Muscat – Oman has been ranked among the top five countries in the world for making expatriates settle easily into life in the sultanate.

The Expat Essentials Index reveals the 52 destinations that make life abroad easiest and also those that make life most challenging for foreign residents.

The index is based on data from the Expat Insider 2022 survey by InterNations, the world’s largest expat community with over 4.5mn members.

All top three destinations, Bahrain (1st), the UAE (2nd) and Singapore (3rd), offer easy communication with the lack of a language barrier, while also posing minimal bureaucratic issues. Estonia is ranked 4th, while Oman is placed 5th in the rankings.

On the other hand, expats struggle the most with getting started in Germany (52nd), Japan (51st), and China (50th). Expats in all three countries struggle with the local language and a lack of modern digitalisation.

Expats find it very easy to find their footing in Oman, ranking among the top ten in both the Housing (8th) and the Language (7th) subcategories.

Expats report that housing is both easy to find (79 per cent vs 54 per cent globally) and to afford (57 per cent vs 39 per cent globally). It is also easy to live in Oman without speaking the local language (75 per cent vs 51 per cent globally). In fact, only 33 per cent speak it fairly or very well, 20 percentage points less than the global average of 53 per cent.

As far as Admin Topics (12th) are concerned, Oman makes life for expats relatively easy again. Admin Topics include Ease of Dealing with Local Bureaucracy, Opening a Local Bank Account and Obtaining a Visa.

Covering housing, language, digital life and admin topics, the Expat Essentials Index focuses on some of the most important elements of getting life started abroad.

According to the index, for expats in Bahrain, finding their feet in the island country appears to be a breeze. The Admin Topics Subcategory (2nd) is a particular highlight for expats in Bahrain. About two in three (67 per cent) report that it is easy to deal with the local authorities, an impressive 27 percentage points more than the global average (40 per cent). Visa issues also pose very few problems: 70 per cent say it is easy to get a visa to move there (vs 56 per cent globally).

Just like Bahrain, the Language Subcategory (2nd) is also a major highlight for the UAE. While only 40 per cent of expats say that learning the local language is easy (vs 41 per cent globally), this doesn’t seem to be a major issue, since the majority (85 per cent) also says that it is easy to live there without speaking the local language. Expats are also very pleased with the way Admin Topics (3rd) are handled in the UAE, voting the country 1st worldwide for the ease of obtaining a visa to move there.

Focusing on hardships, the report points out that expat life in the sultanate has its restrictions: Oman (50th) joins China (52nd) and Kuwait (51st) among the bottom three destinations for unrestricted access to online services (eg social media).