on the Dubai DO with Points Summary and Travel Summary (and someone else who doesn’t summarize)
so you want to drive from the UAE to Oman? here are some tips. we crossed over east of Al Ain (UAE) on the way to Sohar (Oman) on highway 7.
Of course we all needed to document this.
the first stop is the UAE exit. you will get an exit stamp and be required to pay 35 dirhams ($9.53). yes, just like New Jersey, you have to pay to leave. you’ll also get a blank customs form (all in Arabic) but we were not sure what to do with it — as it turns out, do nothing.
entering oman
the distance between the UAE border control and the Oman checkpoint is quite far — i thought we were done with everything after paying to leave the UAE (maybe they magically just didn’t care about entry visas/stamps? lol) but nope, after about 10 minutes we came to another set of guard posts. we were directed to park and go into a large building, which we discovered functions as a sort of welcome center.
there are ATMs, a tourist information booth, toilets (squat, mind you), an Omantel SIM card kiosk (which was closed when we went), and most importantly, a visa counter.
you will need to get a form from the counter — easy enough to fill out, with your passport details and your address in Oman. return it and pay the visa fee (5 rial, $12.99, for visits of 10 days or less). NOTE NOTE NOTE they only take credit card. also, the rial is so highly valued they use three decimal places, so your credit card slip will say 5.000 — that’s not 5,000 rial, that’s just 5.
you will also get some sort of official form that indicates you got your visa(?). as you drive off you’ll pass through two more stations where you’ll need to show it — a (hopeully) cursory examination of your trunk contents and then a booth where they will ask you if you have insurance for Oman. uhh sure we do. (*wave on through*).
sidebar: Omantel SIM cards we got SIM cards at an Omantel kiosk at a mall and while it was cheap — 2 rial including 2 rial of credit, the data plan is problematic. a 1 GB/1 day plan is 1 rial, a 1 GB/1 week plan is 3 rial (so you’ll need to add a rial of value to your card if you want this one). unfortunately, while voice and SMS service seem to be working, the data plan has yet to activate despite getting a confirmation text message and the quota showing up when you check your balance, so beware.
UPDATE: if it doesn’t work, your APN probably needs to be manually set. it’s APN taif, Username taif, and Password taif.