Hello all,

So I finally arrived in Muscat last week, to formally start work with my new employer and get some admin done.

Im now back in the UK for a couple of weeks and am looking to set up my Oman bank account. I managed to get my residents visa and residents card before I left so am wondering how much of this procedure can be done whilst I’m in the UK? The banking team will be calling later, but will I be able to do it all from here or will I have to wait until I’m back in Muscat?

clearly, I can’t get paid until I open an account, so am keen to make this happen ASAP!

Cheers in advance,

David

Thanks for the reply :)

Yes, I had read as much online when researching, so was surprised when the woman at the bank said it could be possibly done over here; my experience of administrative procedures in Oman so far has consisted of lots of photo and fingerprint taking, so I assume this to be the same!

I agree with asgjlx, you will have to open your HSBC account here in Muscat. HSBC Middle East is a completely different entity to all other HSBC groups and is ‘ring fenced’ in that, even if you have other HSBC accounts, none can see any information about your other accounts.

When we moved here and were setting things up we were always armed with several colour photocopies of a) our passports, b) the visa page in our passport, c) our residence/ID card. Sometimes they were needed, sometimes they weren’t, and sometimes, even if they were needed they wouldn’t accept our photocopies and would make their own (HSBC is a case in point but take your own photocopies anyway). The

youre brave! BM used to divide instead of multiply when I did currency conversions, and when I challenged and they converted back they would do it at a different rate, losing me money!