National Audit Office Flags Work Permit Breaches in Kingdom of Bahrain Parliament

(KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN) — Bahrain’s parliament took up a National Audit Office report on Sunday that put labor-market irregularities and Work Permit Breaches at the center of debate, including cases involving foreign workers who held commercial registrations while licensed as employees.

The March 29, 2026 session in the Kingdom of Bahrain focused on breaches identified by the National Audit Office, bringing local labor compliance issues into the same period that U.S. authorities have also elevated work permit enforcement, fraud findings and vetting changes.

U.S. Work Permit Enforcement Changes

In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rolled out a series of integrity measures in February and March 2026 aimed at what they described as exploitation of the work permit system. Those steps touched asylum-based work authorization, fraud adjudications and employer oversight.

One of the most far-reaching moves came on Feb. 20, 2026, when DHS proposed a rule on asylum work permits designed to “reduce the incentive for aliens to file fraudulent asylum claims so they can obtain work authorizations.” A DHS spokesperson said, “For too long, a fraudulent asylum claim has been an easy path to working in the United States, overwhelming our immigration system with meritless applications. The Trump administration is strengthening the vetting of asylum applicants and restoring integrity to the asylum and work authorization processes.”

That proposal landed as USCIS reported more than 1.4 million pending affirmative asylum claims as of February 2026. It also arrived during a broader argument in Washington over how far the government should go in tightening access to employment authorization.

Under the proposed changes, USCIS would stop accepting new (c)(8) asylum-based EAD applications if the average processing time for asylum applications exceeds 180 days for a 90-day period. The waiting period to apply for a work permit would rise from 150 days to 365 calendar days.

DHS also proposed entry-based bars that would deny work permits to applicants who entered the United States “without inspection” unless they reported to an agent within 48 hours of entry. A separate requirement would mandate biometrics for all initial and renewal EAD applications to “boost vetting and fraud detection.”

Another policy shift followed on March 9, 2026, when USCIS incorporated the AAO decision Matter of TEXPERTS, Inc. into its official policy. The move lets officers issue formal findings of fact for fraud or willful misrepresentation even if a petitioner withdraws an application before scrutiny ends.

That change closes off what officials described as an escape route for suspect filings. Employers and individuals can no longer avoid a formal fraud finding simply by pulling back a pending work permit-related petition before officers finish reviewing it.

The U.S. policy push has unfolded against a larger political fight. A DHS funding shutdown began on February 14, 2026, and House and Senate leaders have remained deadlocked over agency funding, including demands from House members for stricter guardrails on work permit issuance and a halt to parole-based EADs in the 2026 budget debate.

Leadership turmoil followed. On March 5, 2026, President Trump removed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem after two days of contentious congressional testimony focused on what lawmakers described as security gaps and the handling of departmental work permit contracts.

For migrants and employers, the combined effect has reached beyond headline policy fights. USCIS fee-funded activities have continued during the partial shutdown, but administrative backlogs have grown as new vetting requirements and broader funding pressure slowed case processing.

That strain has fed employment instability for people who depend on work authorization renewals. Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and DACA recipients face uncertainty as renewal pathways narrow or become tied to new discretionary standards.

The employer side has also tightened. USCIS has subjected H-1B employers to heavier audits, and Operation Twin Shield has led to multiple arrests for “work permit fraud” among contractors and staffing agencies in early 2026.

Those actions place the H-1B program inside a broader enforcement frame, even though the most sweeping proposed restrictions now center on asylum-based work permits. For companies that rely on foreign labor, heightened fraud findings and audit pressure raise the cost of filing errors and withdrawn petitions.

USCIS has published updates on its newsroom and in its news releases, while DHS rulemaking has appeared through the Federal Register listings for the Homeland Security Department. Congressional scrutiny has continued through House Committee on Homeland Security hearings, and oversight work has also appeared in the DHS inspector general’s FY 2026 audit workplan.

Bahrain Parliament Reviews Labor Market Irregularities

The Bahrain debate, while separate in law and jurisdiction, also turned on labor-system integrity. The National Audit Office report presented to parliament described breaches involving foreign workers who held commercial registrations while remaining licensed as employees, raising questions over enforcement and market oversight in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

That overlap in timing has given the phrase Work Permit Breaches a wider reach than a single country’s legislative dispute. In Bahrain, lawmakers are examining labor-market irregularities flagged by the National Audit Office. In the United States, DHS and USCIS are reshaping work authorization rules and fraud findings during a funding shutdown and leadership change.

The asylum proposal stands out because it combines several restrictions at once. A longer wait before filing, a shutdown trigger tied to asylum-processing times, entry-based disqualifications and universal biometrics would all reshape who can obtain or renew an EAD and when they can do so.

For people already in the pipeline, delays matter because employment authorization often determines whether applicants can keep jobs while immigration cases remain unresolved. For employers, new fraud findings carry extra weight because a withdrawn filing no longer guarantees the matter ends without an adverse determination.

The Matter of TEXPERTS, Inc. decision could prove especially important in staffing and contract-heavy sectors where filings can move quickly and scrutiny can come late in the process. Once incorporated into policy, it gave adjudicators a clearer path to document fraud or willful misrepresentation even after a petitioner tries to step away.

Congress has amplified that focus rather than softened it. The funding impasse that began on February 14, 2026 pushed work permit oversight into the middle of a budget fight, linking operational funding to arguments over how immigration benefits should be granted, reviewed and revoked.

Those disputes also widened the pressure on agency leadership. Kristi Noem’s removal on March 5, 2026 came after lawmakers pressed her on security gaps and management of work permit contracts, turning administrative details into a political test of control over the immigration system.

Across both Bahrain and the United States, the immediate issue is not abstract. It is whether governments can police labor and visa systems that sit at the intersection of migration, employment and enforcement.

In Bahrain, parliament’s focus remained on labor-market irregularities identified by the National Audit Office. In the United States, the administration’s answer has been tighter vetting, broader fraud tools and stricter conditions on employment authorization.

For now, that leaves workers, asylum applicants, DACA recipients, contractors and employers facing a more exacting climate. As parliament in the Kingdom of Bahrain debates the audit findings and U.S. agencies advance new restrictions, work permit enforcement has moved from a technical issue to the center of government action.