MUSCAT:Companies committed to an Omanisation policy will be able to fast-track visas for expat workers, under a new government scheme, Times of Oman reported.

Quoting Chairman of Oman Chamber of Commerce, the English daily reported that more than 300 private sector companies already have met the criteria to receive the new priority service, named the Work Environment Measurement Card Al Majeedah, with all its benefits, including receiving permits for expat workers within 24 hours.

The initiative is part of Tanfeedh’s programme which aims to diversify the economy and enhance the attractiveness of the private sector to Omani citizens. “The benefits of the Majeedah card provide good incentives for companies to Omanise and become more appealing to the Omani labour force,” the English daily quoted Qais Al Yosuf, Chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce, as saying.

“There are already 300 companies at Grade One or above that fulfil the criteria required for these benefits, and we hope to expand it to smaller companies in the future,” added Al Yosuf.

Full-framework
On Monday, March 25 HE Al Yosuf, met with companies of Grade One and above to present to them the full framework of the Majeedah card.

Zaher Al Shamsi, Director of Companies of Excellence at the Ministry of Manpower, said, “The Majeedah card used to have two incentives related to the speed of handling paperwork. Now, we have added eight new benefits. One of them is to approve requests for 20 or fewer employees without transferring the request to the employment department.

“This means that the requests will be approved automatically at once. At most, you will go into the office and 5-10 minutes later, you will have your approval for employee permits.”

“You will also be able to have under 50 temporary expatriate employees without having to bring in the contract , which used to be the case.”

Al Shamsi explained that, as long as their Omanisation rate remained above requirements, a company was free to replace employees without having to present an Omanisation plan. In addition, the limit on the number of managers allowed was being completely removed, leaving business free to appoint as many as they wish.

Furthermore, according to Al Shamsi, expat permits will be allowed even if a previous request for permits has not been exhausted.

Simon Karam Head of the initiative said, “It used to be that if you requested 200 employees and only brought in 150, you would not be able to request more unless you’ve filled out these 200 positions. Now, this limitation has been removed.”

Simon Karam added that these guidelines were presented after six weeks of planning. “We know that banks and the oil and gas sector are more attractive to Omanis. The question was why, and how could we make it so that other sectors can be just as attractive. This is where this plan comes from. Currently, it is only for Grade One companies, but we are working on other guidelines for Grade Two and Grade Three companies.”