Rapid Visas Ltd. specialises in providing visa services to UK citizens to travel to more than 20 countries. Since 2007, we have been servicing a wide range of clients, including individual travellers and corporate customers. We work in close association with Fortune 500 companies and international law firms to provide assistance in matters related to corporate immigration. Our clients vouch for our dedication, efficiency and knowledge, extensive pre-checking of documents and prompt customer services, which helps us maintain an impeccable track record of visa approvals.
Through all these years, we have established great rapport with officials and departments of various Embassies and government bodies in the UK; such as the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC).
Saudi Able Link, a part of Rapid Visas Ltd., specialises in GCC visas for UK travellers. GCC or the Gulf Cooperation Council is an economic and political union of 6 Middle East countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman. We assist UK citizens in obtaining visas for travel to these countries for various purposes, including tourism, business and employment. Along with that, Saudi Able Link also assists in document legalisation, an essential part of the visa application process for these nations.
Document legalisation is required for travel to Oman, regardless of the purpose of travel, employment, business visit, official visit or family visit. Since 2012, the Sultanate of Oman has been a member of The Hague Convention, which abolished the need for Oman Embassy legalisation for foreign public documents. Now, documents to be legalised for use in Oman need only an apostille certificate, issued by the UK FCO.
Oman Document Legalisation: Who Needs it and Why?
Oman document legalisation is required if you are visiting the country for the purpose of work, business dealings, study and research, or if you want to apply for a residence permit in the country. Legalisation is a process that establishes the legal authenticity of documents issued by UK authorities. This makes them acceptable for various foreign authorities outside the UK, such as officials in Oman.
The following is a list of instances when you might need Oman document legalisation during Oman visa application:
- If you are sponsoring a visa for your family members to come and stay in Oman, you will need document legalisation. In such cases, UK-issued personal documents, such as birth certificates (of spouses and dependents), marriage certificates, divorce decrees, adoption papers, death certificates, police clearance certificates, or any other document that verifies your personal status has to be legalised.
- For employment visas, you will need to get your educational certificates legalised. These may include your degree certificates, diploma certificates, further education certificates, such as NVQ, HNC and Level 1-3. Dependents, i.e.,children below 18 years of age, might have to get their primary education certificates legalised, to accompany you and stay in Oman. Employment documents, such as employment contracts, letters of invitation from sponsors, etc., will need to be legalised too.
To conduct business and legal procedures in the Sultanate of Oman, commercial documents such as certificate of incorporation, invoices, memorandum of association, power of attorneys, company financial reports, product certificates and other such documents must be legalised.
Overview of Oman Document Legalisation Process
Since January 2012, Oman has been a member of the Hague Convention Apostille Treaty of 1962. According to this treaty, consular document legalisation is not required to provide documents legal status, for use in other signatory countries. Thus, any document bearing the apostille stamp of the UK FCO does not need attestation by the Embassy of Oman in London.
If you have been offered an employment position in the Sultanate of Oman or are applying for an Oman study visa, there is no official requirement for your educational documents to be legalised now. We advise you to contact your employer directly, to understand whether all your documents need an apostille stamp from the FCO or not.
Usually, applicants can send an attestation request to the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Oman, through their student services portal. After the documents have been uploaded, the Cultural Attaché’s Office (CAO) in London, will receive the request for attestation from the MOHE, and proceed to ask your UK-based education institutions to verify the authenticity of the documents. This will be relayed back to the MOHE by the CAO, and an apostille stamp will be added to your documents, which will be uploaded on the website.
Legalisation includes various intricacies, such as the procedure mentioned above. Saudi Able Link’s consultants can take care of all your legalisation requirements, by dealing directly with the concerned authorities on your behalf. Our list of legalisation services include:
- Apostille: The apostille stamp is a special kind of certification stamp, issued by the UK FCO, which makes a document acceptable to all member nations of the Hague Convention.
- Legalisation: Consular legalisation is further needed for countries that are not part of the 1962 Apostille Treaty. We provide embassy legalisation as well.
- Translation: Certain countries only accept legalised documents published in a particular language, such as Arabic. Our expert translators can convert English documents into other languages.
- Notarisation: The FCO might require certain documents to be certified, signed or dated by a solicitor or notary public in the UK. Only then will they attach their apostille stamp to the document.
Oman document legalisation is conducted in three steps:
Step 1: Your documents will be taken to an accredited solicitor, to be notarised. Documents such as birth and death certificates, marriage certificates and police clearance certificates (ACRO only) do not need notarisation.
Step 2: The notarised documents will be submitted to the FCO for an apostille stamp.
Step 3: Usually, the documents are further submitted to the Embassies for legalisation. However, since Oman is a member of the Hague Convention, this step is not required. The Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Oman in London might, however, need to attest educational documents to be used in Oman. The consulate address and contact details are:
167 Queen’s Gate,
South Kensington,
London SW7 5HE
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 7225 0001
Address of the CAO is:
Oman Embassy London – Cultural Attaché
Winchester house
sixth floor
259-269 Old Marylebone Road
London NW1 5RA
UK
Phone: +44 20 7838 3853
Email: CAO@omanembassy.org.uk
Fax: 00442075846435
Opening and closing hours of the CAO is 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., GMT, Monday to Friday.
FCO legalisation may take a few hours to 1-2 working days, depending on the service you choose.
Documents That Need Legalisation for Oman
Oman visa applications for work, business, residence or official visit require document legalisation by the FCO. The common documents include:
- Employment Documents: Your employment contract letter and its constituents will be verified by the FCO, according to the letter of invitation issued by the Omani corporate entity, attested by the Oman MOFA.
- Oman Visa Medical Documents: All your medical test certificates that declare you free of contagious diseases, as mandated by the Oman MOFA, will be apostilled by the FCO for acceptance by the authorities in Oman, before entering the country.
Educational Certificates: Your educational certificates will be legalised by the CAO at the Oman Embassy in London, to verify that they are in accordance with your job role or study visa.
Oman Document Legalisation: Other Types of Documents
Apart from these, many other documents might be required for legalisation, before you enter the Sultanate of Oman. The common ones include:
- Birth and death certificates
- Marriage certificates
- Adoption papers
- Driver’s license
- Medical certificates
- UK police clearance certificates
- Certificates of Incorporation
- Research reports
- Financial statements
- Product certificates
- Educational certificates, such as diploma, college degrees, research and fellowship grants, primary school certificates
- Power of attorney
- Certificate of Goods Standing
- Certificates of Free Sale
- Memorandum and Articles of Association
Conclusion
Our consultants fulfill all legalisation requirements on a case by case basis. Based on your document requirements, we will offer you a service package. After you choose your package, we will take complete responsibility to ensure that all the requirements are met, including scheduling appointments with the FCO or uploading documents on the MOHE website. We will keep you updated on the progress. You can trust our reliable and screened consultants to take care of all your personal and official documents with utmost care and discretion.
For further queries, you can contact us at 02070961985. You can also email us at support@saudiarabiavisa.co.uk.
You can also contact the Oman embassy directly by using our link
