Moving to Muscat

Hi, I'm newbie here. I'm engineer, Indonesian, married with 2 kids, 5 and 6 y.o. My husband is working with on-off schedule to Nizwa. I'll move to Muscat at around May 2014, i will work with PDO. I have several questions related to the household; 1. Is it easy to get a maid? How much is the salary nowadays? 2. I want to get driving license as soon as we arrive, i heard that it's difficult to get it at the 1st pass, some people took the test almost 3-6 times! any tips for this? 3. I'm very nervous on moving to Muscat, i leave my comfort zone to gather my family at the same place. I know it's not gonna be easy at first but I believe that we'll make it after all. Anyone wants to share the experience on first time expat like me? I think that's all for now. I'll write again anytime soon. Best regards, Ratih

enjoy ur stay in oman ..all the best

Hi there As now we are getting closer to July and saying goodbye to Dubai, I am getting both excited and nervous at the same time.The good news is I have already had an interview for a great job... The worrying bit is I am still looking for furniture and also looking for a nanny to look after my 9 year old son from 2 to 4pm which would be after school (if I get the job). I know no one in Muscat so would be grateful if you can direct me. Warm regards

Thank you, this is very helpful. I will just get it tested and will decide then.

Hi Amigo, I'm afraid I can't help with advice about whether or not you should sell your car. We simply did it because the maths added up. We also had a 2006 model but we'd paid for an extended service warranty which expired early in 2012 and we had to actually pay for a service shortly before we moved to Muscat. When we bought our new car we also paid for an extended service warranty which will cover the next five years - not particularly cheap but it does mean it will be serviced at a dealership with 'real' parts and, in the event of an accident, repairs will also be carried out at that dealership. When we went to get Omani plates for our old car and it had to be tested at the Registration centre the ROP test engineer asked my husband if we were selling it and actually gave him his phone number! (At this point I should point out that our old car had extremely low mileage - no school runs in Dubai, we're both retired so work runs either.) The other thing to point out is that car dealerships are all monopolies, just as they are in the UAE. We were going to part exchange our old Toyota for the new one and had to take it to their main dealership in Al Wattaya to be valued. They gave us an absolutely rubbish valuation and we sold it privately (not to the ROP test engineer!) for 20per cent more (and that was after the buyer had it valued himself before buying it). I'm sorry not to be more help. If you're thinking of buying a new car perhaps you should look at prices in Dubai versus prices in Muscat. Where cars are concerned things do seem to be more expensive. This may explain the massive number of cars on UAE (especially Dubai and Sharjah) export plates which can be seen parked up all the way down to Muscat on the way from Dubai.

Thanks debliz I still have plenty of time to do this. However I am still wondering if it would be better to sell my car as it is 2006 make and buy a new one from Muscat. I will probably live 5 to 10 minutes away from BSM . Is it worth buying a new one? My car is in a very good condition and I love it.

Hi Amigo, I'm afraid you'll have to go through the same process as us. You will have to de-register your car in Dubai and get export plates and insurance for the time your export plates are valid. This period can vary from seven days upwards. You can't simply drive your car to the border crossing and do the process there. With regards to import duty when bringing your car into Oman the Omani customs officers impose a rate taking into account of the age of your car which, when we sold our car just a little time after importing it into Oman, was a fair rate. As I said we thought it was going to be a daunting process but it all turned out to be relatively easy. Just keep every little bit of paperwork you need with you and, if you have time, several photocopies, too.

Hi We are moving from Dubai to Muscat this summer. I just read below your comments about exporting your car. I was under the impression that I need a certificate from the car agency declaring that the car was bought in the UAE and just drive to the boarders and request an export process. Is this correct? is the tax/charges to do this depends on the model or price of the car or is it a flat rate? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks

I suspect that you have your visa approvals, not the actual visas but I may well be wrong. If this is the case you're going to have to to Immigration opposite the airport to get the actual visa stamped in your passports and to get your ID cards which will involve being finger printed and having a photo taken for your ID card. It's a case of going between the various buildings at Immigration to get everything done. PDO should have a PRO (or two as women have to go to a separate section to hand in the visa approval slip and pay for the visa, get the receipt and then go to the general office where the visa is stamped) to help you through all this and hopefully it will take you less than the four hours and a bit more it took us to do it on our own. Your ID card and civil number is really invaluable here in Oman. It ties everything together - driving licence, alcohol licence, car registration, residency, internet, mobile phone, bank account etc.

Having thought a bit further about your question I'd suggest that you fly to Oman and collect your visas and do whatever is necessary re ID card, driving licences, insurance for your cars and finding your home and then fly back to Dubai and sort out exporting your cars to Oman. I'm guessing that your visas will be cancelled when your husband's job finishes so you'll have the statutory 30 days to leave the UAE or change your status (that's what the form says which is added to your passport and means get another visa or leave for good). So, when you leave the UAE, either by road or plane you will have completed the process of cancelling your UAE visa on a permanent basis. This will make it even more important that you have Omani Residency, Omani ID, driving licences & car insurance etc before this happens As I see it the main thing is that your have your cars insured to be driven in Oman. (This also assumes that you own the cars outright and have no loans against them in the UAE.) Re the question about your dogs - sorry have no idea - but would think that probably by air. On the more than 35 plus crossings we've made at the border at Hatta the only dogs we've seen have been ROP dogs sniffing the suitcases of passengers on the Oman Bus service between UAE and Oman. Best wishes for a happy new year to your and your family and hope that, when you get to Muscat, you enjoy it as much as we do.

Quote ... our visa's are ready to be collected at the customs desk at Oman airport - but my husband is going to see if we can have that changed to the hatta border so we can drive across. If this is the case, I suppose we would need to drive over first on Dubai plates and then in a few weeks come back to Dubai and sort out the export plates and drive back across? Unquote You say that your visas are ready to be collected at the airport. Do you mean that your visa approval forms are ready to be collected or that your visas have already been issued and just need to be stamped in your passports? Have you all been finger printed and have you all been photographed, given civil numbers so that ID cards can be issued? If you can answer this then perhaps I can help further.

Everything you want to get done regarding registering your car, getting driving licence, telephone or computer connection in your home, alcohol licence etc is going to be dependent upon having residency and ID card. As we still have UAE residency we have kept our UAE driving licences and when we went for our Oman driving licences gave them our UK driving licence photocards. Be aware that passport sized photos for your Omani Driving licence have to have a blue background. My suggestion would be to have several passport sized photos taken with white and blue backgrounds. Anyway ... Once you have residency and ID cards: If you decide to export your car then you'll have to go the Testing & Registration Centre opposite the airport to get your car tested and get Oman plates. If you're approaching the airport from PDO on the highway take the airport exit but rather than go into the airport stay in the left hand lanes and carry on across the highway and down towards the Bank Muscat building. (As an aside this is the route you'll have to take when you have to get your residency visas. The PDO PRO will probably be with you throughout this but if not then when you cross over the highway stay in the right hand lanes and as you approach the Bank Muscat Building stay right which will lead you to a R/A. Go across that roundabout to the next roundabout and take the exit before you turn back on yourselves. This will take you to the Immigration Department - the largest building you'll see on the right.) Anyway back to the vehicle registration and driving licence question ... If you're approaching the airport from PDO on the highway take the airport exit but rather than go into the airport stay in the left hand lanes and carry on across the highway and down towards the Bank Muscat building. Again stay in the right hand lane and you'll have to bear right. At the first r/a go right, go across the r/a by the petrol station and the vehicle registration and driving licence offices are some way down this road on the right hand side once you've passed the Golden Tulip hotel. We are fortunate enough still to have both UAE and Omani residence visas which has allowed us to get things sorted out in our own time. I hope that the information we've provided is helpful. It may, however, be of use if you put your questions on the Dubai forum. We've noticed quite a few cars around lately in our neighbourhood with Dubai export plates ... you never know, some of them could be related to Expat Women users.

Hi there AussiePup - just seen your post. We moved here from Dubai in June 2012 although in rather different circumstances. We're both retired and our UAE visas were first obtained as we had bought a property at Arabian Ranches and we were sponsored by Emaar. When this option ran out our UAE resident visas were obtained by virtue of setting up a freezone company (a somewhat expensive option) but at least it allowed us to live in our home in Dubai until we got residence in Oman for the home which we'd bought and finally paid for in December 2010. It took nearly 18 months to get our residency here in Oman but that is because we are part of the new wave of people who, as expats, are allowed to buy freehold property on Integrated Touriism Developments. At the moment we both hold UAE and Oman residence visas and UAE driving licences. All of the above is background to what is to follow. 4) + 5) We exported our car from Dubai to Muscat. We were dreading it, thought it would be a nightmare but actually it was pretty straightforward. First step was to go to Bur Dubai Police at interchange 4 on SZR which was nearest to us at AR (its actually not in Bur Dubai at all but on the SZR by Mall of the Emirates). Thought we'd have to get the car tested but, as it had been tested in May we were told this wasn't necessary. Parked up, took off our registration plates and went into the office and inside on the right is an express service desk - love these. For, I think, AED170 they filled out the forms, took our car registration plates and arranged for the export plates to be fitted. In the meantime we had to go the insurance office around the corner to get insurance to drive on the export plates as normal insurance doesn't apply once on export plates. Can't remember how much this cost - perhaps AED100. Drove the car around the back of the offices and had the export plates fixed to the car and that part was done. When driving through to Muscat a few days' later we parked up at Hatta to get our exit stamps and there was a police car next to where we parked. One of the officers obviously picked up that we had export plates and asked to see the export papers, driving licences and passports - he was charming and I guess he was just making sure that we hadn't picked up any parking, speeding fines or whatever before the car left the country. He told us that we'd have to get insurance for the car (even though our AXA insurance covered us to drive in Oman but this was only valid on the Dubai insurance, not for export) and we got this at the Dhofar Insurance office just before you get to the Omani Customs centre between Hatta and Wajaja - opposite the petrol station. Can't quite remember how much this was but it wasn't a great deal. As you get to the Oman Customs checkpoint there's a coffee shop on the left. Try and park up somewhere before you get to the place where they check your car. Go into the coffee shop and get your export papers, insurance and any other papers you can think of ready. The guy in the shop knows what needs to be photocopied and will do it for you. Then proceed to the customs checkpoint. The officer there will take the photocopies (and probably ask to look at the originals) and direct you to park in an area off to the right. He or another officer will then come and check the car - see what's in the boot. We'd had a major shopping trip in Dubai (Dyson hoover included) and he laughed and said "been shopping have you?". Once this was done, and it only took a couple of minutes, Mr H was directed to a building behind us. He went in, with all the paperwork and, as is his wont, looked lost and confused. Within a minute or so an Omani gentleman asked if he could help. MrH explained and gave him the paperwork and was taken to one of the desks. Everything at this stage is done in Arabic - all the paperwork - so the help was invaluable. (Some people have gone to the trouble of getting the import duty certificate before exporting their cars - from what I've seen on various forums most have still had to pay import duty at Customs when bringing their cars into Oman. We didn't bother with getting the certificate as we were sure that we'd have to pay import duty anyway. Ours was a seven year old Landcruiser and I think we had to pay around AED2,000 or so.) This latter stage at the Omani Customs took around 20 minutes and that was it. We'd exported our car. There is a bit more help we can give but, I'm sorry, it's late and I need my bed. Will continue tomorrow. If you're even half as happy as we are when you move here then I'm sure you'll be very happy!