The No Objection Certificate as a legal precondition to coming back into Oman is gone. Your current employer's agreement as a practical precondition to moving to a new one, without leaving the country, is not.
The honest answer
Before 2021, an expatriate who left an employer without a No Objection Certificate had to spend two years outside Oman before returning to work. That specific bar was removed. What replaced it is a rule about proof: you may transfer to a new employer who holds a valid recruitment licence, on evidence that the previous employment relationship has ended.
That is a real and substantial change. It is not the same thing as being free to move whenever you like. If your contract is still running and your employer does not want to release you, the transfer does not happen — not because a certificate is demanded by name, but because of how the transaction is built.
The Ministry of Labour's transfer-of-services service for establishments describes its own workflow: the request is routed to the current employer to approve or reject, and the current employer must first settle any outstanding fees and fines.
That is a government service page, not a law firm's opinion. It is the single most useful fact on this subject, and almost nobody quotes it.
So the practical position is: no certificate called an NOC, but a consent step with the same effect, sitting inside the transfer transaction itself.
What actually changed, and when
Get the instrument right, because most accounts do not. The reform is Royal Oman Police Decision 157/2020, amending some provisions of the Executive Regulation of the Foreigners' Residence Law. It was issued on 31 May 2020, published in Official Gazette 1344 on 7 June 2020, and came into force on 1 January 2021. It replaced Article 24 of that regulation.
It is not a Ministry of Labour decision and it is not dated 2021, although it took effect in 2021. Trowers & Hamlins gives the date as 6 June 2020, which appears to be the gazette date rather than the signature date; both refer to the same decision.
The new Article 24 permits transfer of an expatriate's residence from one employer to another, provided the new employer holds a valid recruitment licence, on production of evidence that the employment contract has expired, been rescinded or been terminated, and with the approval of the competent government authority. The first employer stays responsible until the transfer procedures are completed. Worth knowing: the text itself does not mention a No Objection Certificate and does not mention a two-year ban. The abolition is inferred from the wholesale replacement of the article, not from an express repeal.
The two-year period that survives
Here is the finding that most guides miss entirely. The Royal Oman Police work visa page, in Arabic, still sets a documentary condition tied to two years: if the applicant previously worked in Oman and has not completed two years since departure, an attested conduct letter from the previous employer must be produced. The English temporary work visa page says the same thing in different words.
A two-year exclusion and a two-year document requirement are different things, and conflating them is how both the optimistic and the pessimistic accounts of Oman go wrong.
You are not barred from returning. But if you left an Omani employer within the last two years and now want a fresh work visa, expect to be asked for a letter from that employer at the counter — the same signature you were told you no longer needed.
The Royal Oman Police pages also still ask for a "release letter from the previous sponsor approved by the Ministry of Manpower", a ministry renamed in 2020. Those pages have not been updated since before the reform, so treat what they say as what may be demanded in practice rather than as a statement of current law.
The two published positions
Trowers & Hamlins and CMS both describe the NOC requirement as abolished: expatriates can change employers without one, needing only to show the relevant authorities that the previous employment relationship has ended.
Addleshaw Goddard describes something narrower. On its account, following a Ministry of Labour decision of 29 July 2021, transfers proceed without the current employer's consent in six situations:
- The work permit or visa has expired and no current employment contract is registered with the Ministry.
- The employment contract has expired.
- The worker can prove the employer terminated the contract for a reason other than a disciplinary one.
- A court has ordered the transfer to a new employer.
- A court has ruled that the dismissal was arbitrary.
- A court has ruled the employer bankrupt or dissolved.
We could not trace a decision number for that 29 July 2021 Ministry of Labour decision on any Omani government site or in any primary-text database. So the six-situation list is claimed by Addleshaw Goddard and unverified against a published instrument — we report it because it matches how the transfer service behaves in practice, not because we have read the decision. Ask anyone who repeats it for the number.
How a transfer actually works
- The new employer must hold a valid work licence with a vacancy in the right occupational category.
- The new employer submits the transfer through the Ministry of Labour portal, or through a Sanad office, using the worker's civil number and date of birth and the work permit number to be used.
- The request goes to the current employer to approve or reject. Outstanding fees and fines must be cleared first.
- On approval the transaction is immediate — the Ministry classifies it as a self-service transaction.
- The residence side follows at the Royal Oman Police, and this is where the transfer fee falls due.
The fee is OMR 5, from Annex 3, item 3 of Ministerial Decision 602/2025, described in the annex as payable once, on visa stamping. The Ministry publishes the same OMR 5 on both its establishment and individual transfer service pages. Note that the Article 8 Omanisation multiplier does not reach Annex 3, so this fee is not discounted or doubled by your Omanisation position.
Underneath all of this sits Article 29 of the Labour Law, Royal Decree 53/2023: an employer may not permit a licensed non-Omani worker to work for anyone else except after notifying the Ministry electronically and obtaining its licence. That is the statutory hook. It is also why informal arrangements — starting the new job while the paperwork catches up — are a breach by both employers, not a grey area.
Expiry, resignation, dismissal — which route gives you the proof
Article 24 asks for evidence that the contract has expired, been rescinded or been terminated. How the job ends therefore determines how easy the transfer is.
| How the job ends | What evidences it | Consent still needed in practice? |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed term simply expires | Expiry under Article 42(1); no reason required | Weakest case for a block — the contract is over |
| Worker resigns mid-term | Notice under Article 38, and the Ministry recording the termination | Yes — the e-service still routes to the employer |
| Employer terminates, non-disciplinary | Termination under Article 43 | One of the six no-consent situations claimed by Addleshaw |
| Employer dismisses under Article 40 | Disciplinary grounds, including absence | Outside the no-consent list; expect difficulty |
| Court finds arbitrary dismissal | The court ruling itself | Claimed as a no-consent route |
On notice: Article 38 of the Arabic text lets either party terminate an unlimited-term contract at any time for a legitimate reason on 30 days' written notice. The widely circulated English translation of the Labour Law gives 30 days for monthly-paid workers and 15 days for others unless a longer period is agreed. The two do not match. Where they conflict, the Arabic is the law.
- Article 41 — the worker may leave without notice and keep all entitlements, including gratuity, where the employer defrauded them as to conditions, failed to pay wages for two consecutive months, breached a fundamental obligation, committed an immoral act, assaulted them, or where there is serious danger to health or safety.
- Article 40 — the employer may dismiss without notice or gratuity for false identity or forgery, gross material loss, breach of safety rules, absence exceeding seven consecutive days or ten separate days in a year, disclosure of secrets, felony conviction, intoxication, assault, or serious breach of contractual duties.
- Article 43 — termination on notice for retirement age, replacement of a non-Omani by an Omani in the same occupation, incompetence after a six-month grace period, closure, bankruptcy or restructuring.
One deadline that cuts the other way: Article 14 obliges the employer to repatriate a non-Omani worker within a maximum of 60 days of the end of the contract, and the worker may remain in Oman if they are pursuing dues through the courts. So an expired contract does not mean you must leave immediately, and it does not extinguish a live claim.
Absconding reports
An absconding report is the mechanism that most often blocks a transfer, and unlike much of this subject it rests on a clear primary text: Ministerial Decision 270/2018, the regulation on reporting a non-Omani worker leaving work, issued 26 June 2018 and published in Official Gazette 1256 on 12 August 2018.
- The employer must report as soon as it learns of the absence, but the report is not accepted until seven consecutive days of absence without lawful justification have passed.
- Reporting is prohibited where a dispute is already on foot between the parties, where the worker has already left the country to the employer's knowledge, or during accrued leave.
- On acceptance the worker's status changes from worker at work to worker who has left the workplace.
- The consequences are severe: end-of-service benefits fall away, and the worker is barred from working, from having their services transferred, and from entering the country.
The Ministry's own service page confirms the operational side: the report applies where absence exceeds seven consecutive days and the worker cannot be contacted, the permit must be active, there is no fee, and processing takes five to seven days.
Under MD 270/2018 the worker may object to the report within 60 days. The employer may separately apply to cancel it within six months on acceptable grounds, and the Ministry runs a distinct e-service for cancellation.
If a report has been filed against you and you do nothing for two months, you are not simply waiting it out — you are letting the objection window close. Deal with it inside 60 days, and if there is a live dispute, say so, because a report should not have been accepted at all in that situation.
Temporary transfer between establishments
There is a separate route that is not a change of employer at all: Ministerial Decision 730/2024, regulating the temporary transfer of non-Omani manpower between private sector establishments, issued 15 December 2024 and published in Official Gazette 1575, in force the following day. It lets a worker work for another establishment for a limited period while remaining on your licence.
- Maximum six months per worker in any one year.
- The transfer may not exceed 50% of registered workers — and the cap applies to the sending and the receiving establishment alike.
- The worker must consent.
- The receiving establishment must pay not less than the original wage, on the same benefits and conditions, through the Wage Protection System.
- The worker must have completed six months with the current establishment.
- The work permit must be active with at least six months' validity remaining.
- Both establishments must be financially clear with the Ministry, and occupations reserved for Omanis are excluded.
- The receiving establishment may not keep the worker on after the period ends.
The Ministry's service page states there is no fee and no additional documentation, that the service is self-service through the e-portal, and that it can be done through a Sanad office. Given how much of Omani compliance costs money, a free route that solves a genuine seasonal or project problem is worth knowing about.
The gov.om service catalogue carries an "assign non-Omani workforce" service that describes itself as available only for companies with the same partners, free, one day, with no legal instrument cited.
MD 730/2024, and the Ministry of Labour's own service pages implementing it, contain no same-partners restriction. Two official pages, two different rules, and no way to reconcile them from published material. If your two establishments do not share partners, expect to have this argument.
Visit and family joining visas: the conversion story
You will find confident claims that Oman introduced a reform in December 2025 or March 2026 allowing visit visas and family joining visas to be converted into work permits inside the country. We went looking for it and could not find it.
What we can trace is this. On 31 May 2021 the Royal Oman Police announced an amendment to the Executive Regulation of the Foreigners' Residence Law permitting in-country conversion of a listed set of visas — GCC resident visit visas, family and friend visit visas, short single-entry tourist visas, business, express, investor, student, sailor and property-owner visas — to a work permit or temporary work, subject to conditions and a fee. Oman Observer and Gulf News both reported it on the same day. Neither names a decision number. In November 2023 the position reversed: the Royal Oman Police announced, via its own social media account, that visitor, tourist, express and dependent visa holders could no longer convert in-country and must exit and re-enter. Fragomen and EY both reported it. Again, no decision number.
We then checked every Royal Oman Police decision indexed for 2024, 2025 and 2026. The amendments to the Foreigners' Residence Executive Regulation in that period are 132/2024 (cruise passenger visit visas), 156/2025 (the new cultural visa and cultural family joining visa) and 87/2026 (buyer and owner visas for real estate). None of them concerns converting a visit or family joining visa into a work permit. Ministerial Decision 602/2025 contains no conversion provision either.
Our conclusion, stated plainly: no Omani decision, gazette entry or government announcement corresponds to a 21 December 2025 or 15 March 2026 conversion reform. If a page gives you either date, ask which decision it is citing. If it cannot answer, it is repeating another blog.
Watch out in particular for articles that bundle Oman together with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain in a single "visit visa to work visa in 2026" claim. Those five countries have five different systems, and the pooled version is where the phantom dates come from.
The same disqualifier applies here as everywhere in Gulf content: a page that mentions MOHRE, Tas-heel, Qiwa, Absher, ICP or GDRFA is not describing Oman, whatever the headline says.
What no official source publishes
- No decision number for the May 2021 conversion amendment, the November 2023 withdrawal of it, or the 29 July 2021 Ministry of Labour decision listing the six no-consent transfer situations. All three exist only at announcement level.
- No official Omani page states that a No Objection Certificate is no longer required. The proposition is an inference from the replacement of Article 24, and the Royal Oman Police pages still ask for a release letter.
- No official published list of the six no-consent scenarios anywhere on mol.gov.om or gov.om.
- No published appeal route beyond the MD 270/2018 windows — 60 days for the worker's objection, six months for the employer's cancellation request — and no statement of what happens if a report is lifted.
- No published guidance on how the 50% cap in MD 730/2024 is measured, and nothing on the Ministry's service pages describing how it is validated.
Do you still need an NOC to change employer in Oman?
Was the two-year ban on returning to Oman abolished?
How much does it cost to transfer a worker to a new employer?
Can my current employer refuse to release me?
Can an absconding report be cancelled?
Can I convert a visit visa or family joining visa into a work permit in Oman?
If you are the incoming employer, the practical work is confirming the outgoing side is clean before you commit to a start date: no live absconding report, no unpaid fines on the old licence, and a documented end to the previous contract. A Sanad office can run the transfer transaction and tell you within minutes whether the file will move.