Passport, Visa Required for Bahrain Duty

MILLINGTON, Tenn. (NNS) -- A change in the Department of Defense (DoD) Foreign Clearance Guide now requires military and civilian personnel and eligible family members moving to Bahrain to get a no-fee passport and visa.

According to the DoD's Electronic Foreign Clearance Guide, which is available at https://www.fcg.pentagon.mil/fcg.cfm, updated Sept. 14, military and civilian personnel and eligible family members must possess a no-fee passport valid for at least six months beyond the date of arrival in Bahrain and obtain a visa prior to traveling to Bahrain.

"Passports can take up to six months to process," said Cmdr. Carl Chaffin, Distribution Management and Procedures branch head. "Upon receiving permanent change of station orders or a letter of intent, Sailors need to immediately go to their servicing personnel support detachment to start the process."

Policy changes have allowed family members to return to Bahrain. Adult family members were authorized to accompany service members to Bahrain in November 2008, and the rules further changed in June 2009 to allow all family members to accompany their sponsor.

Sailors interested in assignments to Bahrain are reminded that the Career Management System/Interactive Detailing window was recently shortened and that their detailing window is now seven to nine months prior to their projected rotation date. After that three-month window, Sailors become eligible for "needs of the Navy" assignments.

For more information, visit the Navy Personnel Command website's "Enlisted" or "Officer" assignments pages at http://www.npc.navy.mil/Enlisted/ or http://www.npc.navy.mil/Officer/ and look for the "Bahrain Fact Sheet" in the menu on the right side of the page.

For more news from Navy Personnel Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/npc/.