The employer must request the employment visa on behalf of a foreign worker age 21 and above from Oman’s Ministry of Manpower. The Ministry provides various e-Services online for Companies / Sponsors and jobseekers concerning foreign labor. Foreign labor invited by a government organization follows a different procedure. If you are an employer you may also consult the Royal Oman Police website.
As the first step, the employer must obtain a Labor License for the foreign employee from the Ministry of Manpower. He must submit a procurement application form to be submitted to the specialized directorate in the Ministry of Manpower.
The Labor License provides Labor Clearance for the employer to hire foreign workers. A successful application must meet several requirements:
Oman Work Visa Required Documents
Fees: As per Oman’s Ministry of Labour (“MOL”) issued a Ministerial Decision (“MD”) No. 12/2021 published in the Official Gazette on 31 January 2021, an increase in the fees related to obtaining a work permit for recruiting non-Omani workforce. The introduced new fees are ranging between OMR 140, which is for work permits of domestic workers and the like, to OMR 2,000, which is for top positions as classified by the MOL and specified professions set out in the MD or for employees with a monthly salary of OMR 4,000 & above, regardless of their occupation.
Special consideration is given to Small-&-Medium-Enterprises (“SMEs”) of which the respective fees for obtaining a work permit can be as low as OMR 100 during the first two years of establishment subject to meeting certain conditions.
The employer in Oman sends a letter of invitation to all employees who satisfy the conditions and quotas for the Labor Clearance.
The employer must obtain individual employment visas for each expatriate to be sponsored. The employer must submit an employment visa application to the Immigration Department of the Royal Oman Police https://www.rop.gov.om/english/dg_pr_visas_employment.html and may be conducted through a one-stop-shop.
Certain requirements must be met by the employee for a valid visa application, which include:
As per the Omani Royal Police website, the fee is 20 Omani Riyals.
Once the employment visa is cleared for the employee, the expatriate must obtain a residence card to legally reside in Oman for the duration of employment. This is done when the foreign employee reaches Oman.
The employee, upon arrival, must travel to the Civil Status Department of the Royal Oman Police to obtain the residence card within 30 days of entry. The employee will undergo a blood test at a medical center and be guided for fingerprinting. Once the data has been collected, the Directorate General of Civil Status will issue the resident card to the employee, which is valid for two years.
Documentation Required
Two recent passport photographs
Copy of the passport
For any circumstance that requires the employee to change jobs, terminate the employment contract prematurely, or to have the contract expire, they will be required to leave the country for at least two years unless they obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC), which is a document that states that both the sponsoring employer and the government of Oman have no issues with the employee working in the country.
The authorization process is lengthy and the NOC is not issued often. If it is authorized, it may be collected from the port of entry along with the visa.
Once the employment visa and residence card have been received by the employee, they may commence work with the employer in Oman.
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