Muscat, Nov 14 - Foreigners coming to the Sultanate need to hold only machine-readable passports as the hand-written document does not comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines, a senior official of Royal Oman Police (ROP) said on Wednesday.
“Any individual wishing to visit or work in the Sultanate must have an electronic passport, but some countries still renew passports manually at their embassies abroad,” Lt Col Hilal bin Said al Wahaibi, Director of Residence, Directorate General of Passports and Residence, said in a statement.
He also said there is no permanent residency for expatriates under the provisions of Foreigners Residence Law in Oman. “Article 14 states that the period of residency granted to an expat may not exceed two years though conditions might apply in some cases,” said Al Wahaibi. Residency is also granted to siblings who are dependent on expatriates until the age of 18 years, following which they need to apply for residency on their own. There are no changes to what has been discussed in Article 19 of the Executive Regulations of Foreigners Residency No 16/95 for family residency, which is granted to spouse of the expatriate and his children who are under the age of 21 years.
Al Wahaibi said the prominent violations of the Chapter 10 of the Foreigners Residence Law generally include the tendency to keep expatriates in the Sultanate illegally, submission of incorrect/fake documents to obtain any kind of visa, delays in the renewal of residency during legal period due to negligence and the inability of employer to produce whereabouts of the employee in case he is absconding.
Vinod Nair
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