Job Discussion Forums

[carnac]

Hi, all. I know there was a discussion of NOCs some time ago, but I can't find it. Writing on behalf of a friend who has switched from MinEd to a college connected w/ MinManpower. Problems getting an NOC from MinEd. I thought this had changed and that NOCs were no longer needed. Does anyone have accurate and up-to-date info?
Thanks...//c

[Stephen Jones]

deleted by poster

[veiledsentiments]

What would Saudi labor law have to do with Oman?

[Stephen Jones]

deleted by poster

[veiledsentiments]

For some reason the little X isn't there... maybe the MODS can do it if they are around...

VS

[wildfire]

well this news isnt actually so new.
but here it is ..

you no longer need a NOC even if you are an Indian or otherwise mechanic, cleaner etc...

NO NO NO NOC ..

it has been quietly effective for the past year.

I know there is no NOC.

I am a realiable source of information. TRUST ME lol..seriously.

If u ring a governement agency etc...they arent necessaryily going to OFFER U THIS INFO.

So for ALL TEACHERS WORKING FOR HORRIBLE SPONSERS..or at least SERIOUSLY HORRIBLE SPONSERS where LIFE is unbearable and the town you live in feels like the end of the earth. THEN GET OUT !!!!

You have to resign properlly. Keep quiet that u are seeking another job.
Then u get your VISA cancelled as per the norm. Either fly from Muscat to Dubai (Air Arabia cheapo flights) or drive up to the Oman-UAE border and then turn around and drive back in on a tourist visa until your new company sponsers u.

I know cause i have done it.

NO NOC NO NOC Slavery is abolished in OMAN well, at least in terms of 'NOC - dom'

bravo to the government of Oman abolishing this horrible NOC policy.



oh your employer wont tell u cause they dont want teachers JUMPING SHIP en masse...get it..!

good luck and to all the SERIOUSLY HORRIBLE SPONSERS out there...well pull up your socks mate...you deserve to lose good teachers.

[Aliskander]

I have the same info - although i have not actually done it. However i was told that it was only effective if you had completed your contract - not 100% sure on that bit though.

Cool answer and post!

[wildfire]

you do not need to complete your contract other wise
the whole thing would be a bit of a double standard. As some
companies have even three year contracts !

The idea is that NOC is a loose form of slavery. If you dont promise to work for ONE company you will be PUNISHED by being BANNED for two years. Now that the economy has stabilized and the government is going to join the WHO. This is one of the requirements they must do.

As long as you give proper notice according to the OMAN LABOUR LAW,
and stamp OUT ie: have your VISA cancelled you can turn back around and come back in as a tourist.

But legally you should not work as a tourist. Although you could LOOK for work.

[kanterbrau]

Wildfire is quite correct with regard to NOC's or Release Letters or whatever they call them these days. I spoke to a student of mine, an Omani government employee, about this some months ago and he dismissed the idea out of hand.

When I worked for Hawthorn a year or so back there was much talk of the "You'll never work in this town again" variety - really just another way of making sure that we all remained "good little slaves".

Thanks to wildfire for explaining the "escape route" - no excuses now for putting up with unsatisfactory employers.


Good Luck.

[wildfire]

Welcome.

I think there is not enough sharing of information in the TEFL world.
Many of us think OTHERS will snag the good contracts or the few positions at the highest paid places.

In reality, we are ONE. All outsiders.

I remember when I first heard about this back last December 2005 !!!
And by January I had heard it in several circles even from the guys at the local shops, who said Indians were now free to change jobs etc... And I was so suspicious about why OUR employer and DOS didn't freely supply us with this information.

Because they knew we were or at least some of us wanted to change work places for different reasons. Me being one of them LOL.

I dug further and found out most of the details I could and then I actually DID IT.

I resigned, with the adequate notice, and had my VISA cancelled, and came back in the SAME DAY as a tourist.

As a tourist I crashed at my friends place and signed a new contract within a week. Then left to Dubai. Was flown in by the new company who now sponsers me.

My tickets are all to my HOME country of course, it is just that I left and came right back as I wanted to work and take my break during EID.


I do know the INFAMOUS people or PERSONS whom you refer to at Hawthorn. LOL. The Muscat party scene (amongst teachers and others who know the education scene) do too. Funny how they keep their jobs and their power.

I don't recommend HAWTHORN or any place associated with it to ANYONE, except my worst enemy.


Threats and belittlement are not NORMAL in the GULF so don't believe it. There are many decent employers, they will never meet Western standards but no developing country will.

The TEFL world is full of bizarro characters and gosh...the teachers rank as some of the most bizarro I have ever met anywhere lol.

After working in TEFL I have started to wonder if all people where really this strange and if is just that in the expat world we spend an inordinate amount of time with one another, and we all come from different parts of the world and different parts of similar countries...


I don't know why in TEFL so many Brits think it is normal to REAK of alcohol then come to work? In other countries you would be fired.

But in TEFL-mania ....you are more normal than the healthiest person on the campus.

well...enough of all that. Yes QUIT the bad employer but don't bad mouth him or her to others professionally anyway... keep it to chinese whispers.
We ALL know...at least those of us who have been around do.

The rest are still paying their dues .LOL.

[carnac]

Thanks very much for replies. So, from this, am I correct in passing along the advice that:
- First, you resign properly,
- Then, you fly out/fly back with cancelled/new visa, and
- Last, start new job with no problems?

(The fly out/fly back thing seems really stupid to me, but what do I know...)

[veiledsentiments]

I think that is the only way to get the visa canceled. I don't believe they would enter a new visa if the old one was still valid. But, I'm not sure why one couldn't drive out and back... perhaps those border posts can't cancel visas. Something to look into before you try it.

VS

[carnac]

Since I first posted the question, I found an easy solution to the entire question, but thanks for all the replies and opinions.
For anyone in a similar situation, the simple answer is to have an Omani friend with wasta.
If anyone tells you something can't be done, it's not true. You just need wasta.
With wasta, the world becomes much more simple.
Actually, now that I think about it, the number one rule in Oman is: have wasta. Borrow wasta. Steal wasta.
I made one phone call on behalf of my friend, and all the problems magically went away. He made a call to the appropriate person.
Wasta.
Expats trying to get things done on their own? It's a wasta time. (sorry)
Some of my friends went to the appropriate office to get their officially-mandated new ID card and spent hours in long lines, with the usual frustrations and obfuscations by clerical dweebs. When I went for mine, an Omani friend (with big wasta) accompanied me. I was in and out in less than 20 minutes.
As usual, it's not what you know, it's who you know.

[dmb]

[veiledsentiments]

Wasta is certainly good to have in the ME, but it is not as though it isn't just as useful back home. ... just look at politics in the US...

And it is not completely all powerful even in Oman. To give an example, it used to be impossible for a woman to get a road pass for the stretch of highway between the border post and Buraimi - thus making it impossible for a single woman to go by car or even bus from Oman to the Emirates. I had a high wasta private student who insisted that this wasn't true... so he went to his boss, the Minister of Information, who also insisted that this couldn't be true and he would get me one within the week. The Minister himself called me to apologize that I was correct and it was impossible... and that he was unable to even find out why such a silly law was on the books.

Strangely, it was perfectly fine for me to drive that stretch of road once I moved to the Emirates, and the Omani Embassy in Abu Dhabi just stamped it right into my passport without even a blink.

By the time I returned to Oman in 1999, the law had been changed... most likely related to the expansion of tourism. But, there is no question that wasta is a useful commodity wherever and whenever one can get it.

VS