Royal Oman Police stations across the nation are providing the services

Muscat: Not just the directorates, the Royal Oman Police (ROP) stations across the nation are providing the services. The service seekers have time till July 15 to complete their pending works, so no need to rush, said an official from ROP.

Speaking to the Observer, Maj Mudhar al Mazrui, Directorate of Development, Royal Oman Police, said expatriates do not have to go to the immigration offices for renewal of their residential cards as the procedure can be completed by the public relations officer of the company or the sponsor.

Currently, people are going to centers for renewal of a driving license, car registration, renewal of passports and ID cards, and documentation, etc.

“Some of the services are available online through our application and website. So we are inviting the public to use these facilities and avoid the crowd, especially to renew their registration as well as their visa if they are expatriates with the help of Sanad offices in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Manpower. They can complete most of the papers at Sanad offices so they have to spend less time at the ROP service centers,” explained Maj. Al Mazrui.

Because the fingerprints are already stored in the system, the PRO of the organisations can finalise the documentation of residence cards for expatriates noted Maj. Al Mazrui.

The transfer of visit visas to family visa status is already under operation for the time being due to Coronavirus, he said, adding, “There are no international flights so we understand the situation. Accordingly, we need to legalise their stay. The Sanad office can complete most of the documentation and the rest can be done at the ROP centre.” He said the same procedure can be applied for children who have crossed their age limit – either renew it as a visit visa or convert into a family joining visa. “We know they do not have other options as the airports and borders are closed,” he said.

When asked about the challenges faced by the Royal Oman Police since the opening up of the services, Major Al Mazrui said, “We know the service center has been closed for almost four months. We expected the crowd. There is no need to do all the documentation now. We know they are afraid of the fines but the fine has been postponed until July 15. So there won’t be any fine for delay or for not possessing any of the documentation.

There are a lot of service centers and all people have to do is choose the right time and center, if I am to give you an example of Muscat there are service centers but we see a lot of people crowding at Mabela as well as Al Amerat Service centers. If they want to finalise documents they can go to Al Khodh Police Station opposite Sultan Qaboos University or Azaiba Police Station. There are many other locations but people want to go to the service centers where they live. But 20 km away there is another center. So people should choose the right location and time – what is important is to keep in mind your safety and others around you.”

Most of the police stations have service centers. “In Muscat, we have 11 police stations and most of them have service centers such as in Al Khodh, Azaiba, Al Amerat, Mabela, Quriyat for example. They are providing all the services that are given by ROP such as renewal of a driving license, vehicle registration, renewal of passports, and ID\ Residence cards. So, people do not have to go directly to the Directorates of Traffic, Passports and Civil Affairs. This is not the case in Muscat alone but all the governorates of the Sultanate,” he explained.