Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

Hi all,
we go to Oman quite often, and always get the visas at the border. On quite a few occasions, when it is busy, the queues have been hideous. I know one can get visas in advance from the Omani embassy - but does anyone know if these then enable one to skip the queues? Or do they still make you queue up with all the people needing visas (as I was once told is what happens)?
thanks.

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

No idea mate. I'd imagine the 2 trips to the Oman embassy would be the same or more amount of time than at the border, but I guess if you have a PRO from work that can do the running without you attending, then it may save some time.

My money would be on you still having to queue though.

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

The embassy is close to us, and twice we've had queues of over 3 hours at the border, so worth trying if someone can confirm that one doesn't nevertheless still have to get out and join the hordes of visas-on-arrival people... But would definitely prefer to hear from someone who has tried this!

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

You're better just picking a quieter border post or going at a time likely to not be as busy. Last few times I have been through it was a 15 min stop.

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

I don't have that choice, hence my question. I've had many long queues...

Still, I guess no-one has tried this from the lack of comments so far!

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

I can't say with any certainty but I would guess that you wouldn't have to queue if you already have your visas in your passports. If I were you I would just head straight ahead (don't turn into the car park in front of the main building) and look for the green lights indicating 'open' immigration windows. Present your passports, open at the visa page (or stick a piece of paper on that page - which will be blithely ignored) and see what happens. All they can do is send you back into the car park to join everyone else.

Good luck and enjoy!

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

Going to be interesting to see how slow the lanes get when GCC nationals forget to get visas online before heading to the border.

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

Do GCC Nationals even need visas for GCC travel?

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

1.5 million expatriate residents of Oman... Not 1.5million Oman Nationals.

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

Yeah, this one is different. The first article I remember reading, that I can't find anymore, stated nationals. I think it was removed due to errors.

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

We used to get one year multiple entry visas for Oman a couple of years ago. We just filled in the paperwork, dropped our passports at the Oman embassy and picked them up a few hours later.

Then at the border crossings we would stay in the car and drive up to the windows, couple of stamps, job done. No need to park and go into the building, it saved so much time.

Re: Oman visit - getting visas in advance?
 

Sue_M, thank you very much for that. You're the first person to actually confirm that it does enable one to avoid the inside queues. We've had such long queues (inside the building) on our past few crossings that it has really put us off going again.