Job Discussion Forums

[spillthebeans]

A friend of mine was asking about how to independently cancel her Omani work visa at Muscat Airport. She's considering leaving mid-contract, and going to another GCC country to work. In order to do this, she'll have to do a "runner". She has her passport and resident card in hand. There is a counter at Muscat Airport where a work visa can be cancelled, and it's better to cancel it before leaving. Normally this is done with a representative--a PRO--of your sponsor present, and then they pack you off (so charming). My question is can she cancel the visa herself without the PRO present? How long does this take? Apparently, large numbers of people do this every day, but what are the pitfalls if any? Have any of you done this? I understand she will face a ban from working in Oman for a period, but she doesn't care about that because she'll be working elsewhere for as least as long. Thanks for any info.

[grahamb]

Why should she want to cancel the visa if she's not bothered about being banned from working in Oman? She won't be the first to do a runner and certainly not the last.

[veiledsentiments]

Exactly... if she is doing a runner, what does she care... since she wants to screw over her employer, this allows her to double it. It will tie up that labor card. I've never heard of anyone cancelling their own. When I left the last time - with proper notice - the employer rep didn't show in time, so I just left. I then mailed the labor card back to them.

The UAE won't care whether she has an uncancelled Omani work visa in her passport or not... just as Oman didn't care that I had an uncancelled Kuwait visa in mine.

VS

[spillthebeans]

Cancelling the visa and resident card immediately frees up the visa slot which may otherwise be tied up for a period--the said person's original deployment was delayed for exactly this reason.

Also, if you have a "live" GCC resident card it has been said that this may cause a problem when applying for another resident card in the next GCC country. I'm not sure if this is the case. Of course, mailing the resident card back to her employer would presumably solve that one.

It's always better to leave a job properly after giving notice, and I'm not trying to encourage people to run off, even though it's a common enough occurrence in the hire/fire Gulf.