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A pensioner has been found guilty in absentia of lying on government forms while applying for a family visa for his ex-wife to save money ... by concealing the fact they were divorced.
The 65-year-old has been sentenced to three years in prison in absentia by the High Criminal Court.
The court heard that the Bahraini married his Moroccan sweetheart in 2002. Their marriage was officially registered in the UAE and the couple had a daughter.
She moved to Bahrain in 2006 and successfully filed for divorce in court in 2007, then moved back to the UAE with their child in 2010, where the girl completed her schooling.
Years later, their daughter decided to attend university in Bahrain, since higher education in the UAE was deemed too expensive, and she relocated with her mother back to the kingdom in December 2022.
The defendant applied for a relative’s residency visa at the Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA) for his former wife. He filled out a form and provided identity information for the couple, a marriage certificate and bank statements.
The information was entered into the NPRA database, and a two-year visa was issued for the woman, valid from April 2023 to April 2025.
“When we came back to Bahrain, the defendant rented us an apartment, got me residency and then left the country. I haven’t heard anything from him since,” the 60-year-old Moroccan testified.
“When he left, my daughter couldn’t continue her university studies and had to find a job, then submitted a request to transfer my sponsorship from her father to herself and renew my visa.
“We haven’t received a response yet, which has been quite an issue for me.”
The discrepancy was discovered when the daughter submitted the request, according to a detective. The police officer testified that in April 2025, the NPRA’s visa and residency directorate received an application to transfer the Moroccan’s sponsorship from the defendant ‘to another person’.
In the application the divorce certificate was submitted, issued by the Sunni Family Courts in 2008, predating her family visa by 15 years.
The Public Prosecution charged the defendant with entering false information into the NPRA system, through a well-meaning employee, with the intention of making the information appear legitimate.
It said he had concealed a key fact – the divorce – from the authorities to obtain the visa, avoiding having to pay additional fees. He was convicted of the charge but, the court heard, he appears to remain out of the country.
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