It is clear doubt from me..........

schaz wrote:

Dearest Mr. Sumitran,
Hope you're well.

This matter has been kinda silent for the last 2 weeks (As I see). The govt. authorities has an anger on the media that published the news without knowing any details.

What I have been told recently (by a few MOM people) is that this rule is not applicable on all the catagories, but few. I'm sure you must be having more information on this matter.

Hello dear schaz,

Somehow I seem to have missed your post till now. Hence the delay in responding. Im sorry.

The new 2-year waiting period rule by the Ministry of Manpower is by no means clear. There is a lot of ambiguity. I am told by reliable sources that while translating the original from Arabic to English, the meanings have got changed, resulting in a whole lot of confusion. Also the Ministry has made at least 4-5 amendments to the rule after it was first published in the press. Plus, the Ministry of Manpower is facing a lot of flak from various sources, more from SMEs and business owners who will face serious challenges in recruiting employees who are familiar with Oman. Hiring fresh expatriates is not preferred on account of their unfamiliarity with the Omani market, obtaining a driving licence and such, as opposed to someone who knows the place well and can drive himself around, which is really a very important factor.

In some publications it is mentioned that if an employee completes his 2-year work contract and decides not to continue with his employer, he is free to exit Oman and come back again on another sponsors visa without any wait period. In most other publications it is clearly mentioned that anyone who exits Oman has to necessarily wait for 2 years before he can re-enter again on another employment visa.

The moment of truth will happen only when the employment visa is sent for processing. They authorities may issue the employment visa or they may not. No one can say for sure what will be the outcome. For any employee this is a massive chance to take. If his employment visa gets rejected then he will have no option but to wait for 2 long years before he can re-apply. But in 2 years time, who knows how things would change. The employer obviously cant wait for an employee for 2 years, nor can an employee wait hoping to get employment again in 2 years time. The bottom-line is it is not a feasible option  both for the employer as well as for the employee.

The Ministry seems not to have thought this through thoroughly. Their intention is to reduce the number of expatriates in Oman as much as possible and this, to them, seems to be the best method, even though most businesses and expatriate employees stand to lose a lot. Many are hopeful that there would be further amendments to this rule favouring the employees (wishful thinking perhaps ?). But for now, all we can do is just wait and watch.