Muscat: Oman will introduce stiff penalties, including imprisonment not exceeding two years and no more than a 2,000 Omani Riyal fine, for expatriates who fail to regularise their employment status.
The penalties were announced after authorities issued two extensions to give workers time to sort out their status, with the current extension expiring in 3 days.
The penalties have been issued by Royal Decree of Omani leader Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed.
Under the decree, drivers and pilots who give illegal access to foreigners violating the Expatriate Residency Law will also be held responsible and punished.
Hotels also are required to submit a list of foreign guests on a daily basis.
In January this year, the government gave overstaying expatriate three months (March 31) to complete all the paperwork and leave the country without paying fines or the option to regularise their status with the Manpower Ministry.
The deadline was first extended up to May 31 and then to another two months, which expires on July 31. Further extensions are unlikely.
The deadlines were extended largely because missions, especially from the Indian subcontinent, had requested for the same.
“We are not going to ask for anymore extension,” Anil Wadhwa, Indian ambassador to Oman, told Gulf News.
Although the Manpower Ministry is yet to provide final number of workers availing of amnesty, it is estimated that around 40,000, including 22,000 Indians, workers have shown willingness to leave Oman.
This is far less than the industry estimate therefore the new stiffer penalties for staying in Oman illegally or helping someone stay here without proper visa may prove costly.
“Before the amnesty there were 102,000 people in Oman who were either without proper visa or not working for their original sponsor,” a source with the construction industry said.
The government has also warned anyone working for someone other their sponsor. A provision has been made now in the labour laws where the sponsor will also be fined and given a jail term if he allows his employee to work for another employer.
