Oman’s Golden Residency has drawn roughly 56,000 applications since its August relaunch, averaging about 5,500 applications a month through the first five months of 2026. Processing has not yet begun and is expected to start in the third quarter, with approvals expected within the following three months.
Around 70% of applicants already live in Oman as expatriates, according to economy ministry figures cited by AGBI. The largest source nationalities are India, the United Kingdom and Egypt. That suggests much of the demand is coming from existing residents converting into long-term status rather than from a large wave of new arrivals.
The application surge came during a turbulent period for the Gulf. The 2026 Iran war weakened the region’s safety premium, while the UAE evacuated stranded golden visa holders and reportedly revoked permits for Iranian residents. Oman was less affected by the conflict, making its residency program appear comparatively stable.
What changed in the relaunch
Oman already had a residence-by-investment program before the 2025 relaunch. The August 31 relaunch repackaged the existing program rather than creating an entirely new one.
Anastasia Barna, chief executive of One World Migration, said the program “is not new” and had already existed before the recent marketing push. According to her, Oman changed the presentation, started marketing it more actively and made some adjustments.
The main changes were:
- an international marketing mandate;
- a digital application portal operated by Migrate World;
- clearer family inclusion rules;
- largely unchanged investment criteria.
Practitioners who reviewed the official portal said the core investment requirements remained mostly intact.
Permit terms and investment routes
The program centers on a ten-year renewable residence permit.
Qualifying investors must commit at least OMR 250,000, approximately US$650,000, through one of several routes, including:
- property in tourism complexes;
- government bonds;
- listed shares;
- a fixed bank deposit.
The permit covers immediate family and removes the local-sponsor requirement that applies to ordinary work residency.
Barna said her firm began handling Oman cases in 2023, when the process was still opaque for those outside the country. She said building the process required repeated trips to Oman to establish contacts with the authorities.
Most of that work was done through bonds. Barna was skeptical of the property route now being promoted after the relaunch. She said property can be stable for locals or people who want to live in Oman, but she is doubtful about the market for foreign investors seeking returns.
She also questioned reports of double-digit property price growth, saying she saw little real demand behind it. Across the Gulf, she viewed Saudi Arabia as a stronger property growth market because of underlying demand.
Bond route and capital parking
Barna described the practical use of the permit as more about parking capital than gaining mobility. She said Omani government bonds were yielding around 5% to 5.5% and described the residency as a way to keep money parked in bonds.
In her experience, processing was fast, with approvals in one to two weeks and the investor card issued on the spot. However, the ministry’s current relaunch figures show that no approvals have yet been issued under the new application wave because processing has not started.
Personal income tax from 2028
Oman currently has no personal income tax, which has been part of its appeal for investors parking capital there.
That will change on January 1, 2028, when a 5% tax on annual income above OMR 42,000, approximately US$109,000, takes effect under Royal Decree 56/2025. It will be the first personal income tax of its kind in the Gulf.
Interest and investment income fall within the scope of the tax. That matters for investors using the bond route, especially higher earners receiving interest income from several hundred thousand rials in bonds.
The exemption threshold is high. Oman’s tax authority expects only about 1% of the population to pay the tax. Even so, investors using interest-bearing investments should calculate the potential tax impact before 2028.
Applications versus approvals
Oman’s population is roughly 5.4 million, including about 2.3 million expatriates. Against that base, 56,000 applications in about nine months is a large number, especially compared with the program’s limited uptake before the relaunch.
The main unresolved question is how many applications will become approvals. The ministry has not yet issued approvals and has not started processing the accumulated applications.
Source article: www.imidaily.com
