MUSCAT – The immigration authorities of Oman have tightened the conditions for visa exemption granted to Maldives.
The development was confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia which said Oman has imposed additional conditions for extending visa exemption to Maldivian citizens.
As per the previous arrangement, Oman was included in the list of 13 countries with visa exemption privileges for citizens from Maldives.
A recent incident involving a Maldivian family and their detention for 12 hours at an Omani airport has apparently prompted changes in visa regulation.
As per the changes, Maldivians are now entitled to a 14-day visa exemption, provided they hold a valid Schengen Visa or visas from select countries or hold citizenship in those countries.
Moreover, those from Maldives should also furnish evidence of a confirmed hotel reservation, return tickets, and valid health insurance.
The tightening of visa conditions has irked the officials of Maldives who are still trying to convince the Omani government to relax the rules and potentially facilitate on-arrival visa exemption without any conditions.
The government of Oman opened up the country with the introduction of visa-free entry for citizens from 103 countries a few months back. The decision to extend visa-free entry for 14 days for tourists turned out to be a catalyst in promoting the tourism sector.
The visa relaxation led to a massive 348 per cent jump in tourists in 2022 compared to 2021 with 2.9 million tourists arriving in Oman in 2022 as per the statistics issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Regarding the hotels, the data saw the occupancy rate shoot up by 31.3 per cent to reach 53.7 per cent, compared to 40.9 per cent during the corresponding period in 2022 while the number of 3-5 star hotels’ guests also rose considerably.
The visa-free entry was granted to countries including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela.
