Bangladeshi Driving Licence in Oman: A Tourist Allowance, Not a Resident Right

ROP keeps a list of countries whose licences it exchanges without tests. Reporting names the GCC states, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and many European countries, and Gulf News in 2024 added several Arab and other countries. Bangladesh is not in any version we found. Our Oman driving licence guide and the conversion checker agree. ROP has said it is not possible for every expatriate to swap a home licence for an Omani one, which supports the same reading. The list is ROP's and changes, so check the ROP portal or a Sanad centre.

Fees, the step order and documents are the same for every nationality and sit on our Oman driving licence service page. The rest of this page is about the Bangladeshi position only.

Oman's statistics centre figures, as reported by Oman Observer, put Bangladeshi expatriate workers at 609,259 in February 2026, down from 612,208 in 2025. That is about a third of all expatriate workers and about a quarter of the whole expatriate population, on our arithmetic from the same article. The next largest group, Indians, stood at about 513,000 in February 2026.

Scale matters for licences because the community is shrinking slowly while new demand is specific. In September 2026 Gulf News reported an agreement under which Oman would recruit 10,000 Bangladeshi workers, split between 5,000 for agriculture and 5,000 for fisheries, with details to be finalised. Those are not mainly driving jobs, so most of the new arrivals will not need an Omani licence, and anyone who does should ask the employer first.

Oman suspended visa issuance for Bangladeshi nationals from late 2023, with exceptions for family visas, visit visas for Bangladeshis already resident in GCC states, and professionals such as doctors. In June 2024 the Omani embassy in Dhaka described it as a technical, temporary review of the labour market. Gulf News in September 2026 still described visas for some Bangladeshi categories as restricted, and we could not confirm that the suspension has been formally lifted.

For your licence this has a plain consequence: ROP opens a file only against a valid resident card, so a worker whose card lapses and cannot be replaced by a new visa loses access to the process. Keep your card current, using our resident card renewal guide, and get the employer NOC early.

One route stays relevant for a Bangladeshi who already lives in another Gulf state: a licence issued by a GCC country is on the lists we have seen, so moving to Oman after holding a UAE, Saudi or Qatari licence can change your verdict entirely. Our GCC conversion comparison shows which licences travel, and the issuing country, not your passport, decides.

ROP's guidance, reported by Oman Observer and Gulf News, lets foreign visitors drive on a valid home-country licence for up to three months from the date of entry, only for tourism or transit and only on a tourist visa. Sources disagree on whether an international permit is also needed, and a guide says it is compulsory when the home licence is not in English or Arabic. The cautious reading is to carry both.

A visitor who later starts work in Oman should treat the three months as over once the resident card is issued.

Bangladesh has an Embassy in Muscat with a labour wing. We found no published procedure for verifying or attesting a Bangladeshi licence there. The only attestation process we found from a Bangladeshi mission is Kuala Lumpur's, which requires attestation by BRTA and the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka first. Ask the embassy in writing before you pay an agent.

We found no BRTA service for renewing from Oman, so plan renewal on leave. BRTA made e-licences permanent by a gazette of 24 March 2024. If you later go home, a community wiki says BRTA converts foreign licences after a test, but we found no statement naming an Omani licence. Bangladesh drives on the left and Oman on the right, so the drum and slope tests and roundabouts need deliberate practice. See our guide to the drum and slope test.

On the full route you open a file against your resident card, complete the signals test, then the yard tests, then the road test with an ROP examiner. Our Oman guide sets out the steps, the NOC, the eye test and the fees, and the traffic signs test page covers the first exam. Nothing in that process changes because the licence is Bangladeshi, with two exceptions worth planning for. First, the employer NOC is usually the slowest document, and Bangladeshi workers are often placed through agencies, so ask the agency or HR for it on the day you decide to start. Second, you cannot lean on your driving history: ROP is not reported to credit a BRTA licence, so budget for the tests rather than hoping for a shortcut.

Our mock tests for the signals test use 30 questions with 23 correct needed, as shown on the Oman pass mark page. Practise with the free Oman practice tests, the Muscat mock test 1 and the printable Oman papers.