Does Buying Property in Oman Give You Residency? The 2026 Rules
Updated July 2026 · By Waleed Al Abri — Real Estate Advisor
Short answer
Yes, if the property qualifies. Oman ties residency to property through two separate programs. Since 22 June 2026 (Royal Oman Police Decision 87/2026), owners get residency without a local sponsor, family is included, and off-plan buyers can get a renewable visa before handover. Updated July 2026 by Waleed Al Abri, a real estate advisor in Oman.
Want a property that gives residency?
Send me your budget and your nationality on WhatsApp. I will reply with 3 projects that qualify for residency.
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Which residency does your purchase give you?
Three or four taps. Seven possible answers, all shown below. Nothing here replaces a check with the competent authority before you pay.
1. Your nationality
Owner Residency
- You qualify for residency on the property itself.
- Since 22 June 2026 it is issued without a local sponsor.
- No minimum value is stated. Your spouse and first-degree relatives are included.
- It ends if you sell.
Residency at 30% paid, before handover
- Sultan Haitham City has its own rule, set by the Ministry of Housing for the future cities and Surouh projects. Once you have paid 30% of the price you can apply for residency, before handover. It is a two-year residency, renewable.
- At OMR 50,000 or less it covers you only. Above OMR 50,000 it covers your first-degree family too.
- Ownership does not guarantee it: residency needs a separate security clearance. Ask before you pay the 30%.
Owner visa first, residency at registration
- In an ITC such as Al Mouj, Muscat Hills or AIDA, an off-plan buyer gets an owner visa before registration, not residency.
- It runs 6 to 12 months and is renewable, on a certificate from the competent authority.
- Once the unit is registered in your name, the Owner Residency route opens.
Two routes. You choose.
- Owner Residency: sponsor-free, tied to the property, the simpler route.
- Golden Residency: a 10-year renewable permit, applied for separately, on a qualifying investment of OMR 200,000 in a completed unit with a title deed.
- Which is better depends on how long you plan to hold and whether you want the longer term.
Not spelled out. Do not assume.
- The usufruct route outside ITCs (Ministerial Decision 357/2020) carried no residency when it started.
- Whether the June 2026 owner-residency rules cover a registered usufruct has not been stated.
- Separately: to use this route at all you must already live in Oman on a residence permit.
Different rules apply to you
- GCC citizens own under separate GCC agreements, across far more of Oman than other foreigners.
- The residency question is different too. Start with the GCC guide.
Check what you are actually buying first
- For a non-GCC foreigner, ownership only registers in designated areas: ITCs, the future cities, and named integrated neighbourhoods.
- Outside those, a purchase cannot be registered in your name, and no residency follows from it.
- Send me the project name and I will tell you which route it is.
Two programs, not one
Oman has two residency-by-property programs. Buyers mix them up, and the difference decides what you actually get.
- • Property Owner Residency: comes with a qualifying property purchase. No minimum value is stated in the rules. It is valid as long as you own the property and ends when you sell. Your spouse and first-degree relatives are included.
- • Golden Residency: the investment program. OMR 200,000 of qualifying investment, property included, gives a 10-year renewable residency. Oman replaced the old two-tier system (250,000 for 5 years, 500,000 for 10) with this single tier in September 2025. Many guides still quote the old numbers.
Most buyers under OMR 200,000 are looking at the first one. That is the honest starting point.
What changed in June 2026
On 22 June 2026, ROP Decision 87/2026 took effect (Official Gazette 1653). It amended the residence rules for foreign property owners. Three changes matter:
- No sponsor needed. The owner visa and owner residency are now issued without a local sponsor, on a certificate from the competent authority.
- Off-plan buyers stopped waiting. If your unit's registration is not complete yet, you can get a sponsor-free visa of 6 to 12 months, renewable for similar periods. Before this, off-plan buyers had no clean path until handover.
- Family is covered. The visa and residency extend to your spouse and first-degree relatives. If a company owns the unit, its legal representative can get it.
Two conditions to know. You must enter Oman within 3 months of the visa being issued. And on the visa route, each entry allows a stay of up to 3 months. Related: Is off-plan property safe in Oman?
Which permit your purchase gets you
| You bought | What you can get |
|---|---|
| A registered unit in an ITC or eligible zone, any value | Property Owner Residency. Sponsor-free. Valid while you own it. Family included. |
| An off-plan unit in an ITC, registration not complete | Sponsor-free visa, 6 to 12 months, renewable. Bridges you until registration. |
| An off-plan unit in Sultan Haitham City, 30% of the price paid | Two-year renewable residency before handover. You only at OMR 50,000 or less; first-degree family included above OMR 50,000. Needs a separate security clearance, so ownership does not guarantee it. |
| Property worth OMR 200,000 or more, with title deed | 10-year Golden Residency, renewable |
| A unit through your company | The company's legal representative can get the visa and residency |
What the new rules did not change
The June 2026 decision changed residency rights. It did not change who can own property. If you are a non-GCC foreigner, you still buy in ITC zones and other eligible areas, and some projects offer usufruct instead of freehold. That is a separate topic with its own traps, and I wrote a full guide: Can foreigners buy property in Oman?
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning said this directly in late June 2026, after some coverage suggested Oman had opened ownership to foreigners nationwide. It had not. Ownership by non-Omanis stays limited to designated locations: Integrated Tourism Complexes, future cities such as Sultan Haitham City, Al Thuraya City and Al Jabal Al Aali, and integrated residential neighbourhoods such as Surouh. The new Real Estate Registry Law (Royal Decree 56/2026, in force 18 May 2026) changed how ownership is registered and proved, not who may own or where.
Two more things stayed the same. Approval is not automatic, security screening by nationality still applies. And the residency is tied to the title. Sell the property and the residency ends automatically, for you and your family.
What is still unclear
These rules are new. Four points are not settled yet:
- • Usufruct holders. The rules talk about owning a real estate unit. Whether a 50 to 99 year usufruct counts as ownership for residency has not been tested. If you are buying usufruct, do not assume residency. Confirm first.
- • The old family threshold. Earlier rules tied family inclusion to property value. The new decision states no value gate, but nobody has confirmed the old threshold is fully gone.
- • The certificate. Residency is issued on a certificate from the competent authority. Which body issues it and how long it takes is not yet spelled out.
- • The Golden route's zone scope. Official summaries differ on whether qualifying property must sit inside an ITC or can be outside one. Until that settles, assume ITC and confirm case by case.
I re-check this page quarterly and update it when these settle.
Frequently asked questions
The rules are new and the paperwork behind them is still settling. Whether your budget and nationality get you the owner permit or the Golden tier, and whether a specific project qualifies at all, is a case-by-case check. I do that check for clients before they commit money.
For current market context, see: Oman property prices 2026.
Waleed Al Abri
Real Estate Advisor
Waleed Property - Founder & Principal Advisor
Focus areas:
Waleed works with foreign and GCC buyers in Oman's property market. Most of the work is the part non-Omani buyers get stuck on: which areas allow foreign ownership, the difference between ITC freehold and usufruct, whether a property gets you residency, and how off-plan payments are protected.
Covers: Al Mouj Muscat, Sultan Haitham City, designated foreign-ownership areas, and residency through property.