In quest to find a sane place to raise a family/Residency Solutions for Oman. [email protected]
Muscat, Oman
Joined August 2023
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Good summary. But 2 things he did not mention:
1) you can open an LLC with 2 year renewable. Cost is 4k-6 USD based on who you work with. No requirement for an office lease, money in the bank, other overhead. You do have to hire an Omani after a year with this setup. Needless to say there are ways around that.
2) Buy a residential unit for 125k usd (minimum value) in Sultan Haytham City Muscat (under construction, will be ready 28/29) and get a lifetime residency. You just need to pay 30% of the value and you have 5 year to make the full payment.
I'm in Oman right now.
People call it the "Switzerland of the Middle East" but I'm realizing parallels don't do the place justice.
It won't be a new Dubai. And it shouldn't be.
Here's the breakdown:
→ 0% personal income tax, even after 2028 if you earn under ~$109K
→ Digital nomad visa: ~$3,900/mo requirement, 1-year renewable. Until 2028, full 0% tax
→ Golden Visa: $520K, 10-year, full family. Under-the-radar Plan B with undervalued real estate
→ Rent is almost half of Dubai
→ 5th safest country on Earth
→ Free zones with 30-year corporate tax exemptions (selected industries)
→ Path to citizenship in 15 years, something the UAE doesn't offer
For pure tax optimization, networking, and infrastructure, the UAE is still the top. Dubai's ecosystem is unmatched. Nothing competes.
But not everyone needs the Dubai machine.
Remote worker under six figures? Oman gives you GCC proximity, a USD-pegged currency, and 0% tax at a fraction of the cost.
Retired? It's warm, safe, cheap, and simple. No hustle culture. A place you actually want to wake up in.
Playing the long game? Oman is one of the only GCC countries where naturalization is even possible. The UAE gives you an incredible base, but no passport. Over 15-20 years, that's a completely different asset.
Real estate is genuinely undervalued. Waterfront in Muscat costs a fraction of Dubai Marina. If you're building a Plan B, the entry point matters.
And then there's the thing nobody talks about enough. The nature, the friendliness, the culture. This isn't just a tax play. It's one of the most beautiful, welcoming countries I've been to.
Besides, it's bitcoin aligned with government-backed mining facilities leveraging the low cost of electricity.
One hour from Dubai. Same region. Completely different philosophy.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a spike in golden visas here as pure plan B option, even for UAE residents.
@Move to Muscat retweeted
What I find interesting is such a senior scholar has publicly criticised Sukuk (saying most are not Shariah compliant) - and nothing changed.
In this interview he also criticised Commodity Murabaha (which is the most widely used product globally in Islamic finance) and sale and leaseback - which is the mainstay of Sukuk.
These are used to directly replicate Riba.
And scholars all over the world continue to pronounce them Shariah compliant.
We have created a global Islamic finance industry that even scholars regret and cannot force change.
It’s sad to say but scholars have become irrelevant in opposing the (since origin) the relentless drive of Islamic finance to Riba
And each step of this drive is approved by the same scholars.
I have no other way to explain this other than Islamic finance has made our Shariah and our Scholars irrelevant.
Shaykh Taqi Usmani has done his job. Has written excellent books. It’s time for him to retire from this kind of interactions. He is on the road to senility. His English is not that good. His generation does not understand Palantir and its trans humanist agenda. It’s not a stock or a company. It’s Evil incarnate. Example of “halal meat and haram meat” from medieval texts are not going to cut it, most respectfully. I see elderly scholars undoing their great legacies by not retiring on time.
Time for his students to come forward and communicate what they have learned with impeccable language skills, and transcending the “contract is valid” trap and see the forest for the trees, and save fiqh before it becomes too late.
@Move to Muscat retweeted
Oman's Vision 2040 stood out to me from the other GCC Visions in its practicality (wasn't over the top), depth (they put a lot of work into it including asking the locals), and its patience in execution (no mad rush).
Oman is definitely going through its “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” It is the biggest winner of the Hormuz crisis. The population boom in Muscat, in the last 6 months is the clearest indication. People who were based in Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, are coming to Oman now.
The question is how will the money (from petroleum, tolls, customs, shipping lanes, foreigners seeking residency) coming into Oman is managed. Is it going to learn from the failures of other GCC and become a formidable manufacturing base? Or will it go with the easy option of tourism and real estate? Remains to be seen.
Oman is definitely going through its “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” It is the biggest winner of the Hormuz crisis. The population boom in Muscat, in the last 6 months is the clearest indication. People who were based in Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, are coming to Oman now.
The question is how will the money (from petroleum, tolls, customs, shipping lanes, foreigners seeking residency) coming into Oman is managed. Is it going to learn from the failures of other GCC and become a formidable manufacturing base? Or will it go with the easy option of tourism and real estate? Remains to be seen.
Oman, a Middle Eastern sultanate that rarely draws much attention, is scoring billions of dollars in economic growth and emerging as a big regional winner from the Iran war bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
@Move to Muscat retweeted
Habib Abū Bakr al-ʿAdanī رحمه الله saw things with remarkable clarity and foresight. The fact that he devoted much of his later years to developing Fiqh al-Taḥawwulāt (the science of systematically understanding transformations) was no coincidence.
His framework allowed him to examine contemporary developments through a much wider civilizational and eschatological lens, including the Dajjālic dimensions of emerging transhumanist technologies and corporations.
There is a key lesson here: our tradition needs scholars who preserve the depth of our inherited fiqh while simultaneously developing the intellectual and communicative tools to engage the transformations of our age. The challenge is not merely knowing whether something is technically permissible, but understanding the larger realities rapidly unfolding around us (and being able to track them).
Shaykh Taqi Usmani has done his job. Has written excellent books. It’s time for him to retire from this kind of interactions. He is on the road to senility. His English is not that good. His generation does not understand Palantir and its trans humanist agenda. It’s not a stock or a company. It’s Evil incarnate. Example of “halal meat and haram meat” from medieval texts are not going to cut it, most respectfully. I see elderly scholars undoing their great legacies by not retiring on time.
Time for his students to come forward and communicate what they have learned with impeccable language skills, and transcending the “contract is valid” trap and see the forest for the trees, and save fiqh before it becomes too late.
There are some white American converts with Republican sensitivities. They hate Abdul and his woke alliance. Understandable. We too. And they are also anti-immigrants. We too, but for different reasons (hint: 1/4 Muslims in the US tend to leave Islam, so not good for your progeny). I am going to make a prediction that these folks-- given how polarizing politics/social issues are becoming-- are going to crash out of Islam soon because of, initially, "immigrants don't stand in lines", and then eventually a host of other identity tribal politics. They might try to have their own white only communities first, but of course that is not going to work, because who pays for the community center utilities? Immigrants always do the heavy lifting in that department.
In the past these converts would go to the Middle East and become Sufis or scholars. Now they are doom scrolling Nick Fuentas.
Shaykh Taqi Usmani has done his job. Has written excellent books. It’s time for him to retire from this kind of interactions. He is on the road to senility. His English is not that good. His generation does not understand Palantir and its trans humanist agenda. It’s not a stock or a company. It’s Evil incarnate. Example of “halal meat and haram meat” from medieval texts are not going to cut it, most respectfully. I see elderly scholars undoing their great legacies by not retiring on time.
Time for his students to come forward and communicate what they have learned with impeccable language skills, and transcending the “contract is valid” trap and see the forest for the trees, and save fiqh before it becomes too late.
It’s more like a segment of GCC Arab youth. And that too is a top-down effort to make it mainstream in this region. There is no such thing in Oman, yet. That’s why I don’t think it’s a bad thing for Iran to take care of the undersea cables. This region needs to be disconnected from the West, for its own good. Youth will go back to learning Arabic, bond with camels, and learn basic chores. Iran will be doing God’s work by waking these teens. Always reminded of Ibn Ataillah's aphorism:
مَنْ لَمْ يُقْبِلْ عَلَى اللهِ بِمُلَاطَفَاتِ الإِحْسَانِ، قُيِّدَ إِلَيْهِ بِسَلَاسِلِ الامْتِحَانِ
“Whoever does not turn to God through the gentle kindnesses of His beneficence is dragged to Him in the chains of trial.”
For them, trial is not being able to watch football and order food on Talabat.
Having said that, the same insufferable youth can easily flip to their asl, roots with a little guidance. It's not a lost cause. Not yet.
@Move to Muscat retweeted
this professor just blocked me because I disagreed with his empty argument. no ad hominem attack, nothing rude, just an honest academic rebuttal. how pathetic honestly.
@prof_ahmetkuru
teapawt.net/meraklumustafa/status/…
@Move to Muscat retweeted
more proof that political science is a completely useless field, btw. and yes I mean offense if you are in poli sci, total waste of time and nothing worth reading comes out of it
this professor just blocked me because I disagreed with his empty argument. no ad hominem attack, nothing rude, just an honest academic rebuttal. how pathetic honestly.
@prof_ahmetkuru
teapawt.net/meraklumustafa/status/…
@Move to Muscat retweeted
No one cares now why the Muslims fell behind. It is so 2000s. The good news is that everyone is going to fall behind. Real soon. And when that happens, the fallen behind for a long time, like the Muslims, will have a real comparative advantage. And that’s how you know that God loves you because He will bring all these kafirs down for you so you have a fighting chance. The Real Chosen People.
Is it Orientalist to ask why the Muslim world fell behind?
My @compactmag article is now Open Access:
compactmag.com/article/why-t…
It examines Muslim societies' early golden age and current underdevelopment—and how Edward Said's important book is now used to dismiss critical analysis.
@Move to Muscat retweeted
hocam, i understand that you say we should not respond to everything w "orientalism" but the idea of an islamic golden age is orientalist and plainly wrong. islamic societies were extremely dynamic UNTIL the advent of modernity, hence why our debates are the same for 150 yrs 1/
No one cares now why the Muslims fell behind. It is so 2000s. The good news is that everyone is going to fall behind. Real soon. And when that happens, the fallen behind for a long time, like the Muslims, will have a real comparative advantage. And that’s how you know that God loves you because He will bring all these kafirs down for you so you have a fighting chance. The Real Chosen People.
Is it Orientalist to ask why the Muslim world fell behind?
My @compactmag article is now Open Access:
compactmag.com/article/why-t…
It examines Muslim societies' early golden age and current underdevelopment—and how Edward Said's important book is now used to dismiss critical analysis.
@Move to Muscat retweeted
This is the most effective stack for killing H.Pylori, which from my experience 40-50% people have without knowing it, and causes massive digestive issues for years. Bismuth subcitrate, 2 types of antibiotics (metro and tetra or Doxy) and add an omeprazole. In the US if you don't have insurance it costs 1032$ to get 14 day supply. If you have insurance, then you need a doc to prescribe it which is a tall order because they will have you test for H. Pylori stool test only, which often gives false negative. Breath test is the gold standard. So on paper insurance (which costs about 27k $ a year for family in the US) should make it cheap but it never comes through because of prescription and testing issues.
I get all of that from my trusted Indian supplier for 50$ (including shipping). No 27K $ a year insurance. In fact, I am so pissed at how gate-kept, slow, and ineffective the medical system has become that I am going to be launching a service where you do a telehealth zoom call with a doctor for 10 minutes, give them your tests and get whatever medicine you need with a prescription anywhere in the world. Obviously not control substances and narcotics etc. Drugs that many people get over the counter in other countries, and others that get easy prescription.
If you are interested in getting this service, email me on [email protected], and write briefly what kind of medicine you want, and if you need a telehealth service for a prescription. I ll put you on a list (first come first serve) and connect you when it's ready. I will not announce that here when it's ready for obvious reasons.
Please don't ask for Viagra. Although we don't judge. Whatever helps you accelerate.
While it is true for other Gulf cities, Muscat has been the biggest winner (as unfortunate as the situation is for all) of the war in the region. It has become too busy, too fast for my liking.
🇩🇰🇦🇪 All the luxury malls and tax breaks in the world can't buy you peace and quiet.
Copenhagen has been crowned the world's most liveable city for the second year running, followed by Vienna and Melbourne, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2026 rankings.
The biggest losers? Cities across the Gulf, where the Iran war has taken a serious toll on their appeal.
Muscat plunged 14 places, Doha dropped 7, while Dubai and Abu Dhabi each slipped 4.
Meanwhile, Damascus remains dead last, a spot it's held since 2013, and Tehran has fallen into the bottom 10.
Turns out, sunshine, luxury and low taxes lose some of their charm when drones start flying overhead.
Source: The Economist / Writer: Julie
Exactly. this is why I don't understand many western seminary trained Hanafis who would criticize the Taliban for lacking vision on this or that social issues according to Hanafi school (I have my own reservations, but that's because I am a Shafi'i). The fact of the matter is that the Taliban are implementing, the Hanafi school as close to as it was intended than any other political entity or institution for perhaps centuries. In fact, they are closer to Hanafi positions than the great Ottoman Khilafat, who claimed to be the heirs of Abu Hanifa. For example, there were areas of prostitution in Istanbul that the gov and some of the mashaykh refused to force to close as it attracted the lowlifes and kept the rest of the society free from them. Taliban allow no such places. The point is not that the Ottomans were necessarily wrong (they were an empire which included a cosmopolitan milieu with more than one Sunni madhab, and multiple religions) but they digressed from many Hanafi position even in the position of power.
Folks want to be traditional but not traditional enough.
@Move to Muscat retweeted
Muslims once financed the world’s trade without interest.
For the first time in centuries, we can return to that.
$2M+ deposited during our invite-only beta. Today, Goldsand is live on iOS and Android.
Halal savings built a new way: to beat interest, not settle. Here’s how ↓
Why do Muslims treat interest-free finance like a limitation, when history proves it's a superpower?
Around 1700, Mughal India produced roughly a quarter of the world's economy, about the share the US holds today.
The Islamic gold dinar was so trusted that European kings minted copies of it, Arabic script and all.
Muslim merchants financed trade from Spain to China through partnerships, profit-sharing, and trust.
Riba-free finance wasn't a handicap those economies carried. It was the engine that built them.
The real opportunity today isn't fixing a broken system. It's reigniting belief in one that already worked brilliantly.
Nobody opens a shawarma shop thinking, "It's halal, so Muslims will show up."
The food wins on its own merits:
Better taste.
Better price.
Better experience.
Halal is simply assumed. It's not the pitch, it's the foundation.
So imagine applying that same confidence to halal finance.
History already proved it can compete, not just comply. It can lead.
Once we truly believe 0% interest finance is better, we'll build something extraordinary again.
Quick question before we break ground on the White Muslim Community Center... when three white converts go out to dinner, who pays?
I already know the answer. Nobody. The bill gets split three ways, everyone goes home feeling very fair. And if you object through your immigrant upbringing, you’ll be told that splitting is actually more Islamic, equal burden, sustainable and so on and so forth. Which is exactly how you know the point was missed, because it's not about fairness, it's about the opportunities to be generous, to be eccentric, to be big. that's the spirit.
And that’s the real issue with a community without the Yemeni, Somali, Afghan, Desi and Arab uncles. Not that it wouldn’t be Islamic. It’s that it would be the bare minimum of everything — tidy, efficient, and running on a sign-up sheet. Who quietly pays the center's electric bill for twenty years? Who cooks/pays for 200 when 40 were invited? Individual-first, convenience-first culture is great for many things. Building a community that overcommits and sacrifices — which is the whole point — isn’t one of them. and that's why immigrants are indispensable.
Having said that, all the best.
Here are 3 reasons we need a White Muslim sub community:
(And no…I’m not talking about Apartheid or Segregation…I’m talking about the White version of Black Salafi communities in the inner city.)
1. Birds of Feather flock together.
-Muhammad Ali
2. Courage begets more courage. White people on the fence about Islam will feel more comfortable making the choice to convert if they stop seeing Islam as the foreign “other”. They’ll be less likely to leave that community within a few years.
3. It will help to end the FETISHIZATION of White converts. Instead of being a special Unicorn 🦄….you will now be a member of a community of unicorns 😎🦄
the funny part is that actually Arabs are middle managing corporate America quite loyally. I know so many Arab CFO's, CTO's, directors and executives in finance and tech in medium to big companies. There are more Indians, but Arabs are way more represented in leadership positions because apparently they have what it takes to run corporate America. Especially Laventine and Egyptian Arabs who have fully assimilated.
Morning Joe gets emotional over RFK Jr.'s racist anti-Arab remarks
Bobby Kennedy was the reason I got involved in politics and I told Jr. that. He understood that we were stronger as were more diverse.
It's hard to even imagine how ashamed he would be of his son for denigrating over a billion people because of their faith.
Specifically when Bobby Kennedy talked about how America had to move to becoming a country that moved beyond prejudices based on faith and race.
This is what RFK Jr. did when he campaigned with Mike Rogers, another guy that I've known, liked, respected—who's running an abhorrent, racist, bigoted campaign.