Oman relaxes visa ban on Bangladeshis, allowing some categories

The government of Oman has finally decided to relax a visa ban to allow some categories of Bangladeshis to travel to the country.

"A decision was taken lately by the relevant authorities in Oman to exempt certain categories of Bangladeshi nationals from the visa ban issued in October of last year," said a press statement issued by the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The exempted categories are – family visas, visitation visas for citizens of Bangladesh residing in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, physician, engineer, nurse, teacher, accountant, investor, all types of official visas and high-income tourists.

The Oman embassy will receive and process all applications from applicants belonging to these categories and will coordinate duly with the Royal Oman Police to issue the visa.

Processing of applications will take one to four weeks, depending on the particulars of each application, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the government of Bangladesh has welcomed the Omani government's decision to withdraw restrictions from a few categories of visas for Bangladeshi citizens, said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release. 

The Oman embassy further said authorities from both countries are working to lift the ban as soon as possible, and many steps have been taken in this regard.

Mentioning that the ban is absolutely apolitical in nature, it said the ban was undertaken for technical reasons pertaining to the regular and ongoing review process of the foreign labour market in Oman.

"Oman and Bangladesh enjoy excellent bilateral relations that are constantly growing and expanding in many fields under the wise and enlightened leadership of both the Bangladeshi and Omani governments respectively," it added.

Earlier on Tuesday, State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury told the media that Oman wants to hire skilled workers from Bangladesh. 

"We have discussed the matter and expect that once skilled workers begin to be employed, unskilled workers will also find opportunities over time," he said.