Tarrasul Citizen Notifications Portal
Oman's unified government SMS and notifications gateway - the channel that delivers OTPs, renewal reminders, fines alerts and emergency broadcasts to every civil-number-linked mobile.
On this page
Launched
2015
Operator
Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology
Cost
Free to receive and send
Languages
Arabic, English
Overview
Tarrasul (tarrasul.gov.om) is the unified citizen-notifications backbone of Omani e-government. Every transactional SMS that lands on a resident's phone from ROP, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Health, the Sanad app, the Financial Services Authority (Dhamani) and the municipalities flows through Tarrasul before it reaches the telecom network. The portal does not look exciting from the outside - it is mostly a subscription-management page and a notifications-preference centre - but it is the most important piece of background plumbing for any resident: when Tarrasul is misconfigured against a civil number, OTP logins silently fail across every government portal at once, renewal reminders stop arriving, and the resident only discovers the problem when a residence visa or driving licence has already expired.
Tarrasul covers three traffic types. Transactional messages carry OTPs for portal logins, transaction-confirmation receipts after a Sanad or ROP filing, and Dhamani policy-active confirmations. Informational messages carry renewal reminders for the resident card, the driving licence, the mulkiya, the Dhamani policy and the Good Conduct certificate, typically 30, 14 and 3 days before expiry. Emergency messages carry cyclone, flash-flood, public-health and security broadcasts to all civil-number-linked mobiles within a targeted geography, operating under the Common Alerting Protocol. Citizens and residents can opt in or out of informational messages on tarrasul.gov.om but cannot opt out of transactional or emergency messages.
Subscription to Tarrasul is automatic from the moment a civil number is issued and a mobile number is registered against it. The default registration channel is the SIM activation at Omantel, Ooredoo or Vodafone Oman - the telecom shop reads the resident card or passport, links the SIM to the civil number, and the link propagates to Tarrasul overnight. Residents can also send R followed by the civil number to short code 90085 to confirm or refresh the link. The link breaks silently when the SIM is moved between owners (a common pattern when employers buy SIMs in their own name for workers), when a number is ported between operators without the new operator pushing the civil-number update, or when the resident card is renewed and the back-end record is not refreshed.
Three quirks shape Tarrasul day-to-day. First, OTP delivery uses a higher-priority short code than informational messages, which means OTPs can arrive even when the resident has opted out of renewal reminders. Second, international roaming sometimes blocks OTPs because the destination operator filters short codes from foreign senders - residents travelling abroad should configure email-based OTP fallback on each portal in advance. Third, Tarrasul does not retry failed deliveries beyond 30 minutes; an OTP that fails to arrive in five minutes is unlikely to arrive at all and the portal must be asked to send a fresh one.
For workers and family residents the Tarrasul rhythm in {year} is straightforward: confirm the SIM is registered to your own civil number, subscribe to renewal reminders for resident card, driving licence and Dhamani policy, configure email-fallback OTP on every government portal as a backup, and visit a Sanad office to fix the SIM-civil-number link the first time an OTP fails. The cost of not doing this is a missed renewal and an avoidable fine. Day-to-day flows tie into our Oman resident card renewal guide and our ROP eServices guide. Tarrasul pairs with Sanad for the fix-it counter and oman.om for cross-ministry context.
Tarrasul is also the channel for emergency broadcasts. During Cyclone Mekunu and Cyclone Shaheen the Sultanate's civil defence used Tarrasul to push targeted SMS warnings to all mobiles in coastal wilayats, including foreign-registered SIMs roaming locally. The same channel carries public-health bulletins from the Ministry of Health, polling-day reminders during Shura Council elections, and back-to-school logistics from the Ministry of Education. These messages cannot be opted out and arrive on every Omani SIM regardless of subscription preferences - a small operational cost for the benefit of universal reach during real emergencies. See our Oman country guide for the wider e-government context.
The {year} direction for Tarrasul is convergence with the Sanad app push channel and the Dhamani notification flow. MTCIT and the operators have agreed that long-form notifications (claims status, document-collection reminders) move from SMS to the Sanad app push channel, while short OTPs and emergency broadcasts remain on Tarrasul SMS. The transition has been smooth for residents who use the Sanad app daily but creates a gap for residents on feature phones or with the app uninstalled - those residents should keep SMS-based subscriptions active by sending the R-civil-number message to 90085 once a year to refresh the link, and confirm subscription status at any Sanad office.
Services offered
Government OTP delivery
Tarrasul delivers OTPs for ROP eServices, Sanad app, Invest Easy, MOL portal, Dhamani, MOFA Oman, court e-services and municipality portals on a single high-priority short code. OTP arrival is the load-bearing test for whether the SIM-civil-number link is intact.
Renewal reminders
Automated reminders for resident card, driving licence, mulkiya, Dhamani policy and Good Conduct certificate at 30, 14 and 3 days before expiry. Residents can opt in or out on tarrasul.gov.om but the default is opt-in for every civil-number holder.
Transaction confirmation
Confirmation SMS after Sanad office or app transactions, fines payment, mulkiya renewal and resident card payment. Carries the transaction reference number used for any later dispute or refund request.
Emergency broadcasts
Civil defence cyclone and flash-flood warnings, public-health bulletins and election logistics broadcast to all civil-number-linked mobiles in a targeted geography. Operates under the Common Alerting Protocol and cannot be opted out.
Subscription management
Opt-in and opt-out controls for informational subscriptions across ministries on tarrasul.gov.om. Login is by civil number and OTP on the registered mobile - the same chicken-and-egg loop that affects every government portal when the SIM link is broken.
Civil-number SIM linking
Send R followed by the civil number to short code 90085 from the SIM you want linked. Confirmation arrives within minutes. The same flow refreshes the link annually and is the quickest way to check whether OTPs will arrive on this SIM.
How to access Tarrasul
- 1
Confirm the SIM is registered to your own civil number
At Omantel, Ooredoo or Vodafone Oman, ask the customer-service counter to verify the SIM ownership against your resident card. If the SIM was activated in an employer's name, move it into your own name with passport and resident card before relying on it for government OTPs.
- 2
Refresh the link to Tarrasul
Send R followed by your civil number to short code 90085 from the SIM you want linked. A confirmation SMS arrives within a few minutes. If no confirmation arrives the SIM is not registered correctly - return to the operator counter.
- 3
Configure subscription preferences
On tarrasul.gov.om log in with your civil number and OTP, then opt in to renewal reminders for resident card, driving licence and Dhamani policy. Transactional and emergency messages are always on and cannot be configured.
- 4
Set email-fallback OTP on every portal
Configure email-based OTP on ROP eServices, Sanad app, Invest Easy and Dhamani as a backup for when the SIM is roaming abroad or when Tarrasul SMS delivery fails. The configuration is per portal and takes around 10 minutes total.
- 5
Refresh annually and after every SIM change
Repeat the R-civil-number-to-90085 flow once a year and after every SIM change, number port, phone change or job change. The link breaks silently in each of these scenarios and the only symptom is missing OTPs after the next portal login.
Troubleshooting
The errors residents hit most often on Tarrasul, and the fix that works.
Send R-civil-number to 90085 from the SIM. No confirmation means the SIM is not linked - visit the operator (Omantel, Ooredoo or Vodafone) with passport and resident card to verify SIM ownership and then a Sanad office to update the registered mobile number at ROP.
An employer-owned or family-shared SIM is still registered against your civil number. Visit the operator immediately to revoke the link and register your current SIM, then send R-civil-number to 90085 to confirm. This is a security issue and should be done before any further portal use.
Before travel, configure email-fallback OTP on every government portal you may need to use. On the road, switch to the email channel rather than waiting for SMS. Tarrasul cannot bypass destination-operator short-code filtering.
Check tarrasul.gov.om subscription preferences - opt-in may have been disabled inadvertently. Also check the SIM-civil-number link is healthy via the 90085 test. Reinstating both restores the 30-day, 14-day and 3-day renewal warnings.
Settings - Messages - Filter Unknown Senders toggle off, or whitelist the short codes (90085, 90099, 90088) by replying once to each. iOS treats short codes as unknown senders until at least one outgoing message has been sent to them.
Ports between Omantel, Ooredoo and Vodafone Oman do not always carry the civil-number link forward. After the port, send R-civil-number to 90085 from the new operator's network. If no confirmation, visit the new operator with passport and resident card to register the SIM ownership freshly.
The classic chicken-and-egg loop - the only fix is offline. Visit a Sanad office with passport and resident card to update the registered mobile number at ROP. The Sanad clerk files the change immediately and OTP delivery resumes within 30 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Tarrasul is the unified Omani government SMS and notifications gateway. Every civil number holder is automatically subscribed when their SIM is registered against their civil number with Omantel, Ooredoo or Vodafone Oman - no separate account is needed. The tarrasul.gov.om portal is only for managing informational subscription preferences; OTPs and emergency messages flow without any portal action.
Almost always because the SIM you are using is not linked to your civil number. The fix order is: send R followed by your civil number to 90085 from the SIM in question - if no confirmation arrives within five minutes, visit the operator (Omantel, Ooredoo or Vodafone Oman) with passport and resident card to verify SIM ownership, then visit a Sanad office to update the registered mobile number at ROP. Allow short codes through any spam filters on the handset, and on iOS check Settings - Messages - Filter Unknown Senders is off.
Yes, on tarrasul.gov.om log in with your civil number and OTP and toggle off the informational subscriptions you do not want. We do not recommend opting out of resident card, driving licence or Dhamani reminders because the 30-day warning is often the only notice you get before expiry. Transactional OTPs and emergency broadcasts are not opt-out-able.
Mostly yes for normal SMS but OTP short codes often fail because the destination roaming operator filters short codes from foreign senders. Before travelling abroad, configure email-fallback OTP on ROP eServices, the Sanad app, Invest Easy and Dhamani so you have an alternate channel. For longer trips, log in to each portal at least once from abroad to verify the fallback works.
Send R followed by your civil number (no space, no plus sign) to 90085 from the SIM you want linked to Tarrasul. Example: R12345678 to 90085. A confirmation SMS arrives within a few minutes if the link is healthy. Some ministries use additional short codes (90099 for ROP fines alerts, 90088 for MOL notifications) but 90085 is the master subscription channel.
If you kept the same SIM, no - Tarrasul follows the SIM, not the handset. If you got a new SIM, resend R-civil-number to 90085 from the new SIM and check the confirmation arrives. If you ported your number to a new operator, also resend - ports do not always carry the civil-number link forward automatically.
Only if that SIM is registered against your civil number at the operator, which should not happen for SIMs in another person's name. If you suspect an old SIM in someone else's possession is still receiving your OTPs (common after a job change with an employer-owned SIM) visit the operator immediately to revoke the civil-number link and re-register your current SIM. Tarrasul follows the operator's SIM-civil-number map exactly.
No. All government-initiated SMS through Tarrasul are free to receive and free to send for the 90085 subscription confirmation. Your normal SMS bundle is not consumed. Some banks and private services bill their own SMS separately - those are not Tarrasul.
Emergency broadcasts default to Arabic for fastest civil-defence response. English translations follow on the official ROP and civil defence X (Twitter) accounts within minutes and are usually picked up by Times of Oman and Oman Observer. For residents who do not read Arabic, save the @ROPOman and @CivilDefence_OM handles for cross-reference.
Within 5-30 seconds on a healthy SIM-civil-number link on a domestic connection. If nothing arrives within two minutes, request a fresh OTP - Tarrasul does not retry the original beyond 30 minutes. If two consecutive requests fail, the link is broken and a Sanad office or operator visit is needed.
No. Each civil number can have one registered mobile number at a time at ROP, and Tarrasul follows that one. If you carry two SIMs (e.g. one personal, one work), choose the one you want for government OTPs and register that. The other SIM receives nothing from Tarrasul.
OTPs and emergency messages from Tarrasul are delivered free of charge and arrive even on suspended-incoming or zero-credit SIMs in most cases, because Tarrasul uses a different message class. However, badly suspended SIMs (e.g. after extended non-use and full deactivation) drop the link - the operator must reactivate the SIM and the civil-number link before OTPs resume.
No. Tarrasul is SMS-only on the operator network. Any WhatsApp message claiming to be from a Sultanate ministry should be treated as suspicious and verified through ROP eServices, the Sanad app or the ministry portal directly. Phishing using WhatsApp impersonation of government brands is a known pattern in Oman.
Send R followed by your civil number to 90085. A confirmation SMS arriving within five minutes means the link is healthy. No confirmation means the link is broken and OTPs will fail at the next portal login - fix immediately at the operator and Sanad office rather than waiting for the next renewal cycle.
Guides from the blog
Walkthroughs that use Tarrasul
Step-by-step guides for the most common transactions on this portal.
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Stuck on a Tarrasul transaction?
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