the ban in on Bahraini pilots only
They are a national asset... If now the ban is in place, it has to be said that all Gulf Nationals (ex-GF member states and plus...) have had the "freedom" to move around.
How many pilots left GF to return to it again in the last 10 to 15 years? How many Gulf national pilots move GF to QR back to GF, how many EK to EY back to EK, GF to WY back to GF and (all) vice versa?
In a so called free market, as they claim, it isn't so free after all. I do agree if a government pays the whole training from the ab-inition stage to LHS plus, this guy has to "give something back", but not after being the company for a justifiable number of years. And GF, along others, know how much it is and when a pilot paid his/her price plus "interest"...
Good luck to all. Keep discovering until you find better... and they let you go...