ROP stops visas for domestic workers from five African countries

Muscat: Royal Oman Police (ROP) has stopped issuing visas for domestic workers from a number of African countries.
"Domestic workers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Guinea and Cameroon will not be able to get a visa for domestic jobs in Oman," a circular issued by the ROP on Sunday says. “The decision came into effect on January 31,” the circular added.
Rashid Al Abri, a senior officer at the ROP, told Times of Oman that the decision was taken to prevent the chance of some diseases spreading to the Sultanate from such countries.
“This decision was taken sometime back but approved recently,” said Al Abri.
He, however, said that domestic workers already living in Oman can renew their contracts with their employers.
New visas for domestic workers from these countries, however, have been completely stopped as also transfer of such workers between sponsors.
According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information’s (NCSI) December statistics, the total number of expatriate workers in Oman is 1,636,038 and those living with their families numbered 262,196, including 141,763 female workers.
There were 24,009 Ethiopian workers until the end of December.
However, the details of the number of Kenyan, Guinean, Cameroonian and Senegal workers in Oman are not available yet.