My driver’s license here expired recently, so I was thinking back to when I got it and thought it would be useful to share the process: how to obtain a driving license in Muscat. Please note this post is for those who already hold an overseas license, which is at least one year old, from an approved country such as the UK.

This should be one of the first things you do in Oman, since it can be difficult to get around unless you drive here (more on that on another post). If your foreign license is from an approved country then you do not need to take a test and the process of obtaining an Omani license is fairly simple, bar a few bumps along the road (pun intended).

Things you will need:

• License exchange application form which must be picked up and completed at the front desk of the Driver’s License Office.
• 2 passport sized photographs with blue backgrounds.
• Original and photocopy of overseas driving license.
• Original and photocopies of passport and resident card.
• Confirmation of a cleared eye test. I had this done at Dubai Optical in City Centre Seeb. It should cost around 2-3omr.
• Blood group (it may be a good idea to check if you already have this in your records before going ahead and taking a test – I had this information from a blood test I had taken during pregnancy).
• A credit or debit card, as this is the only accepted form of payment (even for the application form). The fee for the service is 10omr and the fee for the application form is 200bz.

After preparing all of the above, take the relevant documents with you and make your way to the Driver’s License Office, off Al Maardih Street.

First, you will need to fill in the application form (mentioned above) at the front desk. It seems that this form is only in Arabic and there are no English versions available. DH and I are at a loss to understand why this is the case, but perhaps we missed something. The person at the front desk kindly completed my form for me.

We were then prompted to go and submit this form and pay at another counter.

After a short wait, the card was ready and we collected it from a third counter. The whole process took around 20 minutes.

My license expired in a year, but my husband’s has a longer validity. I’m not sure why this is the case and due to the language barrier we could not understand when we asked. It may be because of my visa type, I am female, the country of issue of my original license or perhaps the rules have changed since my husband had obtained his.

The Driver’s License Office is located off Al Maardih Street, near the SQ Higher Center for Culture and Science and is open 8:00am – 21:00pm, everyday except Friday.

You can find out more information on the Directorate General of Traffic webpage on the ROP website.

Happy driving!