Visitor Visa Run to Oman
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If you’ve had trouble landing that job in Dubai and your two month visitor visa is about to expiry then you can either get the visitor visa renewed for an extra month at the Immigration office or you can drive to Oman to renew it for another 60 days.
Note: The Visitor visa rules are changing as of the 31st of July 2008. However the process for renewal of a visa on arrival for 34 nationalities (as mentioned in this article) will not change after this date as a mechanism for collection of visa fees has not been confirmed yet.
This information only applies to those nationalities who are eligible for a visitor visa on arrival. So, if you handed your passport over at the airport without filling out any forms, and they stamped it for 60 days then read on:
What you will need for a visitor visa run to Oman:
- passport
- car insurance (some will say this is not necessary and more often than not you will not need it, but if you have it take it just case. Some officials will ask for it).
- a car cleaned of any alcohol and weapons.
Drive along the Hatta road for about an hour. You will eventually come to a well signed posted area indicating a customs point up ahead.
Pull over into the car park or next to the mobile home type booths. Approach one of the windows and hand over your passport. You don’t have to say anything. The official will thumb through each page and locate your entry stamp, checking to see you haven’t overstayed.
They will then stamp it with an exit stamp. Don’t leave without this.
Jump back into your car and drive straight ahead for about another ten minutes. Don’t try and do a circle right there and then you still need to enter Oman and get an Omani visitor visa.
Keep driving until you reach another check point. Stay left (if you’re in a car) and approach the inspection point. Someone will signal you to stop and will then check your car for any alcohol or weapons.
They will then give you a piece of paper to say you’ve past inspection and to hold onto until you exit Oman.
Drive a bit further until you reach a large, palatial Omani police customs building. A big sign saying “New Visa” directs you to a car park. Take all your paperwork inside and line up outside one of the Arrival Visa windows.
There is a form at the window that you need to fill out depending on your nationality. Pick one up anyway if you are unsure about needing a visa and fill it out while you’re waiting.
According to the Royal Omani website these nationalities do not need a visa:
Japan, Australia, Malta, South American Countries, Malaysia, New Zealand, Brunei, Darussalam, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, European Countries, Thailand, Scandinavian Countries, Turkey, United States, Indonesia, Canada.
Once the officials have processed your form and taken 60 dirhams off of you they will stamp your passport with an Omani visit visa and send you on your way.
They may ask who is driving and at this stage ask for your car insurance.
It doesn’t hurt to inform them that you are heading straight back to Dubai, in which case the person that processed your application will provide you with an exit stamp.
If you are heading into Oman for sightseeing or just to the car park on the other side of the building you will get an exit stamp at a window heading back to Dubai. Do not forget to get this exit stamp.
Drive all the way back to the point where you received your exit stamp from the UAE, but stop outside the prefab buildings on the opposite of the road. Head to one of the windows on the opposite side of the building - not facing the road.
One of the UAE officials will now check to see if you’ve come from Oman and have the exit stamp and will now issue you with another “60 days from point of arrival stamp” for the UAE.
They will then give you a ticket which reflects the number of people in your car. You can get back into your car and then hand this ticket over to a man sitting in a booth not far from where you received it.
And voila that’s it….
Remember at the end of the day you will need:
- An exit stamp from the UAE
- Car inspection ticket (handed to you by an official)
- An Omani entry stamp
- An Omani exit stamp
- A UAE visitor stamp for 60 days
If you miss one of these you will have to go all the way back.
So with another two months in the UAE you can get back to hunting down all those high paying jobs in Dubai and land one before another two months passes you by.
