Oman Considering New Temporary Visas For Expats In Listed Sectors

The Omani government is considering allowing recruitment of expat workers in specialised occupations on a defined, temporary basis.

According to an annual report released by Oman’s Implementation Support and Follow-up unit, specified professions for the new temporary work permits will include medicine, academic positions, technical and engineering, consultancy and experts qualified to train others in these fields. The amendment is being seen as a way to manage companies’ business needs using expatriate specialists for a limited time period. The professions list is to be updated annually with reference to the needs of labour market sectors.

In addition, Omani lawmakers are working on a scheme to allow flexible movement between jobs for expatriate workers, aimed at companies registered within the same group. The scheme is intended to help private enterprises in need of additional expat staff. Meanwhile, reports indicate Oman’s expat population is declining at speed, following a decade of growth, indicating some 21,000 expats have relocated over the past 10 months.

The decline in white-collar expat workers was first noted two years ago whilst blue collar worker numbers were still on the increase, but by late 2017, totals of blue collar workers in the emirate were also falling. Stricter visa regulations as well as the Omanization programme are believed to be responsible for the decline.

Even so, expats still make up 45 per cent of Oman’s population, in spite of the January six-month ban on expat workers in 10 sectors including IT, air traffic control, accounting, finance, admin, human resources, technicians and the insurance sector.