US eases visa requirements for Omanis

Some Omani nationals will no longer be required to attend a personal interview to obtain a business or tourist visa for the US from next month.

The sultanate’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs detailed the changes in a tweet saying visa requests should be submitted to the US Embassy in Muscat’s website from June 1.

للمواطنين العمانيين:لا حاجة للمقابلة الشخصية لطالبي (تأشيرة سياحية و تجارية) #USA اعتبارا من 1/6/17.تقديم الطلبات عبر موقع السفارة في مسقط.

— وزارة الخارجية (@MofaOman) May 23, 2017

The embassy later clarified that certain qualified Omanis renewing their tourist and business visas (B1/B2 or B2) would be eligible to apply for their visa online without coming in for an interview.

The simplified system for Omanis comes in sharp contrast to US government policies for other Middle Eastern countries.

US President Donald Trump submitted a revised executive order in March banning citizens from six Muslim countries – Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – from entering the US.

Read: Trump signs revised travel ban, removes Iraq from list

This, as with a previous order, was blocked by the courts but there has still been a significant dip in travel from the Middle East to the country, the president and CEO of hotel group Marriott International said in April.

Read: Trump ban has led to 20% dip in Middle East travel to the US – Marriott CEO