Job in the desert (Banking matters) How to open an account

Opening a bank account in Oman is necessary act if you are employed in the desert.

How to open a bank account.

One thing is that, do it when you are in Muscat, before leaving for the desert location. To open a bank account you will need your passport and resident card. No need of a photograph.  The bank will scan the passport and resident card, and that data is the stuff used as photograph.

Fill in the form, show the passport, and residence card originals. the bank will scan them, and load it into their electronic data base, Mostly they will give you an ATM card right away.

Can you open an account with zero balance, yes. As an expatriate, you are not having Omani money with  you now, and the bank knows it. For dealing with any bank you will need a cell phone number and local phone number.

For local cell phone / mobile phone / gsm connection all you need is your  passport and photograph, plus 3 Omani Rials.   (bring your own mobile phone)  .  Shops all over, will accept these documents, scan them and send it to service provider. A sim card is given across the counter.  It might take 24 hours to get the sim card activated.

Back to bank. The bank will communicate with text messages ( sms for many).  They will alert you when the account is activated, or , even better, your salary is credited, or when any other transaction is done.

Dont forget, you get your pin the same day with the ATM card.

In the case of Bank Muscat, they issue a Debit card to you after one week.

If you are working in Nimr, the nearest point for banking is Marmul, that is 100 kms away.
Once the job is done,  people residing in Nimr can use an ATM  at Nimr, inside office of  Oman Global Money Exchange. Asian workers come here to draw money and send telex transfers to their home countries.
You can use service of Western Union from the shop.
The Banks dont work on Fridays and Saturdays. They are open on Sundays.  This is perhaps now changed.

The exchanges are expensive. once I send 100 Rials to T &T (Trinidad and Tobago).  The transaction cost is , or was 10 Rials.  One Omani Rial is fixed to US Dollar, one Rial makes 2.58 USD.

It is cheap to send money to Asian Countires,  like India, Pakistan, Srilanka and Bangaladesh, some thing like 3 Rials or less for telegraphic transfer.

Business is monopoly, and service poor in the interior locations.
Money exchanges in Nimr and Fahud, offer better rates, even if there is no competition in the dessert.