Oman remote-work rules: an employer checklist under Ministerial Decision 523/2025

HR Operations - 9 min read - Updated 2026-08-12 - ZoroBiz Editorial Team

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Remote work now has a specific Oman framework

Ministerial Decision 523/2025 recognizes remote work on a full or partial basis. The worker performs duties using information and communications technology away from the establishment’s premises but within the Sultanate of Oman.

The decision prohibits contracting with a worker outside Oman to perform remote work for the establishment under this framework. Employers should therefore confirm the employee’s actual work location and avoid treating cross-border contracting as if it were ordinary local remote work.

What the employer must organize

An establishment using remote work must maintain a list of remote workers and provide it to the competent authority when requested. It must give workers the access needed to perform their duties and provide the relevant technology, communications, and software, including installation and maintenance costs unless otherwise agreed.

The employer must also provide an electronic system for supervision, performance follow-up, and evaluation. A useful system should capture agreed working time, assignments, outcomes, approvals, and exceptions without turning monitoring into uncontrolled surveillance.

Privacy and information security are operational requirements

The decision prohibits monitoring systems that violate the worker’s privacy or use personal data for purposes unrelated to work. It also allows a worker to disconnect from the employer’s system if privacy-invasive tools are proven to be in use without consent for non-work purposes.

Define which devices and applications are approved, how company data may be stored, how incidents are reported, and how access is removed when duties change. Personal devices used for work should be subject to the establishment’s information-security controls.

What belongs in a full remote-work contract

The written contract should identify both parties, the start date, work type and conditions, contract term where fixed, wage and payment date, agreed work time, technology responsibilities, supervision and evaluation, occupational safety, information security, and privacy obligations.

For partial remote work, document the approved schedule, office days, remote days, location expectations, equipment, and the conditions for returning to on-site work. The decision identifies information-security threats, serious policy breaches, failure to keep agreed hours, and expiry of the remote period as relevant return-to-office circumstances.

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A remote-work policy and contract should be reviewed against the official Arabic decision and the circumstances of the role. ZoroBiz supports documentation and workflow; it does not decide whether a role or cross-border arrangement is legally permitted.

Oman Ministry of Labour — Ministerial Decision 523/2025 on remote work: https://staff.mol.gov.om/DSMVD/CMS/WebSiteRules/13102025%20080246%20%D8%B5_zfd130wzcv4iytuhxph1trua2025920258245Book645590.pdf

Oman Ministry of Labour — ministerial decisions directory: https://www.mol.gov.om/MinisterialDecision

Can remote work under Decision 523/2025 be full or partial? Yes. The decision recognizes both full and partial remote work using information and communications technology outside the establishment’s premises.

Can the remote worker perform the job from outside Oman? The decision defines the arrangement as work performed outside the establishment but within Oman and prohibits contracting with a worker outside Oman to perform remote work for the establishment.

Must a full remote-work contract be written? Yes. The decision requires full remote-work contracts to be in writing and lists particulars covering work, pay, hours, technology, supervision, safety, information security, and privacy.

Can an employer monitor remote employees? The employer may use an electronic system for supervision, performance follow-up, and evaluation, but monitoring must not violate employee privacy or use personal data for non-work purposes.

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