The residence card of the Sultanate will also be considered as proof of the visa of the foreigner

RESIDENT CARD OF SULTANATE OF OMAN

Muscat (News Update); It has been made mandatory for foreigners to show 'Bataqa' i.e. resident card upon returning to Oman.

According to the our news correspondent, residence card will become the most important document in the Sultanate of Oman and the need for a passport will be minimized as part of new reforms by the Royal Oman Police "ROP" to streamline the process and from now on passport will no longer be stamped with a resident visa as the authorities expand the services offered to residents in the country.

In this regard, the officials said that now it is sufficient to present the residence card instead of the visa page on the passport of the foreigners living in Oman upon arrival at the entrance points of the Sultanate, because now the residence cards of Oman will also be considered as proof of residence.

A source from Royal Oman Police “ROP” told that all governments around the world generally turn to “electronic systems” in their transactions and services, including the “Sultanate of Oman” where visas were first stamped on residents passports.

But this system has now been canceled as the resident card is sufficient to clarify the data of all residents and it comes under the government's digital transformation framework.

It should be noted that Oman has removed the requirement of visa stamping on the passports of foreigners, under the new amendment to the resident visa rule, it is no longer mandatory to stamp the visa on the passport of the expatriate, but the resident card is sufficient for visa purposes.

In this regard, an official source of the Royal Oman Police (ROP) said that earlier visa stamping was done on passports of expatriates, but under the new amendments, this condition has been abolished, since at present it does not need to be stored in the system and the resident card is sufficient.