Omani expatriates look to life after they retire from the workforce

Sayyed Hassan, 56, left Syria to work as a schoolteacher in Oman when he was 26 years old. Now, after 30 years of service to the country’s education system, he believes he has earned the right to Omani citizenship.

Mr Hassan, whose three adult children were all born in Oman, says Muscat feels like home.

“Three decades in Oman. That’s a lifetime,” Mr Hassan, who was born in Damascus, told The National. “I worked only two years in my country but 30 years here.

“All my students are now working and contributing to the economy, some of them as senior managers and government officials. But I am still considered a Syrian teacher. How I wish I could be granted citizenship as a recognition for my long contribution.”

Mr Hassan is not the only longtime expatriate in Oman who wants to be rewarded with citizenship for their contributions to society. Mohammed Taufiq, an Egyptian living in Muscat, has spent his entire career working in Oman, but in two years he faces the prospect of having to leave.

“I came here in 1984 when I was only 24 to work as an oil and gas engineer,” Mr Taufiq said. “I got married here and my wife and I raised four children here.

“But I am now 58 years of age and two years from now I will have to leave the country because I will have reached the age of retirement.

“My entire career has been spent here, as well as most of my life. It would be a nice reward for my dedication to this country if I could get citizenship so I could stay in Oman for the rest of my life.”

Oman requires all employers to end the contracts of foreign workers when they reach the retirement age of 60.

Retired parents are not permitted to gain residency as dependents of their working children.

Expats wishing to remain in Oman can buy a property, enabling them to obtain a “investor residence” visa.

Male and female foreign nationals can be granted citizenship but only if they have been married to an Omani national for a minimum of 20 years and lived in the country for 20 years.

Some expats regard the law on citizenship to be unfair. “I have to get married to an Omani and stay married to an Omani for 20 years to get Omani citizenship,” said Abduljabber Hameed, 54, an Indian financial consultant.

“I am here working for 27 years, so why is my contribution to the development of the country not considered?

“I am more an Omani than an Indian national simply because have I lived here more than in my country. Why can Oman not consider that?”

Mr Hameed, who lives in Oman with his wife and two children, is determined to retire in Muscat before he reaches the age of 60 by buying a property.

“This is the only way my wife and I can stay in the country we love so much,” he said.

“We saved enough to buy an apartment, which we are going to do in the next couple of years.”

But Omani law only grants residency to married couples who own property in the country and their children below the age of 18, something that has posed a problem for Australian computer engineer Harry Tomlinson and his family.

“The next best thing if an expatriate cannot get citizenship after years of hard work in this country is to buy a property,” said Mr Tomlinson, 59, who lives in Muscat.

“But we have a 19-year old son and a 17-year old daughter. Our son needed to get a university visa where he studies to stay with us and our daughter next year must leave or get a job to be with us.”

“It is quite frustrating because it splits up the family. Citizenship would have solved that problem.”

He urged the government to change the law to allow longtime expats to apply for citizenship.

“Allowing citizenship to long-serving expatriates would open the doors for experts such as doctors, scientists, academics and entrepreneurs to improve the economy,” Mr Tomlinson said.

One resident says that allowing long-time guest workers to take Omani citizenship would open doors for more doctors, scientists and academics