Long stay expat investor scheme soon to attract quality investment in Oman

Muscat: A new scheme that will provide long stay visas to expatriates who invest in Oman is to be announced soon.

Details of the Investor Residence programme are to be made public by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP).

The new programme ensures that upon obtaining residency, investors will be provided further incentives and benefits, in keeping with conditions of the residency period.

The programme comes with the aim of facilitating the granting of residency for five to 10 years to investors wishing to invest or reside in Oman. These long-stay visas, which can be renewed, are part of efforts to enhance the investment environment, and take into account security, legal, social and economic aspects of the country.

The programme also aims to attract and promote qualitative investments that contributes to the growth of the domestic product and support the national economy, the localisation of industries, the transfer of advanced technologies and modern techniques, and the promotion of economic diversification.

To ensure it generates the desired results, indicators have been developed to periodically evaluate its effectiveness, and to measure the financial and economic impact of the scheme split into stages.

In this context, efforts have been taken to evaluate and measure the number of new foreign investment companies setting up operations in Oman, the volume of foreign investment coming into the country, and the new employment opportunities created as a result of this investment scheme.

The application to benefit from the programme is to be submitted through the Investment Services Centre of the MOCIIP through an electronic system that links all the concerned authorities.

These also include the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, the Royal Oman Police (ROP), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, the Scientific Research and Innovation body and the Oman Centre for Credit and Financial Information (Mala), in partnership with the Oman 2040 Vision Implementation Follow-up Unit, and the Ministry of Information.