Oman has introduced a new 14-day tourist visa carrying a zero-fee, giving authorities discretion to grant it to selected nationalities under conditions they set. The visa cannot be extended beyond two weeks or converted into residency, but holders may switch to other paid tourist visas. For Indians, the benefit depends entirely on whether Oman later includes India on its yet-to-be-published eligibility list.
Oman has added a new visa to its books, and for once, it costs nothing. Under Royal Oman Police Decision No. 109/2026, the Sultanate has introduced a 14-day tourist visa with a fee of zero Omani rials, a first for this particular visa category.
For Indian travellers scanning headlines and wondering if this changes their Oman plans, the honest answer sits somewhere between "maybe" and "not yet." Here is what has actually been confirmed, and what Indians can do with the rules as they stand today.
Royal Oman Police signed the change into force as Decision No. 109/2026, under the Inspector General of Police and Customs, Lt. Gen. Hassan bin Mohsin Al Shraiqi. It was announced on Sunday, August 2, 2026, and kicked in the next day.
The rule change gives Omani authorities more discretion: they can now issue a free two-week tourist visa to nationals of countries they choose, under whatever conditions they set.
Holders aren't locked into two weeks either. The rules let them switch over to a different Omani tourist visa category before the free one runs out, as long as they meet whatever requirements and fees that category carries. There's a ceiling on it too. The visa can't run past its own fourteen days, and it can't be upgraded into a residency permit no matter how long someone wants to stay.
This is where the story gets messy. Only nationals from the countries the authorities designate will qualify. So far, Royal Oman Police has kept that roster under wraps, saying only that the free visa will go to citizens of whichever countries the competent authority names. We don’t know as of yet when that naming will happen.
This isn't Oman's first visa-easing move either: the country has run a separate, longstanding exemption letting citizens of over a hundred nations enter visa-free for short stays, and the new zero-fee permit sits alongside that older system.
The free visa only becomes usable for Indian passport holders once the country's name appears on Oman's published list.
Until that happens, existing entry rules apply. Currently, under Oman's older exemption arrangement, Indians can enter visa-free for up to two weeks by holding a valid visa or residence permit from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan or the Schengen area, or by being a GCC resident employed in a profession eligible for that status. Travellers who don't meet any of those conditions still need to apply for Oman's standard eVisa before departure, a process the Royal Oman Police runs online.
Gulf states have spent the past two years openly competing for the same pool of travellers, cutting fees, extending validity windows and simplifying paperwork. Oman's zero-rial visa is its latest entry in that contest. It arrives alongside a run of similar regional moves this year, including Saudi Arabia's new multiple-entry Umrah visa and Montenegro's extended access for GCC residents. If the eventual list includes India, a market that already sends steady tourist and business traffic to Muscat and Salalah, it would count as one of the more useful Gulf visa updates for Indian travellers this year.