Dear Ladies,
dear Debliz (who has provided most the input for this in earlier threads),
since I and my family are moving to Muscat in May and plan on importing our car, I have just put together a list of the required steps as I could gather from previous threads here and on other forums. Please check if I got something wrong or if this mirrors your experience. And if you are also relocating, please use this info :-)
Thank you so much and hope to touch base in Muscat soon!
Ciao, Mai
Visa
1)Obtain Oman Visa approval forms
2)Cancel UAE visa -> 30 days to leave the country
3)Enter Oman by air
4)Go to Immigration Department 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
5)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 -> approx 1 hour
6)Obtain Omani Residency, Omani ID with Civil numbers,
7)Obtain Omani driving licences -> give home country driving license rather than UAE driving license, need photos with blue background for that
Car de-registration in UAE and Export
8)Obtain Omani car insurance –> before the vehicle is there? Best to switch from UAE to Omani branch of the same vehicle insurance?
9)Fly back to UAE
10)Clear loans at the bank if applicable
11)go to Bur Dubai Police at interchange 4 on SZR
12)have car tested if necessary (after how much time since last test?)
13)pay parking or speeding fines if any
14)Park at Police Station, take off registration plates, go inside express service desk. They fill out the forms, take car registration plates and arrange for the export plates to be fitted -> approx. AED170
15)In the meantime go to 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 -> Approx AED100
16)Get the export plates fixed to the car
17)Park at Hatta border crossing leaving UAE to get our exit stamps
18)If police sees export plates, they want to see the export papers, driving licences and passports - making sure there are no uncleared parking, speeding fines or whatever before the car left the country
Car Import
19)At Dhofar Insurance office just before you get to the Omani Customs centre between Hatta and Wajaja - opposite the petrol station - get insurance for the car (even though UAE insurance may cover to drive in Oman, it does not cover for export)
20)As you get to the Oman Customs checkpoint there's a coffee shop on the left. 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
21)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
22)Go to the Omani Customs building as directed, with all the paperwork and, if possible, get help from someone with Arabic language proficiency. Take the paperwork to one of the desks for import duty as per valuation table (seven year old Landcruiser approx. AED2,000).
23)(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.
24)This latter stage at the Omani Customs took around 20 minutes and that was it. We'd exported our car.
Car registration in Oman
25)Vehicle registration and driving licence offices are opposite the airport some way down on the right hand side once you've passed the Golden Tulip hotel
26)first get full insurance (if possible with same insurance company as in UAE which can confirm with UAE branch that there are no open claims) -> or see point 8 before importing the car?
27)Testing & Registration Centre opposite the airport to get your car tested and get Oman plates
28)get a ticket at the Vehicle Registering complex opposite the airport, go to the desk and get told to have the car tested
29)to the testing area, pass the test, then back to the first office and get another ticket
30)get paper work done, pay and receive registration card
31)Then off to the place where they make the number plates, take the car and plates to the area where a couple of very helpful gentlemen fitted them to the car -> or take your own tools?
32)Apparently registration can be done much faster (if you already have your insurance in place) on Al Nahdah Road where all the big garage/sales centres are if you go early in the morning
