Oman announces temporary ban on work visas for expats

Muscat: For a period of six months, the Ministry of Manpower has suspended issuing visas to private sector establishments that deal with construction and cleaning work.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Ministry said the decision would not be applicable to those companies with more than 100 workers.
“The authorisation for the recruitment of non-Omani manpower in private sector establishments engaged in construction and cleaning works shall be suspended for six months. The permit will continue with an outgoing allowance,” the Ministry announced.
Article (2) of the decision read: “The decision does not apply to establishments employing 100 or more workers, establishments operating in the implementation of government projects, enterprises owned by full-time employers registered with the Public Authority for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises, and establishments registered in the world category and based in free zones.”
The total number of expatriates working in construction has declined by 17 per cent in the last two years.
According to National Centre of Statistics and Information, of a total of 1,700,000 foreign workers in the Sultanate, 508,690 of them are working in the construction sector in 2019 compared to 619,744 expatrates working in construction in 2017.