Bahrain, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have ranked among the top 10 best countries for expats, according to the Expat Essentials Index by InterNations.
Bahrain ranked number 1, followed by UAE in second place and Singapore in third place. Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar ranked in fifth, seventh and eighth places, respectively. The Expat Essentials Index comprises of 52 destinations that make life abroad easiest and those that make life most challenging for foreign residents.
The index is based on data from the Expat Insider 2022 survey by InterNations, which showed that all top three destinations “offer easy communication with the lack of a language barrier, while also posing minimal bureaucratic issues.”
According to the report, Bahrain’s admin topics subcategory is a highlight for expats. About two in three (67 per cent) said that it is easy to deal with the local authorities, while 27 per cent points over the global average (40 per cent). The island country’s visa issues also pose very few problems, the report said, with 70 per cent saying that it is easy to get a visa to move there compared to 56 per cent globally.
In terms of ‘Digital Life’, Bahrain ranks “below the global average for unrestricted access to online services, such as social media but lands in a top 10 spot for the availability of government services online,” the report said. In addition, the majority of Bahrain expats said that it is “easy” to find housing, compared to expats globally. However, only 39 per cent find housing in Bahrain affordable. Moreover, expats in Bahrain are not held back by language barriers with 82 per cent saying it is easy to live there without speaking the local language.
