Seafarers and Maritime Pilots

1. Training and Medical Fitness Standards

Maritime Training Standards
All maritime trainings required for the issuance of Certificate of competency, Certificate of proficiency or Maritime pilotage licence shall be approved by the Directorate General of Maritime Affairs. The current list of the approved maritime training courses/programmes could be obtained by clicking here.

Medical Fitness Standards
All persons working, or intend to work, on Omani seagoing or non-seagoing ships or, as maritime pilot in the Omani ports and terminals, shall hold a valid medical fitness certificate issued by a medical practitioner recognized by the DGMA (RMP).

Additionally, those seeking to obtain Certificate of competency, Certificate of proficiency or Maritime pilotage licence from the Directorate General of Maritime Affairs shall hold a valid medical fitness certificate issued by a recognized medical practitioner.

The national medical fitness standards for seafarers and procedure for conducting medical fitness examinations and issuance of relevant certificate are specified in the Standards operating procedure (SOP) for medical fitness examination of seafarers and issuance of relevant certificates.

2. Competency Examinations and Certification

DGMA Competency Examinations
The DGMA written, oral and practical examinations are aimed at ensuring the candidate’s ability to undertake the duties appropriate to the Certificate of competency, Certificate of proficiency or Maritime pilotage licence that applying for. The type, name and pass mark of the DGMA competency examinations are specified in the relevant Maritime instruction click here.

All DGMA competency examinations are conducted in English and therefore, candidates must demonstrate an adequate knowledge of the English language.

The competency examination syllabuses are divided into topics. Each topic contains a group of tasks, duties and responsibilities considered necessary for ship/pilotage operation, safety of life at sea or protection of the marine environment.

The examination syllabus for candidates for CoC issued in accordance with the STCW Convention is set out in the Maritime guidance MG04. For specimen of Chief mate’s past papers click here and for specimen of Second engineer’s past papers click here.

The examination syllabus for CoP candidates who intend to work on ships operating in domestic voyages (non-seagoing) is set out in the Maritime guidance MG03. The examination syllabus for maritime pilotage licence candidates is set out in the Maritime instruction MI12, appendix 1.

Issuance of certificates and licences
The issue of a certificate or licence is generally the final stage in the following procedure, as applicable:

1. Meeting the minim age;
2. Completion of general education;
3. Demonstration of the required standard of medical fitness (by passing a medical fitness examination);
4. Successful completions of the approved training programmes and assessments;
5. Completion of the appropriate service experience;
6. Successful completions of all ancillary trainings; and
7. Successes in the DGMA written oral and/or practical examination.

For details of the requirements for issuance of each certificate or licence, please refer to the relevant Maritime instruction. Click here

3. Online application for issuance of certificates, endorsements or licences

In order to facilitate application for issuance of seafarers and maritime pilots’ certificates/licences the online application has been provided.

Since the online application is time barred for each time you log in therefore, in order to avoid your application process been interrupted it is advised that you make available all the required certificates/documents and their scan copies before commencing to use online application.

Access to the online application for issuance of certificates, endorsements or licences could be obtained by clicking here

4. Verification of Seafarers’ Certificates

Verification of authenticity and validity of the certificates and documents issued by the Directorate General of Maritime Affairs could be obtained by sending an email to the seafarers@motc.gov.om