Thursday 14 / November / 2024
Muscat: A ban on expatriate employees earning less than OMR600 per month on bringing their families to Oman has been questioned by the Majlis Al Shura, as some members say lowering the minimum wage required may help the Sultanate’s economy.
Read here: Oman's Majlis Al Shura approves question barring expats from getting family visa
In September 2013, Royal Oman Police (ROP) made it mandatory that an expatriate wishing to bring in his family to the Sultanate should be drawing a salary of OMR600 per month.
Now, the Majlis Al Shura has sent questions to ROP regarding that limit, with one member told Times of Oman that if the amount is brought down, then many would be able to bring in their families which in turn would lead to increased spending inside Oman.
“The parliament has forwarded some questions to the ROP on why a salary limit has been set. The ROP might have considered different aspects while deciding on the limit.
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“However, lowering down the salary limit for family status will help expats in Oman to bring in their families, which will boost spending and help the economy,” Rashid Al Shamsi, the Majlis Al Shura member, said.
“Expats with families in Oman will spend more here rather than remitting it to their home country,” the Shura member said.
He said that ROP may come back to them with answers on why and how the OMR600 limit was set.
Currently, there are 1,747,097 expatriates working in Oman and the total number including their family members is 2.02 million.
“By allowing more expatriate families coming in, consumer expenditure will increase, which will eventually help Oman economy to grow,” Gurumurthy N, a Muscat-based economist, said.
“People save money to meet their family’s education and healthcare needs. If their family is here in Oman, then they will spend it here itself. Government should come up with more pro-expatriate steps,” Gurumurthy added.
Shaji Sebastin, an Indian expatriate residing in Oman for more than three decades, said that expatriates being with family in a foreign land will boost their productivity in all means.
“Not only aiding the economy through increased spending, expatriates staying with family in a foreign land like Oman will ensure more productivity in their work and help in the company’s growth,” Shaji added.
Mohammed Sanaullah, a Bangladeshi social worker in Oman, and Azra Aleem, a member of Pakistan Social Club in Oman, welcomed the move.
“We strongly agree with Shura council on this. If the OMR600 bar is removed or lowered for expats family visa, it will ultimately have positive impacts to the society. As well as the expats will be able to focus more on job and can play good role for the Sultanate’s development,” Sanaullah and Azra said.
Meanwhile, Tonia Gray, general manager at Competence HR, said that it seems reasonable to assume that if family members are also in Oman, then more money will be spent in the local economy and not be sent back home but it would be interesting to see the logic behind the ROP decision on the OMR600 salary requirement.
“I do not know the reason but there may be something important that we are unaware of. Of course, bringing in family members could place greater costs on the employer if they are required to pay for visas, medicals, health insurance, flights, education etc and I am certain that many employers would not want any additional costs in the current economic climate,” Tonia said.
“If the individual is required to pay for these themselves, then a certain level of salary will be necessary to pay for these,” Tonia added.
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