Muscat: More than 65,000 expatriates living in Oman have left the country in one year, Times of Oman reported quoting a data from National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
With the government moving swiftly with its Omanisation policies and implementing stringent work visa regulations, the total number of expatriates living in Oman decreased by 65,397 between May 2018 and May 2019, dropping to just 2,017,432.

Interestingly, Oman’s expatriate workforce has also fallen, from 1,854,880 people in May 2018 to 1,787,447 this year.

Ban on 87 job roles 
In January 2018, the government imposed a six month ban on hiring expatriates in 87 job roles.
The ban was further extended in July 2018 and again in February 2019. The Ministry of Manpower had made plans to provide 25,000 jobs to Omani jobseekers and that target was met within the first six months of the ban. 

As of the end of 2018, Oman’s private sector had provided more than 40,000 jobs to local jobseekers with a further 27,000 Omanis hired in the private sector between January and May 2019.