Ministry: Only Omanis allowed to handle consular matters in HR domain

Muscat: Oman’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has shared a circular saying that expatriate staff cannot any longer represent consular-related matters pertaining to corporate houses they work for nor can they represent Omani citizens’ consular matters in Oman.

A statement issued online by the MoFA said: “Expatriates can no longer represent Omani citizens or corporate services at the Consular Department at the ministry. Expatriates may present documentation for consular services when it is in regard to their own personal services.”

Most of the companies in Oman have a dedicated PRO (as they are commonly called) team consisting of Omani and expatriate staff within the HR department that handles routine matters that need the approval and permission of Oman’s Foreign Ministry. With this ruling, this position is also effectively earmarked for Omanis, who were in any case handling most of the government and ministry related work of most corporate organisations. Many private sector companies in Oman have expatriate staff as well in this field of work.

Sundar Kumar, working in the HR department of a leading automotive dealer in Oman, handling specifically consular related work, said the bulk of consular work at the Omani ministries has invariably been handled by Omani citizens for a long time . “But we don’t know how this would affect the renewal of our resident card. We have to wait and watch.”