock | BHD 250,000, half deposited, the rest in three years |
| Public joint stock | BHD 1,000,000, a quarter deposited, the rest in five years |
Registration and licensing are two things
The record without a licence
It exists to let the company secure its name, take premises, talk to banks and deal with vendors. It permits none of the activities that still need an approval of their own.
The licence on top of it
Requesting the licence is a three-working-day service of the Ministry: the application goes through the system, the licensing authorities approve, the memorandum is notarised and the bank certificate is presented.
What the transaction costs
- Notarisation on the licence request, BHD 20.
- The municipal fee of BHD 10, collected once the Ministry has approved and before the municipality decides.
- A printed copy of the registration certificate, BHD 2; the certificate itself is issued electronically.
- Publicity of the entry in the Official Gazette or on the Ministry's own website.
What the entry starts counting
- A partner who overstated a contribution in kind answers for the difference, and that claim dies five years after the entry.
- A partner selling a share notifies the others of the offer and its price; after two weeks he may sell to an outsider for at least that price.
- A share given away instead of sold needs partners holding three quarters of the capital to agree.
- The register of partners is kept at the head office, and its changes go to the Ministry.
- Annual audited statements are due, or a letter of good standing from the company's auditor.
Sources: partners, capital, publication and the five-year claim — articles 261, 264, 266–270 and 274 of the Commercial Companies Law; forms, capital by form and the municipal fee — the Ministry's procedures guide; the three working days and BHD 20 — the licence request service.
Stages of work
The activity, and who may hold it
We read the planned activity against the banned list and against the nationality rules, because the form available to you follows from both together.
The form, chosen against the capital rules
Four forms ask four different things of the money. We pick the one whose capital rule matches what you intend to put in and what the activity will need.
The electronic key and the name
An advanced key is obtained first, the commercial name is booked against the naming rules, and the address the record will carry is settled.
The founding documents
The memorandum or articles are drafted for the chosen form, with every corporate partner's resolution, registration and memorandum collected and certified through the route their country of issue requires.
The registration, without a licence
The application goes into the system and comes back as a record that lets the company book premises, open the bank conversation and deal with vendors.
The capital, and the certificate
Cash shares are paid in full into a licensed bank in Bahrain, the certificate is filed, and a contribution in kind is valued by an expert or an auditor before it is delivered.
The licence, and the first year
The licence request goes to the Ministry and the authorities that approve the activity, and we hand over the entry with the dates the audit and the register of partners run on.
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