Expatriate workers are being urged to submit their contact numbers to the LMRA in order for them to be informed of any changes in their residency status.
The call comes following a Bahrain Tribune report showing that numerous Bangladeshis are realising that they are listed as absconding workers after being reported as runaways by their sponsors.
These expats only become aware of their status after accessing the LMRA web portal from their Embassy.
Waheed Al Balushi, head of public relations at the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) told the Tribune that if these workers had submitted their contact details they would have known immediately that a complaint had been lodged against them.
"When we get a runaway complaint lodged at the LMRA by an employer, we try to contact the employee and inform him or her about it," Al Balushi explained.
"In this way the employee has the opportunity to come to us and inform us if the complaint is false."
However, despite this facility, many workers do not choose to submit any contact information. Others do submit numbers when they initially arrive in the Kingdom, but then fail to inform the LMRA when they change phone numbers.
Officials from the Authority previously informed the Tribune that they on one occasion tried calling several expats but only got through to one person. In addition to this, the person who answered the phone was not the expat listed on their database and claimed that he did not know how his number was listed under another person's name at the LMRA.
"We request all expatriate workers to keep their contact numbers updated, not for our benefit but for their own," Al Balushi stated. "In addition I also urge them to check their status frequently on our website or by our SMS service."
An individual can get information on their work visa status via the SMS service by sending a message containing their CPR number to the LMRA. The text should read 'CPR
The authority is also distributing a 'Foreign Workers Details Card' through community associations and embassies.
Expatriate workers can fill out the card with their name, CPR and telephone number and drop it at one of the boxes made available at embassies.
By Bonny Mascarenhas
© Bahrain Tribune 2010
