The Sultanate of Oman wants companies to employ Omani professionals.
Oman has issued a six-month ban on issuing of work visas for expatriates in ten sectors, including: information systems, engineering, aviation and certain technical professions.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Bakri, the sultanate’s Minister of Manpower, issued the new regulation, which will begin with immediate effect.
Over the last decade, the expat workforce in Oman has almost tripled, according to Oman’s National Centre for Statistics and Information. It has risen from 660,950 in 2007 to 1,825,603 people in 2016.
The decree does not include companies owned by employers wholly devoted to management of their establishments which are registered with the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development and insured with the Public Authority for Social Insurance (PASI).
