Ministry of Manpower extends visa ban in Oman

Muscat: Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, has extended the ban on issuance of visas for workers in 87 professions in the private sector for another six months as per a new ministerial decision  385/2019. The Article 1 of the resolution stated that the temporary ban on recruiting the non-Omani labour in the private sector establishments for certain specified occupations (as mentioned in the ministerial decision 73/2019) will continue for a further period of six months. Article 2 states that the decision shall be published in the Official Gazette. The professions to which foreign workers cannot be hired include information and technology, media, finance, sales and marketing, administration, human resources, architecture and aviation sectors. The statement said that establishments registered with the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Riyada) are exempted from the ban.