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The usual set: passport, degree, internship certificate, council registration, experience letters and a certificate of good standing that has been issued recently. Check the name on every document against your passport before submitting anything.

Confirm as well that your medical school appears on the recognised list. Bahrain's list is broad, covering most internationally accredited institutions, but it is worth ten minutes of checking.

Submit your application to NHRA and complete Primary Source Verification through DataFlow. NHRA reviews the application and, once verification returns a positive result, issues your eligibility code.

The code is what allows you to register with Prometric. Direct bookings without a valid code are not accepted.

Your eligibility code is valid for approximately four months from the date it is issued. If it expires before you sit the examination, you must request a new one, which costs time you did not need to spend.

The practical instruction is simple: be examination ready before the code arrives, not afterwards. Study during verification, then book as soon as the code is in your hand.

The examination is computer based, in English, in single best answer format, matched to your profession and classification. Seating time is three hours, with two hours and thirty minutes of examination time, and the pass mark for physicians is sixty per cent.

You have up to four consecutive attempts, within three years of your first. After passing, your licence is issued and, as everywhere in the region, employment with a licensed facility completes the picture.

Bahrain is easy to live in. Commutes are measured in minutes rather than in planning. The expatriate community is long established and welcoming, the social atmosphere is relaxed by regional standards, and family life is straightforward.

There is also a geographic advantage worth knowing. Bahrain is connected to the eastern province of Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway, and holding both a Bahraini licence and a Saudi one is a recognised strategy among doctors who want mobility within the region.

There is no personal income tax. Salaries are typically more modest than in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar or Kuwait, and the cost of living is correspondingly lower, particularly housing. For many doctors the balance works out comparably, with a noticeably easier daily routine.